QUESTIONNAIRES
If you receive questionnaires from antichoice organizations or those
which include opposition to abortion on their agenda, try to send a
written response, so you cannot be accused of failing to answer or
have answers made up for you by people who oppose you. Anti-choice
groups like the Christian Coalition use questionnaires to produce
slanted, damaging voters' guides. In many instances, such groups have
filled in the questions with their assessment of what the pro-choice
candidate would have said if he or she had responded to the
questionnaire.
Be aware that an answer to any specific question that does not agree
exactly with the group's position may be distorted, or that the
question itself may be hopelessly slanted. Thus, the best solution is
probably a letter stating that since the format of the questionnaire
does not enable you to answer the questions fully, you have enclosed
your basic position statement.
NEGATIVE ADVERTISING
A few extremist candidates attack their opponents for being pro-choice
in television advertising by using deliberately offensive pictures,
claiming to show the results of abortion. No candidate using this kind
of advertising has received any significant vote, but it is possible
that these ads will reappear in 1996. If one does show up in your
area, respond by strongly stating your pro-choice position. Try to
avoid any action which only calls more attention to material that many
people find offensive. If asked about such advertising, calmly repeat
your own pro-choice position. Let other voters and pro-choice
activists and leaders speak out and criticize the ad.
Other more subtle forms of negative advertising may distort your
position on certain forms of restrictions. If you have any reason to
expect this or any form of antiabortion organizational activity, be
sure that political reporters have information about these groups and
their extreme positions.
Be alert for evidence that outside groups have initiated and/or paid
for negative attacks. Monitor campaign contribution reports for such
spending. Voters do not like to think that outsiders are coming into
their community just to attack.
LEAFLETTING
A common tactic by some antiabortion groups is to distribute very
negative, emotionally charged leaflets just before election day,
especially in church parking lots. Be prepared and expect leafletting
in your race.
Alert the press formally or informally, to let them know what may be
happening. Talk with church boards and ministers. Ask them not to
allow their church to be used in this way.
Prepare your own attractive, attention-getting flyers for distribution
by your campaign in the same or similar locations, which correct any
misinformation and/or state your support for positions endorsed by
religious groups on a variety of issues.
The use of anonymous, negative leaflets to smear pro-choice candidates
may be even more of a problem in the 1996 campaigns, because the
Supreme Court recently decided that groups distributing such leaflets
do not have to identify themselves by name on the leaflet.
DIRECT MAIL
Targeted direct mail is dangerous because it can deliver a negative
message against you without giving you any opportunity to respond.
Your campaign should stay alert to evidence of negative mail; it is
useful to have some of your supporters on mailing lists to receive
mail that is going out.
If you expect mail to be used against you, your campaign plan may
include provision for your own direct mail program. Consider whether
this effort should respond to your opponents mail or take the
initiative on issues of your own.
Because such mail is often extreme in language and sometimes distorted
in substance, it can be turned to your advantage. If there are any
inaccuracies, be sure the press is made aware of the misstatements of
the facts. Hold your opponent accountable for any misstatement. Call
for a retraction or correction.
PERSONAL ATTACKS
There is no surer sign of the weakness of the antichoice movement than
the harsh personal attacks used by so many of its members. Picketers
with gruesome pictures may show up at campaign appearances. Epithets
such as "Nazi" or "murderer" have been used against candidates.
Campaign offices and even candidates' families have been targeted for
abuse.
These tactics are very hard on the people who are attacked, but they
are likely to boomerang and help the campaign. Most voters and the
press are offended by this type of campaigning.
When dealing with harassers, don't get distracted from your main
message. Remember, most voters are on your side, especially if you
come under attack. If the same few people cause problems at public
forums, acknowledge your difference of opinion with them on this topic
and move on to another subject. The rest of the audience will be
relieved and impressed.
TELEPHONE POLLING
A tactic that has been used in some negative campaigns (including
presidential candidate Bob Dole's campaign) is to spread deliberately
distorted information in the form of a poll. The first question asks
if the voter is aware of a particular fact, which may be untrue or
distorted. The second question asks if this information has an impact
on the voter's decision.
The effect of this tactic is to plant negative information in voters'
minds without seeming to be connected to the opponent's campaign. If
you have any evidence that such calling is being done, get the facts
to your local press. Voters react strongly to "dirty tricks."
THE OTHER SIDE OF NEGATIVE CAMPAIGNING
Remember that you can use negative campaigning directed at you to your
own advantage by circulating it among your volunteers and
contributors. Evidence of such unfair attacks can encourage your
supporters to do more.
Copies of the mail against you can be an effective fundraising tool.
Use quotes or replicas of a particularly offensive piece against you
in your own direct mail to supporters.
GETTING OUT THE VOTE
The importance of systematic, careful efforts to get out your voters
cannot be overemphasized. Remember, most voters do not share the
agenda of antichoice groups like the Christian Coalition. Central to
their successes has been their ability to get a much larger share of
their supporters to the polls. If opposition to abortion has been an
issue in your campaign, it should include a get-out-the-vote drive
using this issue to motivate pro-choice voters. Pro-choice groups can
provide important assistance.
If you have been able to canvass and identify all the voters in your
district, you're ready for election day. But even if your campaign
could not reach everyone, you can expand your ability to pull the
pro-choice vote by working with pro-choice organizations and their
allies.
Excerpted with permission from Winning with Choice: The 1996 Guide
to Winning Elections with a Pro-Choice Message. Copies are available
for $5.00 each from Voters for Choice, PO Box 53301, Washington, DC
20040-5301.
© 1998 Institute for First Amendment Studies, Inc.
