I’ve
been raising funds for candidates, causes and institutions for more
than 40 years. I had the privilege of being Ronald Reagan’s fund raiser
when he first ran for President in 1976. I’ve raised money for half a
dozen presidential campaigns, but my experience with the Herman Cain
campaign, although it was cut short, was the most interesting and
amazing program I have even participated in.
Richard
Norman worked for me for a number of years, doing a great job, first as
a copywriter and account executive and later as Vice President of our
creative team. He is a smart and talented leader and when the folks at
the Herman Cain campaign picked Richard to be their Finance Director,
they made a very smart move.
I
had talked with Herman Cain at CPAC in early February of 2011. I told
him that there were lots of candidates running, but he was the only one I
wanted to raise money for. He must have believed me because we signed a
test mailing agreement with his campaign and on March 1. Initially
things moved fast. I wrote a fund raising letter within a couple of
weeks and submitted it to the campaign before the end of March. After
some delays, it went into the mail on June 6 and when the money began to
pour in I knew that Herman Cain was a serious candidate indeed. The
final numbers were very similar to the results that we generated from
our first mailing on behalf of Ronald Reagan. To put it quite simply,
the net revenue from just 50,000 prospects was more than $2.50 per name
mailed! It was a very exciting start to the fund raising program.
Unfortunately
however, for various and sundry reasons, with the exception of some
house appeals (with similarly phenomenal results) the fund raising
effort moved forward very slowly. In fact, I was about to throw in the
towel until I received a call from Richard Norman in late October.
Richard, Mark Block (Cain’s campaign manager) and the candidate were
about to land in Las Vegas for a Presidential Debate. It was then that
Richard informed me that he was now on the Cain campaign team as its
Finance Director. Being the gentleman that he always is, he invited me
to participate in a meeting at a hotel in DC the following Friday
(November 4) with the other members of the fund raising organization he
was putting together. What Richard accomplished in just one week was
incredible.
Tammy
Cali, President of Campaign Funding Direct, Bill Griffiths, CFO of the
Eberle Communications Group, Mike Hiban, President of Omega List
Company, and I planned to attend. Unfortunately, Tammy became ill and
was unable to participate. The team that Richard assembled in such a
short time was amazing for both its breadth fund raising mediums and its
depth of experience. In seven short days Richard had brought on board
three telemarketing firms, one major gift organization, an expert on
radio advertising, and a seasoned professional at raising funds via TV
infomercials. In addition, of course, Eberle Associates as well as the
Richard Norman Companyand ActiveEngagement a company run by his son,
J.D. Norman, were represented. Richard had put together a comprehensive
team of fund raising professionals who were ready and willing to get up
and running fast. In fact, with marching orders from Richard, they did
just that. A short appearance at the meeting by Herman Cain simply
increased the enthusiasm and determination of the entire fund raising
aparatus.
Shortly
thereafter serious money began rolling in to the campaign. Rebecca
Hagelin(Rebecca Hagelin Communications and Marketing) began running fund
raising appeals on the Rush Limbaugh show, the Sean Hannity show, the
Mark Levin Show and the Glenn Beck show that generated literally tens of
thousands of donors to the Cain campaign overnight. The live operator
telemarketing efforts produced by Paul Wilson (Strategic Fundraising),
and the artificial intelligence calls created by Gabe
Joseph(ccAdvertising) provided similarly astounding results. Stephen
Clouse (Stephen Clouse and Associates), a pioneer in video based efforts
targeting major donors was preparing a campaign and the DRTV (Direct
Response TV) spots being created by Ron Guberman (Media Reactions) were
in the production stage. In one extended weekend the online effort
produced by JD Norman brought in more than $1.2 million dollars. And,
as you might expect, the major donor results soared as did the direct
mail efforts of the Richard Norman Company and of Eberle Associates. By
the first of December, in spite of unrelenting attacks and efforts to
sidetrack the Cain Campaign, more than $13 million had been raised and
the campaign was on track to bring in more than $30 million by the end
of the year!
Unless
something unexpected happened, Friends of Herman Cain was going to be
in a position to match the other candidates dollar for dollar in
spending on advertising, polling, getting people to caucuses, travel,
etc. And, contrary to the news media reports, the ground game in Iowa
was better than the Romney campaign and the Perry campaign combined. At
that point, Newt had virtually nothing on the ground. Cain was also
moving up in New Hampshire and was 30 points ahead of Romney in South
Carolina.
The
fact is the Cain train was picking up steam and rolling down the tracks
toward victory in Iowa, South Carolina and Florida. The nomination was
seemingly within Herman Cain’s grasp. But I don’t have to tell you
what happened. You already know.
My
stomach still churns when I think of the opportunity lost by Herman
Cain and all his loyal supporters. But the past is past. Even though
the Herman Cain fund raising effort was aborted before it could reach
its zenith, it was an effort I’ll always remember. My hat’s off to
Richard Norman and the entire team he assembled. My respect for Herman
Cain is undiminished. He treated his team and his vendors with respect
and treated them honorably. Commitments were met and bills were paid.
It is a good reflection on him as a man of great personal character and integrity.
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