The Cost of a Campaign

How much does a campaign cost, anyway? 

Direct mail is a must for local candidates. 

Benjamin Katz, blogger for CompleteCampaigns.com, says the going rate for winning a campaign is about $3 per voter. "Many campaign professionals recommend communicating with each potential voter six times," said Katz, meaning each contact costs 50 cents.

Candidates can reach out to voters in several ways, but the most effective are usually direct mail and door-to-door outreach. Each requires some printed material for voters, which adds up over time.

Yard signs are another expensive tool. 

Another big expense for campaigns is yard signs. Ben Donahower, author of Everything You Know About Campaign Signs Is Wrong, suggests multiplying the number of voters by the voter turnout and then dividing that number by eight to estimate the number of signs needed for the campaign.

To give you an idea of how much campaign materials cost at the local level, consider the two bloggers' equations for Adair County.

Adair County had a voter turnout in the last presidential election of 68% - which leaves us with an estimated 12,000 voters for this election. That means that at $3 per voter, a candidate hoping to reach every single voter would need to raise $36,000.

Of course, candidates realize they don't need to contact each and every voter. This number just gives us a rough idea of how much a campaign can potentially cost.

Thoughts or questions about these numbers? Let us know by leaving a comment below!

Adair County Economic Profile

Understanding the economic background of the electorate is an integral part of a campaign in any region.  The businesses present in the region include not only a large number of voters, but also monied interests that can bolster or smother any campaign.

  Adair County, part of Missouri’s 9th District, is a rural county that is both poorer and less racially diverse than Missouri as a whole.


Common jobs data for Adair County is included in nonmetropolitan North Missouri data, where these top five occupations account for almost 55% of jobs.

Over the past 15 years, Adair has seen a 16% dip in the number of citizens participating in the labor force, meaning that, although the number of residents has stayed fairly constant, the number of Adair county residents working or searching for a job has declined significantly.

Since 2009, the Adair population has increased from 25,125 to 25,552 while the labor force, those working or looking for a job, has decrease from 13,704 to 12,611.

*Graph constructed from FRED Labor Force Participation and FRED Resident Population data.

While labor unions or social interest groups might require the spotlight in more metropolitan areas, the economic interests of Adair County center around large Missouri employers like Walmart, as well as small, local businesses.

Valuable Resources: Missouri Election Commission

Before candidates can raise funds in Missouri, they have to know the rules they’re playing by.

The Missouri Ethics Commission is the governing body that manages candidate and campaign fundraising. They do a great job of providing candidates with all of the pertinent information for running a campaign within Missouri’s election parameters.

The MEC tries its hardest to simplify its rules and regulations for the people running. Since a lot of local candidates are first-timers, they provide tons of online tutorials, simplified brochures, and calendars to keep everyone on track. 

One of my favorite resources on the MEC website is the fundraising brochure. It breaks down the requirements for fundraising "activities" and provides an example of how to report money collected at fundraisers, as shown below. 

An example of fundraising record-keeping.

The Commission also provides email and phone support for confused candidates. When I emailed the MEC with questions about where to find campaign finance reports for a specific candidate, they responded within two hours. What great service!

In the coming weeks, we'll talk to candidates about how useful they find the MEC's resources to be and how they navigate the complicated system that is campaign finance reform.

Welcome!

Hello from Beg and Borrow

This year's election cycle will be the most expensive in America's history. With $5.8 million in play for the presidential election alone, it's hard to imagine how local candidates can even begin to compete with the overwhelming $30 million of campaign spending on the federal level. 

Federal campaigns have spent almost $30 million in Missouri.  

Beg and Borrow was created as part of a Political Communication course at Truman State University. 
When we first started considering potential topics, we found two interests guided our suggestions.

First, we knew we wanted to learn about some aspect of campaign finance. Between the impact of the 2010 Citizens United case and the record-breaking fundraising of the 2012 presidential election, we wanted to take a hard look at what it takes to get a candidate elected. 

We also considered the lack of analysis at the local level of campaigning and thought a focus on the races that most directly impact Missouri residents would be more interesting than on national-level fundraising.

Thus, Beg and Borrow was born.

Throughout the next few weeks, we will provide an in-depth look at how local candidates raise funds in Missouri. We will interview candidates to learn more about how "real" people raise money to run for local office as well as conduct our own research to provide suggestions and product reviews for future campaigns.

You can follow our progress through the coming weeks on Twitter.