Posted by
Warner Todd Huston on Saturday, December 24, 2011 2:50:42 PM
-By Warner Todd Huston
When Howard Dean became a surprise front runner in the
Democrat primary of 2004 doing so on the basis of a strong Internet-based
campaign effort, tongues began to wag that the Internet might replace old fashioned retail politics. This
time 'round Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich served to get people to question the
old way of organizing a campaign.
But this week we've seen in Virginia why these airy claims
of the Internet's new dominance is a bit chimerical. We see that old fashioned,
boots on the ground politics is still the best method to election.
By all methods of measure, Texas Governor Rick Perry is
still a strong candidate in the 2012 GOP Primary race. He sometimes comes in
second, third or fourth in polls, but is still considered a top contender for
the nomination. Yet as the time came to file his petition signatures in
Virginia, it turned out his campaign could not collect enough to get his name
on the ballot. So, a reputed front running candidate for the nomination, Rick
Perry, will not even appear on the Virginia primary ballot.
Perry isn't the only one. Neither Bachmann, Huntsman, nor
Santorum had the organization in the Commonwealth to gather enough signatures
to make the ballot. Further, it was thought Newt Gingrich barely had enough to
make it but as the final tally was made he didn’t have enough to make the
ballot, either. And Newt is a resident of Virginia!
In the end, as the file date came and went only Mitt Romney
and Ron Paul ended up clearly succeeding in turning in enough signatures to
make the ballot.
So, what happened here? It all comes down to retail
politics. Both Romney and Paul had the organizations with enough people right
there in Virginia to pass around their candidate's petitions and gather the
requisite number of signatures. The others simply did not have the campaign
staff or enough support in individual workers ready to hit the streets for them
that Romney and Paul had.
This shows that the Internet really isn't enough. It shows
that organization still reigns supreme in the primary process. After all, if
one can't even get his name on a ballot, how does one take the next step toward
becoming the nominee?
Since the beginning of this primary race there were only
three candidates with a ground game. Mitt Romney who spent the last four years
creating his organization, Ron Paul whose absurdly young army of acolytes will
do anything for him -- and which Paul spent six years assembling -- and the
first major candidate to quit the effort, Tim Pawlenty.
All the rest have been flying by the seat of their pants
with little money and fewer numbers in their state-to-state organizations.
They've been relying on good showings in the many debates -- which has been a
bigger factor than it has in the past, admittedly -- and the Internet to make
their dent.
Clearly it hasn't been enough for the lower tier, however.
Regardless of their suitability for the nomination, only Ron Paul and Mitt
Romney have the ground game to appear on every state's primary ballots. It's
the old fashioned game of retail politics that has made the difference for
them. Both spent years and tons of cash to make that happen, too.
Fair or not, until there is some major change in our primary
system the ground game will make all the difference.