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Looking Back at the 2010 Cycle

November 3, 2010

TO: INTERESTED PARTIES
FROM: NRCC COMMUNICATIONS
DATE: NOVEMBER 3, 2010
SUBJECT: LOOKING BACK AT THE 2010 CYCLE

The message sent by the American people last night was the response to nearly 22 months of a reckless, job-killing spending agenda on the part of House Democrats as the economy suffered under their watch.  While it was Democrats that created the political environment that eventually became their downfall, it was House Republicans that defined that agenda from the very beginning and provided the resources needed to achieve our goal of retiring Nancy Pelosi.

As the Washington Post recently noted: “at the start of the 2010 campaign, House Democrats’ 39-seat majority seemed insurmountable.”  Knowing this, House Republicans moved forward with a significant effort to ensure that we had enough resources and candidates in place so that – if the political environment were to change – we would be in a position for victory.

Doing so would require us to build a political organization to provide Republican candidates with the resources necessary to gain the majority.  The first step in that process was to expand the playing field of qualified and competent candidates, helping them build strong campaigns, and putting them in a position for victory.  We had to improve every campaign that we touched, and we did so with a team effort.

BUILDING THE NRCC TO WIN

While Democrats were still celebrating President Obama’s historic electoral victory in January 2009, it was evident that if Republicans were to win the majority it was going to take a team effort from within their ranks. With that in mind, Chairman Sessions sought to make the NRCC more inclusive for the entire House Republican Conference and enlisted Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) to serve as his Deputy Chairman. Creating a structure of regional Member teams dedicated to recruitment, fundraising and incumbent retention, Walden and this team played a critical role in helping the NRCC take advantage of opportunities sooner and prevent problems earlier.  After making the NRCC more inclusive for Members, the next step was to develop programs and projects that would enhance Republican opportunities nationwide.  Among these:

  • Young Guns: Lacking the tools Democrats had at their disposal with control of the White House and Congress, it was clear early on that Republicans did not have the luxury of throwing money at candidates this cycle.  In the 2007-2008 election cycle, Reps. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Paul Ryan (R-WI)  had established the Young Guns program as a member-driven organization dedicated to electing open-seat and challenger candidates nationwide.  Impressed by their success, Chairman Sessions decided to incorporate it as the official candidate recruitment and development program for the NRCC.  A total of 92 candidates reached “Young Gun” status, an indication of both the expanded playing field and the strength of their campaigns.

 

  • Patriot Program:  Under the leadership of Incumbent Retention Vice Chair Mike Rogers (MI), the Patriot Program has successfully helped shore up incumbent members who have committed themselves to meet rigorous goals to ensure victory.  By strengthening potentially-targeted Members and limiting the amount of vulnerable ones, Rep. Rogers helped the NRCC widen the playing field and focus its efforts and resources on Democrat-held seats.  The NRCC spent a total of $11 million on vulnerable incumbents who this year faced little or no competition for re-election.  That money, in turn, went directly towards Democrat-held seats that helped us earn the majority.
  • Sell the Fight: Deputy Chair Greg Walden (OR) took the lead in running Sell the Fight, a project with the objective of reminding friends and allies in the business community that Republicans were going to earn a majority in the House.  Through a series of meetings with industry trade groups, presentations by Walden and many House Republican colleagues resulted in a dramatic shift of PAC money from Democrats to Republican candidates.

 

CHANGING MENTALITY AND STRUCTURE

One of the first steps in building a political organization designed to play offense was to change the mentality and structure of the NRCC.  Knowing that we would be outraised by Democrats for the cycle, several steps were made to ensure that we would not be outgunned in terms of staff.  Traditionally, the bulk of committee staff is hired in the election year, with the off year used to build up resources on a slim budget.  Knowing that we did not have the luxury of allowing Democrats to outgun us in 2009, the NRCC took steps to strengthen its Communications and Research departments, as well as establishing a new eCampaign department to improve the capability and use of new technology.

RECRUITMENT

Under Rep. McCarthy’s leadership as NRCC Vice Chair for Recruitment, “Young Guns” was built as a program to help candidates meet a series of goals and benchmarks to help them on the road to victory.  To help convince candidates to run, Rep. McCarthy – along with Chairman Sessions and Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) – traveled the country to recruit “community leaders” who had a brand outside of party politics but were committed to changing the direction of Washington and this country.  After surpassing a goal to recruit 80 candidates in key races, Leader Boehner set a more ambitious objective of 100.  At the end of the day, McCarthy and the team at the NRCC were able to help get a Republican on the ballot in 431 of the 435 House congressional districts.

RESOURCES

Heading into this election cycle, there was never any doubt that Republicans would be outspent by Democrats on both the local and national level.  The challenge was to ensure that we were competitive against our counterparts at the DCCC.  To start filling this fundraising gap, NRCC Finance Chair Jeb Hensarling took the lead on expanding our national network of donors, utilizing Members and Leadership in regional fundraising events, and employing Republican allies and surrogates to campaigns nationwide.  The results speak for themselves:

  • Member participation was higher than it was in any previous cycle.  We set a goal of $65 million for Members to meet their cycle assessments.  They collectively exceeded that goal by hitting $70 Million.  106 Members met their full cycle assessments, with 12 Members raising $1 Million or more.

 

  • Our Battleground Program – led by Rogers, Hensarling and Royce – had a goal of $20 Million and raised $31.25 Million.  122 Members met their Battleground goals in full, a much higher percentage than in cycles past.
  • We tripled the number of individual $25K+ donors from 2008

 

  • We had our highest month in fundraising on record.
  • We held 75 Regional Events in 2010.

 

RETIREMENT STRATEGY

The NRCC understood firsthand that, in order to make a good election cycle a great one, Republicans needed to force more open seat opportunities in Democrat-held seats.  To do so, NRCC Communications developed a retirement strategy to put pressure on senior Democrat lawmakers who might consider throwing in the towel.  Rep. Dennis Moore’s (KS-03) announcement in December 2009 set off a string of retirements in the months to follow; including John Tanner (TN-08), Brian Baird (WA-03), and Bart Gordon (TN-06) in December.  In all, Republicans claimed victories last night in all 13 of these competitive Democrat-held open seats.

EMBRACING THE MOVEMENT

The townhall protests that erupted in August 2009 provided the first visible signs of the anger and frustration that Americans of all political parties were feeling.  While Speaker Pelosi and other Democrat leaders criticized these citizens as “un-American,” the NRCC embraced the movement and highlighted the rude awakening that vulnerable Democrats were receiving with daily emails entitled “Recess Roastings.”  Events held by Reps. Baron Hill (IN-09), Steve Driehaus (OH-01) and others became instant YouTube sensations and were proof that Democrats had a much bigger problem on their hands than they originally expected.

SPENDING STRATEGY: EXPANDING THE PLAYING FIELD

The NRCC spent a total of $54 million in 90 congressional districts.  While that figure is a significant increase from last election cycle, the more important fact is not what we spent but how we spent it.  It was always expected that Republicans would have fewer financial resources than Democrats this cycle, but we were able to make up for it with a significantly wiser spending strategy.  By investing resources early in key races that expanded the playing field, we forced the Democrats into a game of “Whac-a-Mole” that required them to constantly play defense in an unsuccessful effort to stop the bleeding.  Here’s how political observers viewed it:

  • The NRCC’s “Moneyball Strategy”: “It appears the NRCC has Michael Lewis’ ‘Moneyball’ in its library. The book – a must-read for sports fans – discusses how the Oakland Athletics and general manager Billy Beane skillfully utilized limited funds to yield maximum results from their team.  The NRCC is using a similar strategy for their television ad buys this year….Looking more deeply into those districts, it’s clear that the NRCC is looking to stretch their dollars.” (Jeremy Jacobs, “The NRCC’s Moneyball Strategy,” Hotline On Call, 08/17/10)

 

  • The NRCC “Won Their Bet”: “The National Republican Congressional Committee…adopted a reasonable but risky strategy, which proved effective. Those strategists decided to spend their limited financial resources early and in some not-so-obvious cheap media markets, hoping to put more seats into play and generate momentum for the cycle….they bet that increased opportunities would encourage a more aggressive approach by ‘outside’ Republican-leaning groups, some of which seemed more focused on Senate races.  They have won their bet.” (Stuart Rothenberg, “Big Gulf Between Parties on Spending Strategies,” CQ-Roll Call, 10/27/10)

REAL WORK BEGINS

While many deserve credit for this victory, the American people proved once again that they control the levers of power in this government.  For the last two years, Democrats failed to recognize that there is a difference between campaigning and governing.  Republicans have listened carefully to the public’s outcry and now accept the responsibility that comes when voters entrust a party to govern according to the will of the people. We are proud to stand with the American people as they send a message to Washington by taking the Speaker’s gavel away from Nancy Pelosi.  Now the real work begins.

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