Our recent book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses the state of the parties. The state of the GOP is not good.
A number of years ago, I noted a connection between various Republican consultants and the incestuous ties within political campaigns. The GOP has a problem with a lot of consultants. They get paid commissions whether a candidate wins or loses. They get commissions from most parts of a campaign business and, interestingly, do not invest in parts that do not pay commissions. It is time for action.
On the consultant front, here in Georgia, it is not just that Raphael Warnock outspent Herschel Walker. It is how Warnock outspent Walker. In 2021, Warnock had over seventy varieties of streaming ads for digital services. The Republicans had two. This time, again, Warnock more precisely targeted various voters online than the GOP did. One will not be surprised to discover how little consultants make off digital advertising.
In 2008 and 2012, Barack Obama brought his consulting team in house, paid them salaries, and gave them benefits. The GOP continued to rely on outside consultants who drew commissions and often worked multiple candidates. Obama hired some of the best and had them totally committed to him. The GOP hired the freelancers who freelanced and made commissions. Obama got better deals because his consultants were in house, not marking up their work for commissions.
There really are no commissions for early voting ground games. The GOP consultants have focused on media ad buys, mail pieces, and not critical operations for vote mobilization. That must change for the GOP to win. Either the consultants need to rethink or the GOP needs better consultants.
