Chuck Blasdel (R) vs Charlie Wilson (D) 6th House District

[Frank Bellamy, MAP Masters of Applied Politics]

Campaign Management I
Political Science 3700: 470/570
University of Akron / Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics
FALL 2006

Instructor: Dr. Daniel Coffey
Student: Frank Bellamy

Assignment I (Due Date 09/26/06)

Demographic Research for Political Campaign Targeting


This demographic fact review and analysis is for the Congressional 6th House District of Ohio (109th United States Congress), 2006 Midterm Election.  This U.S. Congressional House seat is being vacated by the Ohio Gubernatorial Candidate Ted Strickland (D).

The candidates for this hotly contested house seat are; Chuck Blasdel (R) State House Speaker Pro Tem & Investment Advisor vs. Charlie Wilson (D) State Senator, Ex-State House Minority Whip & Funeral Director.

This particular region of Ohio is very similar to many of the east coast Democrat dominated suburban communities with the exception and noticeable absence of thriving nearby large metropolitan urban areas.  Those similar district areas offer greater accessibility to and from large metropolitan urban areas that are convenient to most locations within the district.  This absence of district wide accessibility to the large metropolitan areas has caused a stark contrast in living and employment conditions among the residents of this 6th House District compared to those found on the east coast of the nation.   

Married couples working family units seem to be the norm in this region. This district's median family income is reported at $40,714 annually (2000 census) with an average family size of 3 people, with the head of household ages at that income level ranging from 35 yrs. to 44 yrs.  More than 75% of this district's employed population work outside of their place of residence and nearly 90% of them drive to work alone in their personal vehicles with driving times of 10 to 30 minutes.  In addition, there is a respectable portion of this population that does drive upwards to 1 hour to work daily.   

My political campaign summary for winning this house seat would be to form a strategy targeting families (married and non-married) in two groups; 1st the work force age group of 35-54 yrs., 2nd the semi-retired work force age group of 55-74 yrs. In my opinion these two demographic characteristics are the most important for this district.

My basic outline for campaign targeting in this district would differ slightly if I were either the Republican or Democrat candidate.  The preliminary information on voting history for this district is slanted towards the Democrat party. However during the 2004 Presidential Election votes were evenly split with Bush 50% to Kerry 49%.  This factor indicates that the messages of Family Values and Moderate Conservatism have an ingrained connection within this district. 

My targeted campaign messages would start out as focusing on consumer energy costs with a hint towards lowering prices, alternative energy sources and energy conservation.  I would then move towards message suggestions of work place, work region commuter services to and from areas most traveled on a daily bases.  This district is geographically situated along historical river towns and the possibility for shared commuter services may attract support from businesses in these locations with a side benefit for tourist economic development.

An attention getting campaign message for this district would be to suggest support for legislation that fight crimes against any property and drug related offences.  These suburban /rural communities are rapidly becoming the main targets for home invasions, burglaries and heavy illegal drug use.       

The most successful campaign message for this district would be Family Values, Energy Cost Saving to the consumers and Job Creation through tourist development.  The campaign should emphasize issues like Increasing the Minimum Working Wage, Increasing Federal/State Business Loans and Strengthening Legal Worker Documentation Laws.

This district differs from other districts because it does have a potentiality of being self supportive due to its historical sites and tourist destinations.  The median incomes are fairly low in this district however the low cost of living makes this region very affordable.