Recall Tactics, Part 1

The recall election is underway -- with absentee voting taking place now at the Summit County Board of Elections, even with the actual deadline to register for the election next Tuesday.

Amazing how quickly government can work sometimes...

So now it's not just about whether voters want to see the issue on the ballot. The campaign now centers on the public and the private strategy of each side with the counting that starts after polls close at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 the only thing that matters. Less than five short weeks, with at least four days between now and then taken up by Memorial Day holiday activities (rotten time to campaign), the end of the school term, vacations and the general malaise surrounding anything political between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

In this case of the compressed campaign, the push to organize get-out-their-vote drives is on a very short leash. With effectively only four weeks to get done what normally takes four months, the strength of the political machinery on both sides will be tested.

So what strategy to adopt for each side?

The ChangeAkronNow folks need to continue their momentum beyond the 3,179 certified signatures it took to get the recall on the ballot. They need to convince those who signed the petitions to take the next step by voting, and try to convince those on the fence to fall their way -- and to vote that way. So far, it's been grass-roots campaigning, with the strong use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook, word of mouth, and use of shoe leather. But their task isn't as hard as it is for those arguing on behalf of Mayor Plusquellic. Anger and outrage, deserved or not, is a supreme motivator for people entering a voting booth. In this case, word of mouth works best because it is one-one-one and intimate; it also doesn't have to stand the test of truth-telling or challenge.

In terms of putting on a media show of pro-recall advertising, that takes money. Raising funds to support an effective ad campaign would cost thousands of dollars. It will be tough waging that kind of political war against a two-decades plus incumbent who clearly knows not only how to raise campaign money on his own, but also understands how to freeze out potential support for his opposition. Look for more push for so-called "free media" from the pro-recall effort, although in today's news environment that effectively limits them to the Beacon Journal and West Side Leader on the print side and broadcast news & talk outlets WAKR, WNIR, WKSU, WCPN and WHLO. I hope I'm wrong, but Cleveland television can be expected to treat this as they do most Akron issues -- with a 1:40 package the days before the election, unless something better is happening in Westlake.

The tactics for Citizens For Akron will be much more nuanced; not only do they need to convince voters the recall is unwarranted, they need to motivate voters to care enough to lift themselves off the chair and get in front of a ballot. The biggest problem Plusquellic supporters may have is indicated by a conversation I had recently with a woman at the Starbucks on Sand Run -- not an area of the city known particularly as a hotbed of revolutionary thought.

She doesn't like the idea of the recall, telling me she thinks Plusquellic's done nothing illegal or unethical to warrant being tossed out of office two years before his term ends. She thinks it is a waste of time and money, but here's the problem for the pro-Plusquellic campaign: she also doesn't like the mayor personally.

She tells me she while she believes it is a big mistake to recall Plusquellic, she isn't invested enough in the civic duty part of being an Akron voter to come to his aid. She needs a personal reason to vote no to vote yes for Plusquellic, and that's her tough choice because she doesn't like the way he treats people.

There's the rub of the greatest challenge for the mayor's supporters: the very passion which makes Plusquellic a powerful and, on a great many occasions, an effective advocate on behalf of Akron is his greatest asset. It's also his greatest liability. In the same conversation supporters opine Akron is in far better shape than every other northern Ohio major city, and they credit the Plusquellic Administration with being pro-active rather than reactive. But in the next sentence they'll shake their heads over name-calling, finger-pointing and bring up stories such as arguing with parking lot attendants and saying opponents have special places in hell reserved for them when he loses.

It's not the big picture with all the talk of travel budgets, long-term or short-term debt that seems to spark the greatest reaction. It is the little things that all of us can relate to -- how do the big guys treat the little guys, and should that be the biggest part of the equation when the big guy needs the little guy to vote?

The conventional wisdom politically is to come out with guns blazing, and that's been the history of the mayor's pattern of response...but is it the wise course of action when blazing guns appears to be why people will vote against you, or worse yet decide to not vote for you?

Supporters tell me they intend to wage an intensive feet-on-the-ground education campaign detailing the plus of Plusquellic. WKYC's Eric Mansfield Tuesday night aired portions of a sit-down with Plusquellic that broke little new ground. I think the interesting take-away, however, is the mayor's tone: less combative than we're used to, perhaps an acknowledgment that in this case leadership style may very well play the major role in this election.

WKYC-TV video; if embed doesn't work you can find it here on WKYC.com