3rd District campaign crew vital to candidate success

Here are some names to consider in Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District race: Duncan Baird, Susan Barrett, Lance Cargill, Patrick Carlson, Jessica Caswell, Keith Emis, Michael Goessling and Bill Gowan.

No, they aren’t candidates. But they are important behind-the-scenes players for three GOP candidates who many perceive are the primary frontrunners — State Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers; Fort Smith attorney and former Arkansas Legislator Gunner DeLay; and Rogers Mayor Steve Womack.

The sudden and surprise move by U.S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, to seek election to the U.S. Senate instead of re-election as the 3rd District Congressman resulted in a compressed time frame for GOP candidates to raise money and gather support for the May 18 primary.

As such, the conventional political wisdom — not that there is much conventional about this election cycle — suggests money and campaign staff are more important than normal. Again, the conventional wisdom indicates it will take between $200,000 and $300,000 to be competitive in the GOP primary for the 3rd District race.

WOMACK
Womack, who was first elected Rogers’ mayor in 1998, agrees with that assessment. That’s why he’s pulling Susan Barrett, Bill Schwyhart and other big names from Northwest Arkansas’ business community to help his campaign. It’s been rumored that past and present Wal-Mart executives are backing Womack’s campaign. Barrett, the former CEO of Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas, is Womack’s campaign chairman. Although she has no political experience, Womack was quick to emphasize that she led the effort to raise more than $40 million for construction of the new hospital.

“Don’t sell that woman short on anything,” Womack said, noting she’s a quick study who can “be as sharp as anybody” in a few weeks.

Womack says his campaign has “banked well over $50,000” and has a lot of commitments.

“For the compressed time frame we are on, we kind of like what we’ve been able to do from the fundraising perspective,” Womack said.

As far as staff, Womack says he is “still developing a team,” but has hired Harrah, Okla.-based J.C. Partners to help the campaign with fundraising, imaging, mailers and other advertising efforts focused on messaging and name identification.

Jessica Caswell, president and founder of J.C. Partners, has managed numerous legislative and judicial campaigns and has raised more than $3 million in campaign funds since 2004. The company’s Web site notes that in the the 2006 Oklahoma election cycle she represented six of the top 10 fundraisers in the Oklahoma House.

Lance Cargill, a partner with Caswell, has experience as the candidate. He ran for the  Oklahoma House of Representative in 2000 and defeated a 12-year Democrat incumbent, according to the Web site. In 2004, he became the leader of the House GOP political team and was part of the effort which won the first GOP majority in the Oklahoma House in more than 80 years.

BLEDSOE
The Bledsoe campaign staff is taking a slightly different approach than Womack in that they plan to use Rep. Roy Ragland, R-Marshall, Sen. Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, Rep. Duncan Baird, R-Lowell, and other members of the Arkansas Legislature to get the vote out in their respective areas. Baird is expected to serve as Bledsoe’s campaign chair once the 2010 fiscal session ends — which should happen this week.

Keith Emis and Ted Thomas are partners in Little Rock-based Diamond State Consulting. Bledsoe has hired Diamond State to help with imaging, advertising, marketing and strategy on getting voters to the primary polls. Thomas is a former member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, and Emis’ first political work was with the late Fay Boozman in his unsuccessful 1998 bid to best Blanche Lincoln for the U.S. Senate seat.

“I drove he and his wife all over the state,” Emis said.

Emis declined to talk fundraising details, but said “Cecile will have more than enough money to get her message to the voters,” and added later that the campaign will make a “concerted effort to spend as much money on television and on mail.”

Bledsoe, who served her limit of three terms in the Arkansas House and now is one of 35 members of the Arkansas Senate, will have many “legislative friends” in the 3rd District who will work to support her, Emis said. One of those friends is former 3rd District Congressman Asa Hutchinson, who has endorsed Bledsoe.

The legislative support will negate the need for a large staff, Emis advised. He added that Bledsoe has pulled together “a good coalition of thinkers and doers. … I don’t think you could ask for a better team of people, with a better or different perspective on things in the district.”

Emis disagreed that money and staff will be more important than normal in the race.

“The thing that matters in this race is the thing that matters in every race, and that’s the quality of candidate,” he said.

DELAY
DeLay, the only candidate with experience as a 3rd District candidate, brings perhaps the most impressive staff to the race with respect to political pedigree. The question to be answered May 18 is whether the experienced staff can deliver the votes for a Republican candidate not based in Northwest Arkansas — the Republican stronghold in the 3rd District.

Bill Gowan, 44, serves as the general consultant for DeLay. Gowan has more than 10 years experience with campaigns, marketing and grassroots organization for several members of Congress, included former U.S. House Speaker Denny Hastert of Illinois — the longest serving Republican Speaker in Congressional history — and former U.S. House Majority Whip Tom DeLay of Texas.

Gowan started in politics with Ross Perot’s presidential bid in 1992. Gowan managed seven states for Perot. Gowan also managed Gunner DeLay’s first and unsuccessful bid for the 3rd District in 2001.

DeLay’s entry into the race started with an unplanned phone conversation between DeLay and Gowan about the ups and downs of Arkansas’ political season. Before the call ended, they stumbled upon the idea of getting in the race. They made a few phone calls, including to those who supported DeLay in 2001, to find out if they had a chance of winning.

“Quite frankly we were looking for a reason not to run … and he (DeLay) couldn’t find one, and logistically from my side, I couldn’t find one politically,” Gowen explained.

Also working the 3rd District for DeLay back in 2001 was Michael Goessling, who will again serve as the finance director for the campaign. Goessling, 42, was directly involved in campaign fundraising and staff work for U.S. Sens. John Ashcroft and Jim Talent, both of Missouri.

For the past few years Goessling has directed the Thumbelina Charitable Foundation. He created the foundation after Thumbelina, the World’s Smallest Horse as determined by Guinness World Records, was born on his family horse farm in May 2002. Goessling organized more than 50 TV and magazine interviews in three years. The horse has visited more than 25,000 kids in 300 hospitals, shelters and special camps since 2002. It’s safe to say Goessling knows a thing or two about raising money and marketing.

Patrick Carlson, 33, also joins the DeLay staff. He was not with Gowan and Goessling for the 2001 race because he was serving as the political director for Speaker Hastert between 2000 and 2006. He has worked in more than 50 federal and state political races in the midwest.

Carlson, whose primary job will be to get the grassroots organization pulled together, agrees with the prevailing notion that a candidate must raise at least $200,000 to be in the game. He says an experienced staff is important only if it is able to stretch campaign funds in such a way that it gets out the vote.

“But in this race it’s all about name ID and the ground game. It’s about getting your voters out (to the polls),” Carlson said. “It’s (the primary race) a sprint, and when the gates open up, you better be rocking and rolling.”