Encinitas Mayor Explains How She Wins Elections
“I’ll start with the bottom line,” said Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear. “Winning elections comes down to two things: money and name recognition.
“The rules for contributing to campaigns boggle my mind. I rely on my treasurer and handlers to keep track and make sure everything is on the up and up. Anyone who wants to decipher the rules can check them here:
“All I know is it takes a big bundle of money to run — let alone win — a campaign for elected office. So I just keep doing fundraisers, begging for money on social media and agreeing to quid pro quos with PACs and other big donors. Politics is very much a you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours thing. Any candidate who doesn’t scratch loses.
“The huge majority of voters pay no attention to local politics on a daily basis. They are clueless about what’s going on in their city, Senate and Assembly district, county or state. That is, unless it’s next door and directly affecting them in a bad way. Maybe there’s a little more awareness at the state level because it’s in the news and on social media to some degree. There’s a lot more attention paid to the federal level because it’s in the news and on social media — good or bad — every day.
“Few voters know to connect my name with the positions I hold and what I’ve done in them. Then it turns out that a lot of what they think they know is wrong. The mountain of ignorance is staggering. Only a small number of activists know what’s really going on in, say, the city, county or a state Senate district.
“So my job as a candidate is to get my name connected with one or two things that almost everybody sees as good. The KISS principle applies: Keep It Simple Stupid. And what every other candidate and I dread is getting her or his name linked to something that nearly everyone sees as bad. It can be the death knell in politics.
“That’s what name recognition is about. When a voter sees a candidate’s name on the ballot, the candidate wants that name connected with something good in the voter’s mind. Oh, Blakespear, she’s the one who rescues puppies and kittens! It doesn’t matter that I totally screwed up 101 between Cardiff and Solana Beach and caused dozens of bike accidents and injuries there. Same with all my other tragedies. What the voter remembers is the puppies and kittens.
“Here’s an example that illustrates my voter ignorance and name recognition points: About a dozen years ago, city Councilman Dan Dalager got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. He was appropriately chastised, charged, convicted and required to perform community service.
“In spite of that, he had the audacity to run for council again! I think that was in 2008 or 2010. He got the least number of votes of several candidates who ran. Q: How can a guy who was convicted of taking bribes get any votes at all? A: Name recognition and many ignorant voters not connecting Dalager’s name with his misdeeds.
“So that’s my how-to-get-elected story. Thanks for asking.”
