You can’t throw money at a problem. You can’t just have a small clique. You can’t just appeal to single-issue voters. It’s the economy, stupid. All politics is local.
These were the political lessons we learned, or cited, in the 1990s. While the respective parties learned them differently, many Americans felt the Republican Party understood them best and took them to heart.
If we look at the 2022 midterms, in which, it should be noted, the Republicans did make gains, the victory was soft because the GOP — that is, the Republican Party leadership and infrastructure — either forgot or never learned those lessons. And they wasted energy fighting each other over who got credit, before securing victory.
While mail-in ballots have turned into a monster unto themselves, early and absentee voting has always been around. Republicans seem to think GOTV, or get out the vote, now stands for “get out those voicemails.” Or worse, text messages.
Money alone in politics is not enough anymore; our fractured media system has minimized that.
Winning in the political arena will always rely more on work, smart strategy, and coalitions than blindly spending money.
It is time the GOP is run by experts with a plan, not political hacks with the right country club connections.
Vincent A.J. Errichetti
Woburn
The writer is the former political director of the Massachusetts Republican Party and a retired political consultant.