Burnt Orange Report

BORed: Crashing a Campaign Party

By Matt Hardigree

Last night I attended the Campaign Kickoff for Peter Brown, who is running for city council place one in Houston. Peter Brown is a great candidate, but even more important, it was a great party. Tis the season for campaign parties and these few tips could be the difference between a boring night with people you don't know and a great night with people you don't know.

1.Write Something Interesting on Your Name Tag - a great way to get people to interact with you, if they don't know you, is to give them some clue as to who you are. For instance, i wrote "www.burntorangereport.com" under my name. This let people know that I'm a blogger, which is a lot like a reporter, except that I don't ask tough questions and can reprint campaign press releases word-for-word.

This also encourages people who might be fans of the site to come over and say hello. One such kind gentleman did do this last night and, much to my surprise, said he cancelled his subscription to the New York Times because he now gets all of his news from BOR and other blogs. I swear, I didn't see him drinking.

My friend Dan had the best name tag, it read "Dan: Upstairs Neighbor" because Dan literally lives above the campaign headquarters. Now he gets to put a sign in his window.

2. Booze first, Guest of honor second, everyone else third - The first thing to go at a campaign party, specifically a Democratic one, is the free liquor. That means you should work your way through the crowd to enjoy the drinks while they're free because the people aren't going anywhere and some of the people aren't tolerable without liquor. Props to the Brown crew for keeping the vino flowing.

The second thing that goes is the guest of honor. Last night's guest was former Secretary of Housing and Urban Affairs and San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros. He delivered a rousing speech about the importance of qualified individuals running for office that was one of the highlights of the night. Unfortunately, and understandably, he was fairly quickly out the door and on a plane before I could get a good conversation in.

3. Dress sharply - These things are often crawling with the daughters of important people, college students, young lawyers and politically active people and you want to look good. I recommend a business casual look that says: "I'm a professional and I can dress myself, but I'm not a hired campaign consultant."

4. Avoid anyone that a colleague may have accused of being part of a vast John Sharp conspiracy - Mark Nathan, of Draft John Sharp notoriety was at the event and, though I wanted to say hello, mingle, but I thought it might kill the buzz.

5. Make a friend on the campaign - It doesn't hurt to know someone, anyone, actually working on the campaign. Down the line it can mean the difference between manning the phones and standing in the freezing rain handing out flyers come election day. I lucked out last night as the volunteer working the front door went to my high school and doesn't hold that against me.

6. Don't continually push your cause - People go to these things to have a good time and support the candidate, yet someone always has to introduce themselves, and their agenda, to everyone else at the party. Don't be that guy. Sheila Jackson Lee dropped in a mention of a peace rally at the end of Brown's introduction and got away with it... but not many of us are Sheila Jackson Lee.

7. Finally, get while the getting is good - Campaigns are happiest to get rid of their paraphernalia at the beginning and the end of an election. If you want a cool shirt, button or Nalgene bottle, don't hesitate a moment. The hot item of the night was the Pete Brown magnet which conveniently fits on cars without an adhesive. One woman got hip to this and walked out with 20, you know, "For her friends."

These are just a few ways to make the campaign party extra enjoyable, feel free to share your tips in the section below.

It seems Mark Nathan and Nathan Archer and Nathon Wilcox are all different people, the correction has been made.