Jamie Miller: Clawson victory demonstrates the power of self-financed campaigns

On Tuesday, Curt Clawson became, for all intents and purposes, the new member of the U.S. House in Southwest Florida’s 19^th District.

He beat two political veterans and a newcomer in a four-way primary in this very deep red district. There is a general election in June, but there is very little chance of a Democrat upsetting any Republican in this district.

Clawson stormed onto the scene self-financing his campaign and immediately appealed to the Republican base and went on television. Is this the new winning model for winning a seat to the U.S. House? You can bet the House on it, pun intended.

This strategy won’t be exclusive to just Republicans. Most seats throughout the U.S. are either dark blue or dark red. People who are wealthy and want to serve, especially in the U.S. House, will show up seemingly out of nowhere with an announcement, website, television ads, professional staff and a message that appeals to the base.

Then, they will start to run what I call “opposition clarification” ads describing how their opponent had the gall to reach out to the other side just when the base needed them most (and that happens to be the topic du jour).

Establishment candidates who are not used to being attacked are often blind-sided and paralyzed by what they consider falsehoods. Of course, “their” constituents who know them will see through these baseless attacks? Not really. Why? Because that entrenched candidate is flat-footed and immediately on defense; and as they say in politics, if you are on defense, you are losing. It takes a while for someone who has been elected or is the incumbent to realize that “their” voters have turned on them.

In the days leading up to the Clawson victory, the leaders of the Collier and Lee county Republican parties said that the negativity of the race was turning voters off. It seems that voters weren’t that turned off for a special election.

Nearly 38 percent voted in Collier County and more than 33 percent voted in Lee. Most would probably like to see that above 40 percent, but if you are running a campaign to appeal to the base, doesn’t turning off moderate voters play into the hands of the self-financed candidate who started out appealing to the base first?

Look for more self-financed candidates to come forward to run in deep red and deep blue seats throughout Florida and the U.S. There is a clear formula for victory.

Congratulations to Curt Clawson and his team on a well-run race against two experienced and well-financed opponents. All would have served well in Congress, but only Clawson will.

Jamie Miller is a Florida-based political consultant who has served six statewide campaigns as either campaign manager, senior adviser or general consultant. He is a former executive director of the Republican Party of Florida and was director of field operations during the disputed 2000 Presidential election and recount. Column courtesy of Context Florida.