Background

Democrat Chris Koster was in a tight race for Missouri’s Attorney General office with Republican Mike Gibbons. Koster knew his opponent was vulnerable on immigration and gun issues with swing voters but couldn’t risk a widespread media campaign on the subjects that could alienate base Democratic voters. In addition, the Koster campaign considered Gibbons vulnerable to charges of insensitivity to women’s issues.

Heading into the home stretch of the campaign in a virtual tie, Koster needed swing voters. He chose a series of live calls to each of these audiences with a hard hitting message about his opponent.

Our goal was to expose the inconsistency of Gibbons action and rhetoric to each of these targeted audiences (gun owners; independent women; immigration sensitive voters).

Since Missouri law allows use of a campaign alias in broadcasting campaign messaging, we used the name Safe Families Coalition both to emphasize a pro-family image and to focus on the positive effects of tough crime fighting. Each call included negative messaging about Gibbons and positive messaging about Koster in order to draw a contrast in voters’ minds.

For maximum effect, we tailored each message to the concerns of the voting block to which it was directed. In cases of targeted husband/wife voters we chose to use the woman’s message because women answer the phone, on average, 60%+ of the time.

Our calls to targeted women pointed out Gibbons’ vacillations on handgun concealed-carry policies, including references to Koster’s tough stance on unauthorized gun possession. This message elicited thoughts of a recent high profile shooting committed with illegally possessed weapons. For gun owners, the message we laid out made them wary of Gibbons’ concealed carry flip-flopping, but this time accentuated Koster’s commitment to upholding the Second Amendment. Finally, to those most concerned about immigration policy, the calls emphasized Koster’s promise to crackdown on illegal immigration while derogating Gibbons’ proposed immigration policies.

Koster pulled ahead the final week and went on to claim a 52%-47% margin over Gibbons. This victory was by no means part of a Democratic landslide—the win came with a McCain win at the top of the ticket and a GOP victory for the Lt. Governor post.