What do you say when you lose an election?

This question came by way of a search inquiry that reached us. It's a good question.

First off, we haven't had that much experience losing elections - most of those we've handled, the candidates have won. Second, we're never the person who's asked to explain a loss to supporters or the media. That's the candidate's thankless job.

We suppose there have been instances where a candidate has held someone in our position (handling communications, creating a campaign theme or platform) responsible for a campaign loss. But no one we've worked with has ever done that to us, and we can't recall a candidate we know of blaming their communications director, at least publicly, for their loss.

That's not to say communications people don't get fired during a campaign. That happens all the time. Hillary did it during her recent run. But that's quite different from publicly blaming your communications people for a campaign loss. That's NOT something a candidate should say when (s)he loses an election. It's just bad form.

We have heard losing candidates blame the message, though. That's an oblique way of blaming those crafting the message. That's still not such a hot idea, because a losing candidate should not say ANYTHING that paints him/herself as a victim.

People don't care if the rain kept your voters from the polls, if your campaign director was a drunkard, or if a scandal broke a week before election day. People don't vote for excuses. They either vote for you as a solution, or (more likely) they're voting AGAINST the other guy. When you start making excuses for your campaign, you sound like someone who would have made excuses in office. In other words, you make people who voted against you feel better that you lost, and you make the people who worked for you feel that they backed an incompetent.

People who back a losing candidate ALREADY feel they've backed a loser. You'll never hear such bitter attacks as you'll hear from within a candidate's own camp after a loss. The first time we saw this, upclose and personal, was among 'reformers' after Ira Karasick lost to Anthony Russo for mayor, years ago. Though we cannot speak for Ira, we believe the appalling acrimony and blameshifting from his own supporters was what drove Karasick not only out of politics (he was never involved in another campaign), but out of town. One poignant moment from that campaign came about on election night, when one ambitious hanger-on who saw Karasick as a means to her own ends insinuated herself into a highly-visible position: Toting up the results on a blackboard in front of the crowd. When she saw which way the wind was blowing, she left the room before even posting the final figures. Later we learned she had shown up at the winner's camp, congratulating him for his fine campaign and petitioning for a job. Which she got. So much for principle - welcome to politics.

So while a politician might be moved to lash out with something like: "This town doesn't deserve me", such remarks tend to add fuel to a fire that's already smoldering. Though we do remember one losing politician grumbling to the press: "I'm getting too old for this sh-t". That was Helen Manogue, same election. She never ran for office again, either.

Making self-indulgent and blame-shifting remarks kind of preclude a pol's future efforts. You might feel good for a moment, but you're dooming yourself. Unless you're pretty sure you're not coming back, don't say anything like: "You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore". 'Cause they WILL remember it.

Whatever his/her failings, at the end of the day voters want a candidate who'll take responsibility. What that means, a lot of the time, is that (s)he's the fall guy. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and is one big reason most people shy away from involvement in politics. What the public demands from it leaders is, in fact, well beyond reason - and it always has been. Any candidate who wants a future in politics first and foremost must accept that this goes with the territory.

So, if you're really washing your hands of it - go down in flames, if you like. Remember, though, that you still may want to LIVE in your community.

Assuming you at least want to keep your options open, here's what you should do:

1) Thank your supporters for all their sacrifice and effort. (This will at least blunt their recriminations.)

2) Congratulate the other side. (You know they're scumbags, but you may as well present yourself as gracious.) Actually, most candidates find this fairly easy to do, because they've pretty much exhausted their supply of vitriol during the campaign.

3) Thank your spouse. (Because the last thing you want is problems at home on top of everything else. Your supporters blame you for the loss, your campaign has debts to settle, and everything else in your life has gone to hell from neglect. Save what you can.)

4) Most candidates will find themselves limited to the three, rather bland, steps above. But for a very few, a fourth step is possible. If you've run one of the rare campaigns that gets a message out or makes a difference in some way, revel in your moment. You may have lost the election, but you won a place in people's hearts and minds. This is why we believe that EVERY campaign ought to have a message that resonates with voters. 

Very few politicians ever know what it is to deliver such a message. Major campaigns like to talk about how their message made a difference, but if you polled the public on election day most people wouldn't have a clue what either side was about. They'll remember a scandal, or whether taxes went up, and that's about it. Fact is, most campaign messages aren't worth a damn.

Phyllis Spinelli's late 90's city council campaign offered the greatest message of any campaign we've ever been involved with. Though she lost in a runoff (Russo's people beat down the doors of the 2nd ward projects, demanding votes under threats of eviction), there were more TV cameras on her during election night then there were in the winning camp's HQ. In fact, Spinelli's message resonated so strongly that Russo - who backed the WINNER, remember - on the night his candidate won, felt obliged to tell the press that 'he was not a devil'. (This was in response to a humorous Spinelli ad regarding Russo's proposal for a NJ Devils' arena, which some took as comparing Russo to Satan himself!) Del Boccio, who won the election, assured the local papers that Russo was going to "work on" his personal "problems". Even Russo's wife took some digs at him. 

Certainly this ranks as the most unusual VICTORY rhetoric we've ever heard in any election, anywhere.

Whatever you say on that night you lose an election, it should be sincere. Not BITTER and sincere, just sincere. The press and public are hoping to finally catch a glimpse of something genuine peeking out from behind that carefully-constructed veneer of your campaign. If all you can offer is more canned PR, you'll even lose that modest opportunity to do yourself some good.

On election day, if you lose, deal with the moment appropriately. The actual words will take care of themselves. Keep in mind that EVERY politician loses an election or two along the way. The only ones who win are the ones who come back from a loss. Just make your speech, and handle your moment, and 'stay within yourself' as baseball pitchers like to say. Picking up the pieces and charting a new course - those are tasks for another day.