Mail or TV? Mail wins in New Mexico

Every campaign must decide how best to deliver its message to the voters. The possible choices are obvious but the debate usually turns to television advertising or direct mail, with mail consultants arguing for the latter and media consultants arguing for the former. Both have their place, but in the GOP's recent upset victory in New Mexico's Third Congressional District by Bill Redmond, it was clearly mail that drove the big Republican turnout advantage.

TV played an important supporting role, but it was the mail, delivered repeatedly to carefully targeted households, that explained to Republican voters that Bill Redmond is an honest guy with a nice family who wants to work to make things better. It was also mail, carefully conceived and delivered into targeted Democratic households, that defined Democrat Eric Serna as a politician with a long history of ethical problems. And it was also mail that defined Carol Miller, the Green Party candidate, as an acceptable alternative to those Democrats who could not bring themselves to vote for Serna.

From the beginning, mail was to be the primary means of delivering our message. We knew we would need a television presence - "air cover" if you will - to legitimize Redmond. But we also knew our message would be delivered "below the radar" directly to the voters via the mail box.

There are about 81,000 Republican voters in the district. There are about 60,000 "pure" Republican households. This group was targeted to receive at least four pieces of mail. One piece, which caused some jeers from some of my colleagues, was an artistic rendition of the Hale-Bopp comet along with the message that this special election was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to elect a Republican in this normally Democratic bastion (see front of mailer, this page). It didn't hurt that the co-discoverer of the comet, Mr. Hale, is a New Mexican and that the Comet had been on the front page of the major daily newspapers for nearly three weeks.

As more money became available, additional mail pieces were added to the schedule, including:

* A letter from the candidate's wife, Shirley-Raye Redmond, targeted to female Republicans.

* A mailer assuring seniors that Redmond would work to protect Social Security and Medicare.

* Another piece characterizing Redmond as an honest and ethical man, contrasting him to Serna, who was portrayed as corrupt.

Virtually all of the mail was prepared and mailed by the Republican Party of New Mexico, taking advantage of their special non-profit postage rate.

If it was mail that carried the load in convincing Republicans to vote for Bill Redmond, it was also the mail sent to Democratic households that defined Eric Serna. Historically, Democrats get about 57 percent of their votes out of the upper Rio Grande valley. We targeted this area for repeated mail attacks on Serna, defining him by his own record.

One piece featured a montage of headlines from area newspapers that had run stories on his ethics problems. Another featured two graphics of a aircraft. One was small and similar to one Eric Serna used to transport his friends to horse races, the other was a large airliner. The copy suggested that Serna would need a bigger plane to get his friends to the horse races if he was elected to Congress.

Perhaps the most controversial piece of mail was also the simplest. A local monthly tabloid published two articles on the race. One was a scathing review of Serna's record. The other was a generous description of the Green candidate Carol Miller. The articles were so good, that the Redmond Campaign reprinted them in their entirety and mailed them to every Democratic household in the upper Rio Grande valley. The piece hit on Saturday and Monday prior to the election and had Democrats screaming foul. It was perfectly legal and proper, however, and the piece carried Bill Redmond's disclaimer. When asked by the press the intent of the piece, Redmond answered honestly that the pieces showed Serna to be too corrupt and Miller to be too liberal. In fact, the mailer probably gave Democrats a place to go other than Serna.

The lesson learned from this upset win is that mail is a very effective means of delivering your message. It is cost effective and highly targetable. It should always be part of a campaign's media mix.

Dave Pearson directed Redmond's media campaign.

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