Guest Speaker Congressman Jason Altmire

On Monday, I went to my "Political Parties and Campaigning" class and had (D)Congressman Jason Altmire speak to the class and tell us about his campaign experience. Congressman Altmire happens to have graduated from Florida State University and was on the football team for a limited time. Enough time to earn him a '89 Sugar Bowl ring. Injuries cut short his career but he was at least able to play against Deion Sanders. He currently represents Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district.

Congressman Altmire quit his job and had one really important primary challenger, Georgia Berner. She was a successful business woman with no political experience but much political influence. When first meeting then candidate Altmire, she made him wait outside her office showing him all of her awards and accommodations.

He went on with the campaign because he felt that 2006 would be a year where Democrats would take back control of Congress, which they of course did. Candidate Altmire decided to go all out campaigning and made many more campaign appearances and stops then his much richer and overly confident opponent. Without having taken one poll himself, candidate Altmire won the primary for the Democrat party and would now face three term incumbent (R)Melissa Hart who was an election veteran and had won her past three races by +10 point margins.

Needless to say candidate Altmire was huge underdog but he gave it his best shot. Luckily, Melissa Hart underestimated him also and didn't give her election campaign as much time or thought as she should have. She still easily raised more money, but didn't work as hard.

Candidate Altmire had around $100,000 in cash in June and went to then Congressman Rahm Emanuel to try and get some money and attention from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee which he chairs. The amount was not enough for Rahm Emanuel to give him the light of day and Altmire was not given much chance by the national party to win. Candidate Altmire called back and asked for money but was once again dismissed by Rahm when he told how much he had raised.

Finally, a month before the election, Rahm Emanuel calls and asks how much cash he has on hand. Candidate Altmire had only $250,000 at the time and he lied about how much he had. Rahm Emanuel called him out with that dirty mouth of his and asked again "how much?" Altmire tells him and Rahm Emanuel "suggests" that if he were in his position, he would spend all his money in the next week. Altmire protests and tell Emanuel that if he did that, he would quickly be out of money. Rahm Emanuel repeats what he said and Altmire confusingly repeats what he said.

After the phone call, Altmire discusses the phone call with his advisors and they agree to spend most of the money for a week's worth of ads. Jason Altmire was able to run TV ads for the entire last month thanks to the large amount of donations he received in the last month. Only then did many realize he had a shot against a Republican incumbent and donate money. He ended up winning by +4 points.

He gave some piece of advice for those who may want to run a political campaign in the future.

• No campaign stop is too small or insignificant.
• Use polls to find out winning issues.
• Do not spend any of your own money! Unless of course, your filthy rich.
• Start campaigning early.
• Use technology to your advantage.

In both the primary and general election, Jason Altmire was the underdog and raised less money then his main opponent. He won by sheer will and hard work. Now he gets to tell the woman who made him wait outside her office what to do, literally, she works on one of his advisory comittees. Keep your friends close and enemies closer, I guess.