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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1903)
Conducting a City Campaign How Election Machinery is Organized and Managed 'J: ROBERT COWELL, CHAIRMAN OP THE" REPUBLICAN CITY COMMITTED Photo by a BUS Artist M.: W. C. BULLARD, CHAIRMAN OF THE DEMOCRATIC CITY COMMITTEE Photo by a Stall Artist. A I y . -' i id V J a 8. HAYWARD, CHAIRMAN OF THE BENSON CITY COMMITTEE Photo by a BUII Artist. MARTIN LANGDON, CHAIRMAN OF THE POPULIST CITY COMMITTEE rhoto by a Staff Artist. m T USED to ba eald at Richard Croker, tha famous Tammany "Boas," that when ha went Into a political campaign ha exacted of every subordinate one common demand "set Totes." This mandate waa Inexorable and the man who could not de liver the goods, to use the words of the old war horse, could not' be a "ward heeler" for Dick Croker. Such rigid discipline and such despotic system, accentuated In Croker, are the gov erning powers, perhaps In a minor degree, ef every successful campaign manager. A political campaign probably finds Us model more readily in municipal election than it docs In a county, state or national light. The modus operandi of a political campaign Is In a general sense tha same whether It be ctty, county, state or national, but for minor details, little Intricacies, all the compound and complex workings of a po litical contest thse things which form the vital elements of such an affair the city campaign presents a more vivid and vi vacious example than any of the others. For after all It la attention to details that counts. Omaha is Just now In the midst of a typical city campslgn, commonly, though erroneously called a city election for weeks prior to the actual polling of votes. All the common elements and msny of the un common ones that go to make up the av erage city campslgn are to be found In ex ecution In this municipal warfare. The modus operandi In Its most perfect order la In full operation and as a result a very Interesting struggle U being waged. It Is so Interesting as to preclude tangible grounds on which to base a prediction of the outccme with even the usual degree of certslnty. ctty campaign actually beglna with tha primaries or that period of preliminary skirmishing proceeding the primaries. In the present campaign the part played by the primary elections, especially In the case of the republicans, was most essential. At the primary elections the voters in every ward in the city aelect the men who are to represent them as delegates In the conven . tton which nominates the respective tickets. In the case of the republican party the recent primary election was one of the very fiercest ever known in this city. Every Inch of ground had been contested by the contending factions for a long time prior to April 10, when the primaries were held. Lines were drawn to their highest tension. No stone was left unturned by either side that promised the least particle of as sistance. This waa a typical American pri mary election In this respect; It presented a splendid example of that most of all dem ocratic functions in our government, where every man is on an equal footing, all en abled to exert their last resource for the success of their side. And then the campaign proper beglna. Each ticket, each set of nominees Is looked after by a separate management and each campaign conducted just as the affairs of any ordinary business concern are con ducted. On the management of these cam paigns finally depends the success of the tickets. Diplomacy, system, strategy, ex perience, knowledge of men and how to handle them, money, grit, vim and all the essentials of a successful organiser and manager, not the least, but probahly the most Important of all is painstaking atten tion to minuest details, are needed and muBt be most skillfully combined in order to No victory is usually possible with out a -niodue operandi comprising these elements. But where they are nicely con joined and harmonised, if other things be equal, success la pretty well assured. The men who are managing the various cam paigns in this struggle are those who have had previous experience In such matters, that is in most cases, and are regarded as especially adapted for the work. Each ticket has its executive and central com mittee on which the burden of the cam paign falls and of course each, save the socialists, who work entirely through their committee organization as a whole, has Its chairman or in other words lis "man ager." This man must be an engineer. He must know everything that is to be known about his and his rivals affairs. He stands on dangerous ground. Ho may either run bis old ship aground or he may bring It safely to port with flying colors; of course with incidental conditions against him he may come out blameless in either event. The respective chairman in this campaign are: Republicans, Robert Cowell; Inde pendent republican, U. S. Hay ward; demo cratic, William C. Bullard; populist, Mar- tin Langdon. The socialist party, as has been said, works through Its committee en tirely, having no chairman except as he is elected from night to night at the meet ings held throughout the campaign. This Is la conformity with a fundamental prin ciple of the socialist party. The' seats of war In this as in other campaigns are at the various headquarters which each party has. These headquarters are about as busy centers as can well be found. They resemble a bee hive In the stormiest season of the campaign. From them must radiate all the potent Influences for the weal of their tickets. In them plans, plots and schemes, deep-hidden and mys terious, are laid and executed. To them each day the respective workers go for their draught of Inspiration and that man, If he bo a subordinate, who falls to keep in close touch with his headquarters misses elements of usefulness which must neces sarily impair the effectiveness of hla work. As has been said attention to minute de tails is the most essential part of any cam paign. At the headquarters is where these details are laid out, or encountered, for they can not all be laid out or planned; they arise incidentally and Irregularly and can only be dealt with as occasion offers. They come with the unfolding of larger plans. It is because of this and because of the conscientious study which they de mand that makes a systematic and thor ough organization necessary. If the cur tain of one of these ctty campaign head quarters could be drawn aside and the con tents revealed In tangible form, one would see an array of myriads of details that would tend to frighten or least dishearten the ordinary Individual. No one word sentence could describe tha modus operandi of a city campaign. A single definition, which however is but an abstraction after all, might be found in tha one word, "machine," for a political or ganization, the modus operandi that pro pels a city campaign, la nothing but machine. Yet this machine obviously la varied and complex, composed of numerous parts, so that after all it will have to be taken apart to see what It is made of. Naturally enough It would be futile t attempt to run a city campaign without money. City campaigns in that relation, at least, are true to human nature. It may as well be stated right here that no city campaign in Omaha is being run nor is an without some cash. The raising of these without some cash. The raising of these funds devolves upon the manager of tha campaign and his large corps of assistants. (Continued on Eleventh Page.)
