SITUATION BSG began working with Jeff Merkley in December of 2007 when Merkley was largely unknown and running against an incumbent with high favorable ratings — Republican Senator Gordon Smith. Over the course of a year, Merkley had to win a tough Democratic primary and then overtake Smith while defending against attacks that began during the primary. Merkley’s background included serving as speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, which meant opponents might characterize him as an entrenched politician in a year when voters were looking for change. At the beginning of the general election campaign in June 2007, Merkley trailed Smith by a significant margin and fewer than half of voters recognized his name.
APPROACH
BSG identified key elements of Merkley’s personal story and linked those to his issue positions to show he would stand firmly on the side of working people during tough economic times. BSG and the Merkley campaign successfully navigated Merkley’s introduction to voters, emphasizing his working class upbringing, appreciation of education, and close-knit family facing the same struggles as middle class families all across Oregon. Due to findings from BSG research, the campaign also focused heavily on connecting Senator Smith to President George Bush in order to overcome voters’ inclination to see Smith as a “different kind of Republican.”
BSG helped the Merkley campaign make dozens of minor calibrations to overtake Smith, even as Smith and his allies outspent Merkley for much of the campaign until the final two weeks. One method BSG used to provide strategic advice was to conduct on-line qualitative interviews with undecided voters near the end of both the primary and general election campaigns. In both cases, these yielded important information that helped the Merkley campaign to break through in an environment where voters were tuning out television but still turning to the Internet for information.
