Confusion caused by the chaos of war or battle; The Fog of War. This concept has been studied and heavily written about. As we move toward Election Day on November 6, many candidates are dealing with a similar fog, the fog of campaigns. While campaigns are not life-and-death, and I’m in no way comparing the realities of campaigns to war, the day-to-day ebbs and flows of a campaign can create confusion and a myopic view by candidates and campaigns. You hear things like, “everyone I talk to knows me, we are doing good” or “everyone on social media is talking about the same issue, we need to focus on that more.” Finally, my favorite one, “my opponent has signs everywhere, we are losing.”

Successful campaigns recognize the trap of falling into this fog and losing sight of the big-picture by creating safeguards.

• Establishing trustworthy outside advisors – Staff, internal advisors, and consultants that work on the day-to-day of campaigns can overlook strategic errors. However, outside advisors can help keep a campaign grounded and their fresh perspective is key.
• Trust the plan and work the plan – While plans need to be adjusted, campaigns need to stay disciplined and execute the plan they developed.
• Keep the candidate disciplined – Candidates often get sidetracked by noise that doesn’t impact the outcome on election day. Successful campaigns keep their candidate focused on two things: voter contact (door-to-door at the state legislature level) and fundraising.

As we near the final month of campaigning, candidates are working hard to secure a victory on election night. The key for many campaigns will be to navigate the fog created by the process and make clear, disciplined decisions.

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