Posted: November 26th, 2014

Analysis of Interest Group Dynamics

Analysis of Interest Group Dynamics

Analysis of Interest Group Dynamics. Each student will select and analyze the mission, strategies, tactics, execution of tactics, and political effectiveness of a local interest group that attempts to have an influence on public policy outcomes. Based on this analysis, the student will provide a brief report, submitted via e-mail, on his/her findings. The report will focus in particular on whether or not the organization studied is effective in the public policy arena and the reasons for its effectiveness or lack thereof. These reports should be about 2,000 words (i.e., equivalent to a four page paper). The professor will evaluate your report based on how well you understand and present the salient features of the group’s effectiveness or lack thereof.

EFFECTIVE POLITICAL ACTION ORGANIZATIONS
(Possible Outline for Final Assignment)
Vision/Mission (Zeitgeist):
•    Does the organization have a clear strategic vision about what it’s trying to achieve in the public policy arena – and why?
•    Does the organization’s strategic vision have potency in the current climate of public opinion?

Constituencies (Marketing/Recruiting):
•    Who are the organization’s constituents, i.e., who cares enough about the issues with which it is engaged to identify with it and its desired outcomes?
•    Does the organization have a significantly large number of members/constituents to leverage political change?  Who are those constituents and how does the organization recruit and communicate with them?
•    If the organization has only a small constituency, is that constituency made up of people with power (wealth, political influence) sufficiently great to achieve public policy outcomes?A

Organizational Structure:
•    What is the organizational structure of the group and is it an efficient and functional structure for achieving public policy outcomes?
•    Is the organization permanent in nature or is it an ad hoc organization (i.e., formed to deal with a temporary political issue)?

Financing:
•    Does the organization have a level of financing that is sufficiently great to support the activities it must engage in to achieve its policy goals (i.e., enough to engage in the activities mentioned below)?
•    Where does the organization’s operating money come from (i.e., many small donations from members or very large infusions of cash from wealthy interested parties)?

Campaigns:
•    What are the public policy issues on which the organization is focused and what are the outcomes it desires?
•    What tactics does the organization employ to achieve its goals and does it execute those tactics effectively?
o    Public education campaigns
o    Use of media to change public opinion and the opinions of government officials
o    Lobbying campaigns (direct and indirect)

Outcomes:
•    Is the organization winning in its campaigns to achieve public policy outcomes?
•    Do you predict that the organization “has a future”, i.e., will be effective in the public policy arena for the next several years?

This paper I need you select and analyze the mission, strategies, tactics, execution of tactics, and political effectiveness of a local (must be Cincinnati, Ohio) interest group that attempts to have an influence on public policy outcomes.

Last two assignments was Each student is expected to provide 6-8 hours of volunteer work on a candidate’s campaign for public office and analysis one of the candidate you choose & Each student will select a political/public policy topic or issue of real significance to him- or herself and design and execute a web-based communications campaign in support of his/her position on the issue.
I will upload those two doc, hope it helpful for you.

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Report on Governor John Kasich’s Election
Previously, following the increased emphasis of effective political campaign analysis by political analysts, many politicians have put more efforts in the strategic planning process towards a successful political career. According to Brady, Johnston and Sides, the success of a politician in an election is dependent on how effective the planning process is carried out towards meeting a political objective of being elected or re-elected (17). This means that a politician with an aim of meeting the set political objective should conduct a campaign analysis to unfold whether his campaign strategies are effective or not. In this light, I analyzed the case study of Governor John Kasich whom I voluntarily supported during the campaign. I played the role of a night call where my work was to persuade the Ohio residence through office phone calls in an attempt to win more votes for my candidate. In addition, I was actively involved in the distribution of my candidate’s leaflets to the surrounding regions in Mason, Ohio.
The purpose of this paper was to conduct a political campaign analysis based on the campaign experience I acquired during the voluntary work. This analysis will shed light on the (1) financial information of the Governor, (2) his political message, (3) the media strategy used, (4) voter analysis, and (5) finally the prediction of the election outcomes (Nickerson and Rogers 60). However, before arriving on the campaign analysis, I began with a brief synthesis of the background information of the Governor.

1.    Background Information
John Kasich is a member of the Republican Party in the USA who has served as the 69th Governor of Mason, Ohio. He assumed office as the Governor of Ohio on January 10, 2011 having been preceded by Ted Strickland (Donovan and Smith 197). Having grown up with the passion of becoming a prominent politician, he began displaying qualities of a leader while in high school and later in the Ohio State University. This display of leadership qualities led to his appointment as the chairperson of the House Committee on the Budget of the USA on January 3, 1995 to January 3, 2001. He is popular with his outstanding policies that he elaborated in a speech he delivered before Ashtabula County Republicans in 2009. In his speech, he talked about enhancing the labor force in the Ohio’s schools, expansion of Medicaid; eradicate poverty and promoting peace among others.
2.    Financial information
According to Nickerson and Rogers, the main aim of a political campaign is to increase the chances of acquiring victory (51-74). However, a winning political campaign is not possible without adequate finances. This is because there are immense activities all requiring finances to be carried out towards a successful campaign. In this regard, Governor Kasich acquired finances from the Neuhardt campaign, the Ohio Republican Party, friends of Ohio Hospitals, and other individuals. In total about 49 contributors gave $12,155 each towards Kasich’s contribution. On an interview report published on Oct 29, 2014 by the Plain Dealer Newspaper in Cleveland, one campaign official said that it is due to the sufficient finances that Kasich won the gubernatorial election.

3.    Message
For a winning politician, he should have a message that motivates the voters. The candidate’s message is usually integrated with his policy decisions. Kasich’s message was to eradicate poverty through anti-poverty programs, to bring about Medicaid expansion, and enhance peace among others (Nickerson and Rogers 72). As I was involved in passing out information to the Ohio’s residents, I realized that Kasich’s message was a great motivation to the people who for a long time had struggled with poverty. Therefore, Kasich’s election as the Governor would come as a great blessing to many people.
In some cases, many leaders have found themselves unable to highlight their vision and mission of their areas of jurisdiction hence discouraging the people. According to Nickerson and Rogers, the winning of the swing votes for a potential politician greatly depends on the message’s persuasion (56). This is because the swing votes do not offer any surety to the candidate, hence their unreliability. It needs strategic planning when it comes to attracting and acquiring swing votes. Additionally, the Governor ensured that a wide range of the population of Ohio had access to his leaflets that contained his personal details, political objectives, and policies. It was impossible to relay on the use of telephone to communicate to such large number of Ohio’s residence. This is because it is costly and time consuming.
4.    Media strategies
Following the introduction of the internet and increased popularity of computer usage, many politicians have adopted online platform and social media networks such as the Facebook and the Twitter to market their policies and increase their votes. This media strategy was adopted by Governor Kasich with an aim of explaining his policies decisions to the Ohioans. The strategy was a great success resulting to his improved image and personality hence more votes.
Another campaign official responding to the issue of choice of the media by the Governor Kasich said that the Governor’s success was favored by the immense votes acquired through the use of the social media platform. However, the Governor’s success in the Ohio’s election cannot be attributed only to the social networks but also to the use of telephone and the leaflets.
5.    Voter analysis
According to Brady, Johnston and Sides, a candidate must be able to define his votes in terms of whether the votes are unattainable or swing (18-19). This step is very important and should come before strategizing on the media to be used in the campaign. In relation to the case of the Governor Kasich, he first identified the base votes through the help of the opinion poll conducted by the American Public Opinion and Foreign Policy.
Reports on the opinion poll conducted on May by the Public Policy Polling for USA showed that the Governor Kasich attained a 50% out of the 801 respondents. He was followed by Ed FitzGerald who attained 44% out of the 801 sample size (Dewhirst and Rausch 301). Considering the fact that Governor Kasich won the gubernatorial election in 2014 by 63.85%, one can estimate that the swing votes were around 13.85% following the poll’s results.
6.    Prediction of the election outcomes
It is vital to predict on the outcomes of an election based on the strategic measures employed in the planning process by the opponent(s). These strategic measures are not limited to the media campaign used, the political message passed to the target voters, the level of motivation to the target voters, and how the connection to the swing votes was established. In our case, Kasich’s message was more persuasive and appealing hence resulted into the victory over Ed FitzGerald’s (Brady, Johnston and Sides).
Although Kasich was criticized by Ed FitzGerald for signing into law income tax cuts, and his lack of transparency at offering Ohio jobs, many Ohioans continued to believe in his policies and outstanding leadership qualities. In comparison to Kasich’s close opponent Ed FitzGerald, there was an effective connection to the swing votes through the use of telephone and the leaflets. Although both the candidates embraced the social media network platforms, Kasich summoned an extra effort in the voters’ persuasion through the help of the prints.
7.    Findings
Governor Kasich employed the strategic planning process in his political campaign. These strategic measures are; the use of an effective media to reach the target voters, the market strategy, the financial capability, and the suitability of the message passed to the target voters. In addition, he outlined his political objectives, vision, and mission for Ohio before venturing into the campaigns. Although he could not finance the campaign from his inadequate funds from the business career, the Neuhardt, the Ohio Republican Party, and friends and relatives supported him (Dewhirst and Rausch 309).
The other factor that contributed to the success of Governor Kasich was the embrace of the interview conducted by the Plain Dealer Newspaper in Cleveland. These interviews helped to set a platform from which the Governor made known his political ambitions and objectives to the people of Ohio. Although the interviews were effective in enhancing his image, there are several setbacks involved. For instance, Governor Kasich refused to answer some sensitive questions such as what measures to put in place to curb rape crisis (Dewhirst and Rausch 315).
8.    Conclusion and recommendations
Following the concept of analyzing a political campaign, it is imperative that different politicians have different political strategizes employed during campaign. The success in politics therefore depends on how effective the planning process is. This is because although there are plenty of opportunities that can lead to a winning campaign, ineffective strategizes can be prevalent. This calls for carefulness on the part of the political candidate in the laying down of the strategic planning decisions. The implication of this is that as much as politicians want to win an election, they should not overlook the importance of conducting a political campaign analysis.
Based on the findings of this report, it is true that the 4 m’s (market, message, media, and money) must be integrated for achieving victory in a political election. It is also worth concluding that the online media platforms such as the Facebook and the Twitter have greatly contributed to the political success of Governor Kasich (Donovan and Smith 224). This is because such forms of media can be accessed simultaneously by a wide range of people. In opinion, Governor Kasich should have responded to all the questions directed to him during his interviews. According to the report published on Oct 29, 2014 by the Plain Dealer Newspaper in Cleveland, Governor Kasich refused to respond to the question of rape crisis facing his region during one of the interviews. This according to the American Opinion Poll and Foreign Policy reduced his popularity from 48% to 43% out of the sample size of 800 respondents. This shows that the public is sensitive to how interview questions are handled by their candidates.

Works Cited
Brady, Henry, Richard Johnston and john Sides. The Study of Political Campaigns. 2002: 1-24.
Dewhirst, Robert and John David Rausch. Encyclopedia of the United States Congress. New York: Facts On File, 2007.
Donovan, Todd and Daniel Smith. State and Local Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2002.
Nickerson, David and Todd Rogers. Political Campaigns and Big Data. 2014: 51-74.

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