Here’s a simple test to check if your election campaign in on the right track. When I have a new client, one of the first questions I ask him is this: who is running your campaign?
If the answer is more than one name or something different from one name, or if the client hesitates to answer the question, I know that he is in trouble.
Election campaigns are extremely chaotic operations. A clear structure helps to manage and navigate through the chaos.
I have been in campaigns where seven people thought they were the campaign manager. In other cases, the candidate “guessed” that he is running it himself when confronted with the question. Both approaches are bound to fail.
A campaign manager has some discretionary power over staff and budget. Staff and budget. If he can not decide on those, he’s not the campaign manager, but rather the executive assistant of the actual campaign manager, which is highly likely a family member of the candidate.
A candidate should vet his team carefully, but then trust and empower his people.