5/2/78 [2] Folder Citation: Collection: Office of Staff Secretary; Series: Presidential Files; Folder: 5/2/78 [2]; Container 73 To See Complete Finding Aid: http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/library/findingaids/Staff_Secretary.pdf . i '· THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON May_2, 1978 j !. Frank Moore iI ~• The attached was returned in It ,.,: the President's outbox: is ,. forwarded to you for appropriate [ '! ! . .i handl;ing. ·i .·•:.: Rick Hutcheson cc: Hamilton Jordan ..' RE: CAMPAIGN SCHEDULING EFFORT '""i- ADMINISTRATIVELY CONFIDENTIAL, ;·.. '; ~ I - .... !. :=II •_..: . I. ... ·, ··.. ·· - . ·~ . ; .. .. '·~ \ ·1~ .. ~·.~.,.,:: THE WHITE HOUSE ... ~·J:)':.. WASHINGTON /·i>'. 0 $r-tl' ~ h"p :'~~- £;,-17 ?¢ »'-"-"'"r)' :.'.'... :;W> ?;~::.- >.-J;y.~ A~;/.,c4! ~ > ~, &.r~ ~/,.., L4~J ~ filk-4- t?~/~ nYc ~ /Jitf~/ ~ k4 ~~? ,~; .J)z. /~af ,~0, ·--Pf~K ~~"'1 -j/o// ~~ ~ £,aj~ cftt,JJ~te-,1 , ;·/ ~d~/ 44e-- ('.,u,..k ~e./.. ,A/ ~ ,;(, II'-# fil. /~r. ? ·::···. ·'· ' . ·~ . ~ .·., ... .; .. •;)~ J ••• . ~· ~~~? .t~f ;it' ~. >'·' ··.::::·~~-:. ·:·~·:{::. ' ~ ·;~ . .f~ 0. ;i'f);.· ~.r;r.?~r M, .r?~Y ~·~ ··~:"'~ .·.. FOR STAFFING ,. FOR INFORMATION 7 FROM PRESIDENT'S OUTBOX LOG IN/TO PRESIDENT TODAY - IMMEDIATE TURNAROUND • NO DEADLINE LAST DAY FOR ACTION - ADMIN CONFID CONFIDENTIAL z 0 SECRET H E-!H EYES ONLY U!>i ,.:f.fz-1 VICE PRESIDENT EIZENSTAT • .A Ll JORDAN ... o% 49\ • ' ARAGON ·-- KRAFT BOURNE 'LIPSHUTZ BUTLER 1/ MOORE H. CARTER POWELL CLOUGH WATSON COSTANZA l.VEXLER CRUIKSHANK BRZEZINSKI FALLOWS MCINTYRE FIRST LADY SCHULTZE GAMMILL HARDEN HUTCHESON ADAMS JAGODA ANDRUS LINDER BELL MITCHELL BERGLAND MOE BLUMENTHAL PETERSON BROWN PETTIGREW CALIFANO PRESS HARRIS SCHNEIDERS KREPS VOORDE MARSHALL WARREN SCHLESINGER WISE STRAUSS VANCE ••u... ._,.. .· lar!PiuJUJIIc~IPWJAUI J 'l\ll~1!NISIHAHVELY CONFIDENTIAL -·. --·· ·'·· :··-- ,,...• ····---~c..;;:_;__,:_.::._..:.:.~=.;.._;:_;__:. THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON May 1, 1978 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT FROM: FRANK MOORE /7/JhR. SUBJECT: THE CAMPAIGN SCHEDULING EFFORT Following your memorandum of January 25 to the Ca.binet a_nd Senior staff, a Campaign Schedulri·n.g Committee was formed at the. staff level in my office to coordinate appearances by Adm:i'nistration officials on behalf of members of Cor:~gress. In addition,, we are working with Jack Watson's staff on gubernatodal races. Through periodic meetings and frequent contact with the DNC and the Cong,ressi.onal Campaign Commi.ttees and Hill soundinqs by our Liaison staff, the Committee has developed a target list of the most marginal House, Senate and governors' seats in the country (the seats in which our help will make the most difference). This list~· of course, is constantly changi•ng and requires close moni torir:lg;. (The most recent list is attached). We ~ave divided the House seats into three categories. The first consists of roughly fifty s.eats which a•re the most marginal in the country. T•his category includes those seats where the Democratic nominee is facing great difficulty or those Republican or open seats we consider to be our best opportunities for Democratic retention or takeover. The second category lists the next thirty seats that may become marginal in the coming months but, at present, are not as volatile as those in category one. The third category consists of our 50-60 best supporters (based on their voti~g records} Who are not marginal. The Senate and Goverr:~ors are divided into o.nly two categories: ma·rginal races and races that could become marg.inal. On a weekly basis the Committee gathers a·nd has computerized the schedules of every major Administration official (approximately 60 persons). Daily, the Committee reviews pending requests and attempts to match the requests with the schedules. The maJority of appearances, how.ever, ~ave been planned by t~sing a trip that is already scheduled a•nd 11 addinq on 11 a half day before or after the trip to make a stop for a marginal candidate in the area. ~Je have found it a !lreat deal easier to get officials to give us a few hot:H'S on ar:~ existing trip than to ask them to schedule a trip solely for a candidate. Some officials, however, occasionally gi've us a block of time (1 or 2 days), and we have 11 created11 several campaign swings through particular areas. Later in the year, as election day approaches, ·;:. - 2 - we will need more 11 0pen 11 time to meet requests .. For this reason it would be helpful if you could ask Cabinet members to leave their September and October calendars as open as possible. When we analyzed the appearances already scheduled as of February, we discovered that officials had made as many appearances for those people we did not want to be helping as they had for those we wanted to help. In our last count this week, however, we found a marked change in this trend. Since the February report, 80% of the appearances by members of the Administration had been for marginal and supportive candidates, and 20% for non-marginals. The table below describes the changes in absolute numbers. BOX SCORE: ADMIN'ISTRATION APP·EARANCES FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS Fall,l977- February 27- Februa.ry 27, 1978 May 1, 1978 Total House priorities 62 79 141 House non-priority 50 31 81 Senate marginal 14 19 33 Senate non-marginal 31 9 40 Governors marginal 2 2 Governors non-marginal 2 2 Combined Totals 157 142 299 - 3 - We have made a special effort to ensure that the schedulers in the various departments and agencies understand the importance of this project. A representative from each Department and agency attended a seminar organized by Mike Berman at the White House to be instructed in the basic procedures for the project, the legal factors involved in such activity, and the most effective use of these trips in terms of press and politics. Before each trip, each speaker receives a package containing a brief demographic description of the area to be visited, the ·names of major media contacts., the names of early Carter supporters and contributors, and a copy of a sample Democratic party speech. As issues such as tax reform or Ci'vi'l Service reorganization arise, pertinent materials are included in the information packets. Bill Simon has been coordinating this. The degree of cooperation that the Cabinet and Seni,or staff has exhi'bited l:las been, with a few exceptions, good. The. Vice President has done the lion's share of key appearances (19 as of th.is report). Thus far, Secretaries Vance and Brown and Attorney General Bell have not participated in the program. We are in the process of clarifying exactly to what degree they can participate in political events. In some cases we have underused our resources; in others we have simply received no cooperation. Ambassador Young has not, as yet., sent us one copy of his schedule. We have a great need for Administration ·Officials who can appeal to districts that are becoming increasingly conservative and to the business community, at whi'ch most members' fundraising efforts are aimed. Given this burden, which at present is falling almost solely on the shoulders of Ambassador Strauss, we will need the cooperation of Charlie Schultze and Secretary Blumenthal. My staff has taken the initiative in contacting targeted House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates wewish to help. In our contacts, we ask for a 1etter outl i ntng the cand!i'date' s needs for appearances by Administration offici.als. We have been receiving 11 Shopping. lists 11 and have been ab 1e to fill, with one or two exceptions, every request. In some cases, we wi 11 decide that a member's relatively 11 Safe 11 status precludes our favorable constderation of his request, as our resources can be better used elsewhere. This is a difficult concept to explain to a member. It would be helpful if the leadership were asked to give us their support for the concept of using the majority of our resources in the most marginal races. Our initiative has been very effective in three ways: (1) It concretely expresses our interest in, and support of, the electoral well-being of Democrats, an expression which is sorely needed. (2) It combats the tendency of incumbents and non-incumbents alike to run for re-election independent of (if not against) the Administration. (Of 292 Democrats elected to the House in 1976, only 22 ran behind us in their districts). It will be difficult for them to run against the Administration if we are helping them at fundraisers and other appearances .. (3) It helps us reach our immediate legislative goals through posi'tive political feedback on the Hi 11. - 4 - As a further tool for helping Members rea.ch their constituents, we have in the planning stages a program in which 11 teams 11 of three or four second-level policy persons from appropriate agencies will visit a Congressi'onal district for two to three days, holding non~political town meetings and small group discussions on a wide variety of programs or issues. · The number of candidates whom we. have been able to contact and help thus far has been somewhat limited by the problem of contested primaries. Despite the obviousdanger in becoming ~nvolved in contests between Democrats, we are pressured to a.id incumbents in order to attain our legislative objectives. Additionally, any involvement on our part is constrai'ned by the need to monitor hundreds of filings around the country. We must, too often, re.ly on inaccurate information. Given the financial problems of the DNC, a full-time targeting person is not a·s yet employed, and gathering accurate and <high quality i·nformation on primary races has been difficult and time-consuming. We should stand as firm as possible on the general policy of not becoming involved in contested primaries.