Getting beyond money and pom-poms: How Saco is reaching 'real' voters

I attended my first political "house party" in 1994 when I was a senior in college. It was hosted by one of former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell's brothers for would-be Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Brennan (Brennan eventually lost the general election to Independent Angus King).  I was invited because I was a member of the Colby Democrats and the Brennan campaign was trying to recruit volunteers in the Waterville area.

I was interested in going because, up until that point, the closest contact I'd had to a political house party was eating lunch every Sunday at my uncle's house in Sanford; he was a local Selectman, hardly a mover and shaker in the political world, to say the least.

The Brennan house party was largely unmemorable, except for the fact that I noticed several attendees dropping large checks into a basket located on the Mitchell's kitchen table; and all the local and state politicians in attendance clamored to shake hands with as many of those check-writing folks as possible. Meanwhile, Brennan staffers were busy getting young folks with time on their hands, like me, to sign up as volunteers to go door-to-door and staff phone banks. 

That was the first and last house party I attended until I decided, in 2007, to run for office myself. In the course of the last year and a half, I've attended nearly 100 house parties and other political events and now, with the November elections looming, hardly a day goes by when I don't get invited to some shindig or another. Every candidate for every local, state and federal office has these events to raise money and garner supporters.

The attendees today are largely the same as those at the house party I attended in 1994 and can be generally broken down into three categories: (1) people who can write big checks (i.e. the "money" people); (2) activists or potential volunteers (i.e. the "pom-pom" wavers); and (3) candidates that want to attract 1 and 2. 

It's rare to find "real" voters at these events. By "real" I mean the folks that go to work everyday, pay their bills, pay their taxes, etc. In other words, folks that typically vote in November, but otherwise aren't active in partisan politics. Real voters don't have much by the way of disposable income, especially for politicians (i.e. they are not money people) and, although they have plenty at stake regarding who gets elected each year, they don't have a lot of time to do anything about it (i.e. they are not pom-pom wavers).  In Maine, most everyone is a "real" voter and very few are money people or pom-pom wavers (around 750,000 Mainers voted in the 2004 presidential election, the third highest percentage in the nation; whereas a house party or other political-style event is considered successful if it yields a few dozen attendees).

Hence, the challenge for candidates is reaching the vast majority of voters that aren't money people or pom-pom wavers. To do so, they go to bean suppers and ball games. They go door-to-door. They plaster their signs up and down Main Street and they infiltrate our homes with television commercials and get-out-the-vote "robo" calls.   

While most politicians are following this script, several in Saco are using a different approach: Constituent services. 

Last week, the same city that boasts the state's first municipally owned midsize windmill, hosted an "Energy Expo" at Saco City Hall. Dubbed "real people with real solutions" the concept was formulated by State Rep. Linda Valentino and hosted by Valentino, State Sen. Barry Hobbins, Rep. Don Pilon, Mayor Ron Michaud, and the Saco city councilors. It featured informational and sign-up booths for various local, state, federal and private sector programs that address renewable energy heating options, home repair, weatherization, simplified electricity payment plans and property tax relief, to name a few. There was also a booth for people to check in and see if they were one of Saco's 2,600 residents who had unclaimed property being held by the state (totaling over $400,000).

Notably missing from the expo were political campaign signs, palm cards and eager staffers seeking money people and pom-pom wavers.

The result? People showed up in droves, lining up outside City Hall 45 minutes before the start of the event. 

"We were not prepared for this large a turnout," said Valentino. "There were more people there than every event I'd had combined over the past four years."

One elderly woman attended the expo curious as to whether it would be helpful for her. She left a few hours later, having realized she qualified for LiHEAP, a Circuit Breaker Program refund and a $300 Economic Stimulus Payment from the feds. She also had money on the unclaimed property list. A grand total of over $2,000.

Constituent services. Imagine that. What a novel concept.  I think the folks in Saco are on to something.

It will be interesting to see if other candidates follow suit in the coming weeks. What will be more interesting to see is if elected officials host similar events after the elections. It's gonna be a long winter and real voters are looking for some help.

Adam Cote, born and raised in Sanford, is a former Democratic candidate for Maine's 1st Congressional District and is the president of the Maine Young Democrats. He served in the Army in Bosnia and Iraq and is a member of the Renewable Energy and Governmental Relations Practice Group at the law firm of Pierce Atwood LLP in Portland, where he lives with his wife and three young daughters.

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