Monday, March 24, 2008

Run the Other Way: Fixing the Two-Party System, One Campaign at a Time by Bill Hillsman

A marketing communications and political and public affairs consultant, Hillsman ran Paul Wellstone's Senate campaign. He combines a memoir of his efforts with a guide to combating what he calls the Election Industry, Inc. Among his topics are why good people won't run for office, how to win without big money, learning from commercial advertising, how negative advertising is used to inhibit voter turnout, and the best use for political polls (buy them by the roll). - SBCL

Hillsman owns a small advertising agency in Minnesota. He did the political advertising campaign for Paul Wellstone for the US Senate. I remember the ad "Fast-Paced Paul" to this day. It was a spoof on traditional political commercials, very effective, got Wellstone a lot of free press and, guess what, he was elected.

This ad man has applied the principles of good commercial advertising to political campaigns ever since with some interesting stories to tell and successes to brag about.

Do political ads make you nauseous? Do you turn them off? Do they turn you off? Did you ever think that may be their intent? Cynical, I know. But it bears some thought.

This is a great, entertaining book with a mission. The American electorate needs to know the character of the candidate, where they stand on the important issues, and the truth. What a concept! - Mattie Rae

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