Best & Worst Of 2008: Best Campaigns, Candidates; Biggest Upsets, & More

[Capitol Annex continues its look at the Best & Worst of 2008. So far, we've brought you the best and worst of election ads, stupid political tricks, and more; and the "Leftover Turkeys" of the year. Today, we're going down a mainly positive direction (except for some of the big upsets, which aren't exactly positive).]

Every election cycle there are campaigns that stand out above and beyond the rest as having been superior–even if their efforts did not lead to election victories. Too, there are candidates that that stand out among the rest. And, as with every election, there are upsets that were huge, unexpected and, sometimes, kind of scary. Today we’ll review some of those.

Best Campaign Manager or Campaign Director: Every campaign needs at its helm a leader–other than the candidate–that keeps the machinery of a campaign running. A campaign manager wears many hats: consultant, consoler, valet, strategist, etc. This year, one campaign manager or director stood out. And, this person didn’t just stand out to us–a lot of folks across Texas took notice of this person’s work. Martha Griffin, Campaign Manager for Sherrie Matula for State Representative in House District 129 is our pick for this year’s Best Campaign Manager or Director. Although Sherrie’s campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, Martha, along with her staff and a group of dedicated volunteers, ran a state legislative campaign found few parallels in the areas of voter contact, field operations, mail, and more. Oh, yeah: she ran the last half of the campaign in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike–no small feat.

Best Candidate: Again, the measure of a good candidate does not necessarily mean that the candidate won a race. Sometimes, simply accomplishing the impossible is good enough. In this case, Sherrie Matula (D-Houston), who ran in House District 129 accomplished the impossible. When she announced in 2007 that she would make a second try against John Davis in 129, most of the political establishment said she’d never be able to develop the resources necessary to mount a race that was even moderately competitive. She proved them wrong. She raised more money than most would have ever predicted–outraising her opponent in one critical reporting period–and was able to run a campaign complete with a massive field operation, voter contact, six mail pieces, and television. Not even a natural disaster stopped Sherrie Matula. Most importantly, Sherrie Matula ran a campaign that, for the first time in a generation, held the piece of furniture that is incumbent John Davis accountable for his poor record on behalf of his constituents. HONORABLE MENTION: Sam Murphey in House District 55; Chris Turner in House District 96.

Biggest Upset: Marisa Marquez’s defeat of State Rep. Paul Moreno (D-El Paso) in the Democratic Primary was perhaps the biggest upset of the entire election cycle, and not in a good way. HONORABLE MENTION: Wendy Davis’ defeat of State Sen. Kim Brimer–in a good way!

Rarely are there political campaigns that are run that can be called “textbook examples” of how to run a campaign.

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