Winning the Tough Ones

Campaign Strategist Joe Lakin tells us the story of how he won his 2017 Pollie Award. All campaigns are hard, but run-offs are another beast altogether. And when a well-known figure in your own party decides to run as an independent the difficulty is hard to measure. And yet in spite of these obstacles, Lakin and the Victory Enterprises team would successfully take Mike Cierpiot to a victory in the Missouri State Senate 2017 Run-off Election.

Nicole Schlinger, President of the Campaign Headquarters call center, walks us through some her toughest battles, including Iowa Tax Bills, Merrick Garland's Nomination controversy, and the fight around the Affordable Care Act.

Dave Kochel, campaign strategist for Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential run, walks us through the trials and tribulations of working on a campaign that Donald Trump targeted early and effectively.

Jeff Roe, Campaign Manager for the Ted Cruz 2016 Presidential Bid, tells us the story of that campaign, and the strategies they used to take Iowa right from under Donald Trump's nose.

Jeff Link, Campaign Manager for Senator Tom Harkin and Paid Media Consultant on the Obama campaign, tells us about his work on the Ukraine 2010 Presidential election, fighting against Victor Yanukovych and future Trump Campaign Advisor Paul Manafort.

Eric Branstad was the Iowa State Director for President Donald Trump's 2016 bid for office. He worked alongside Corey Lewandowski, Rudy Guiliani, Senator Joni Ernst, and his own father, former Governor Terry Branstad, to build a unified coalition in Iowa and a rabidly enthusiastic base. And then Trump asked him to do the same thing in Wisconsin, with just months left to go.

Chuck Larson is an army veteran, the former US Ambassador to Latvia, and in the early '90s he ran what has been called The Greatest Campaign Ever Run. I sat down with Chuck to ask about his secret, and learned about the lengths one can go in polishing a campaign.

Dave Heller, the award-winning Democratic Media Consultant who has worked on the campaigns of Senators Elijah Cummings, Joe Donnelly, and Maxine Waters to name a few, walks us through some of his toughest races in North Carolina, Indiana and Minnesota, as well as the strategies he employed to tip the balance in their favor.