Create a message box
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If delivering a message is like having a conversation with voters or our intended audience, it is important to keep in mind that we have opponents who are also trying to have a conversation with voters. What's more, they want to interrupt our conversation, turn the focus to their message, and attack us to deflect attention. A helpful tool for thinking through this, summarizing the messages on each side and having a clear view of the essential debate is to construct a message box. A message box is a summary of the essential messages of a campaign. To see what a generic message box looks like, click the link above that says "Generic Message Box."
In addition to helping clarify what you say, the message box helps you play defense, too. It gives a clear idea of where your opponent will attack you, how you can respond, and how you can move the conversation back to your message. You want to present voters or the public with a clear choice and a definite contrast with your opponent, and a message box helps articulate that choice. In 2002, Paul Wellstone's U.S. Senate campaign used the message box that you can see by clicking on "Wellstone for Senate Message Box" above. The campaign manager kept it tacked over his desk and checked all of the campaign's communications against the message box.
Knowing that he would be attacked for not getting things done, Wellstone already had a simple response: "It's true that I don't get things done for big corporate interests and lobbyists, but they don't need my help. I'm on the side of the rest of Minnesotans." His response reinforced his message - that he would be on the side of regular Minnesotans, and that his opponent was on the side of powerful special interests. The message box helps clarify and tighten your message, and present a clear contrast between your campaign and your opponent's. Perhaps most important, it helps keep the campaign disciplined.