Campaign advice

If you can’t win by being who you are, you’re not gonna win by being somebody else.

People will smell fakeness. And people don’t like that smell.

“I love to be the listener more than the talker. Please… if you will… talk…
How can I know you better?”

[And don’t even bother with these questions until you get them to tell you something about them. THEM!]

“If you don’t vote, and I lose, do you?”
“Please talk. Please vote.”

“Is there something I can do to make it easier for you to vote? If you don’t vote, and I lose, … I don’t want us both to lose… To lose this time we have listened together.

…

If you can’t win by being who you are, you’re not gonna win by being somebody else.

I believe _ _ can win because _ _ is a listener, more than a talker.

Make your talking, questions that lead to listening.

…

Don’t get sucked into your opponent’s conversation. You will if you listen too closely and plan retorts. As you listen, listen for fakeness. And don’t respond with fakeness; respond with who you are. Sometimes it’s lighthearted and silly. Sometimes it’s, “I don’t have simple answers about that, but I would like to know more from complex people I represent.”

If while you are listening, you are planning a retort, that gives the opponent control of the conversation. Then you too sound like a know-it-all. VOTERS don’t want her or you to control the conversation. Don’t get trapped. Return the conversation to questioning and listening.

Have your own conversation, with different words, with different directions, with different vibes. Your vibes. Your authentic vibes. Not borrowed or pretended:
“That’s a great and complicated question. I’m listening for great, not simple, answers.” People smell fake.

Make conversation, not a monologue about who you are:
“I am _ _, and I’m NOT here to tell you who I am – UNLESS *YOU* ASK.
I’m here to HEAR who YOU are, and to hear your questions.”

[Your opponent’s favorite topic to talk about is herself.
Make your voters’ favorite topic THEM, not YOU.]

People smell fake. And it’s very easy to get sucked into fake. But people with a nose who is not ours can smell it.

DON’T ANSWER QUESTIONS THAT AREN’T ASKED!

…

People smell fake.

They smell fake and simple answers like pandering. Let your opponent give the simple answers. If you are honest with yourself, you don’t have simple answers to complicated questions. So don’t go there. Why would a single person answer questions that a community might have better answers to?

The smell of fake sounds like boasting.

The smell of fake sounds like having simple, rehearsed answers to questions that are not simple.

People are not simple. Most people don’t believe that they are not simple. Most people think they’re simple; they’re treated that way. By asking them questions, you reveal to them their own complexity:
People make complicated buys from people they like.
People cast complicated votes for people they like.

People smell fake.

Simple AND complicated people smell fake.

ALL people smell fake.

Don’t be fake. That appeals to all people.

…

“I am not here to tell you what you *should* think. I am here to HEAR what you *do* think.”

“THAT’S what I *should* hear. So the question to you is, do I hear you?”

“I’m not running to hear what I want to hear.
I’m not running to tell YOU what I want to hear.
I’m running to hear.
Talk. Ask. Both. Either.”

“We are not running to tell people what we want THEM to know.
We are running to hear what they want US to know.”

“I am not running to discover simple answers. I am running to represent complicated human beings.
If every question were simple, every question would be answered!”

People smell fake.

People think they are simple, until you show them that they aren’t. I know of no other way to show people how complicated they are than to ask them questions about THEM, not give them answers about you.

People smell fake.

“I don’t have anything to tell you. But I do have questions to ask you. YOU tell me what those questions should be?”

“I’m not here to give you answers. I’m here to ask you questions. I’m here to hear what questions I should be asking.”

People smell fake.
If you want them to believe that answers to your questions are important to you, perhaps all you have to say is, “Thank you for talking to me. I love to be the listener more than the talker.”

…

“If I talk too much, do I listen? Are you heard?”

“If you don’t vote, and I lose, do you?”

…

Neil D. 2023-08-31