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Lessons from Stan Matsunaka’s 2002 Campaign

I had the privilege of working closely with Stan Matsunaka over the past year in his inspirational but unsuccessful campaign for a Congressional seat representing eastern Colorado. As a veteran of two successful campaigns and eight years in the Colorado State Senate (including service as president of the State Senate), Matsunaka represented our best hope for adding another Asian Pacific American voice to our national legislature in Washington this year.

Despite running in a district where there are over 14 percent more registered Republicans than Democrats, Matsunaka ran a race that was considered exemplary by many political experts, and was even leading at one point. He lost in the closing weeks, however, when both the president and vice president helped his opponent, and Republican forces outside the district paid for over $1 million in television and direct mail attack ads. When the final vote totals came in, Matsunaka’s opponent won, 55 percent to 42 percent.

While Matsunaka’s Congressional quest did not result in victory, it has much to teach us as other APAs aspire to national office in the years ahead. His campaign was the first truly national campaign run by and for an APA candidate. National APA leaders such as David Wu and Mike Honda hosted fundraisers all across the country, and many APA donors made online contributions to a candidate in eastern Colorado while sitting in front of their computers in Hawai‘i or Virginia.

For those of you running a future political campaign for Congress or other office, here are a few things you can learn from Matsunaka’s 2002 campaign:

1. Be yourself. Stan Matsunaka is a fourth generation Coloradan of Japanese American ancestry. He started out his campaign being proud of his APA heritage, and in fact mentioned the heroic exploits of his father, a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II, in his speeches and on his website. Rather than letting anti-APA racism rear its ugly head, Matsunaka asserted pride in both his Asian ancestry and his status as a fourth generation Coloradan. Even those of us who are recent immigrants can take a lesson from this, because roots in a community are not just a matter of years lived in a state. Matsunaka had made the most of his time as a volunteer football and basketball coach, church elder and Boy Scout leader. When he tossed his hat in the political ring, he was a well-known and well-liked neighbor who had given to others before asking for support.

2. Be positive. Matsunaka made a decision to promote his own platform and record, and not lower himself to the level of mudslinging his opponent did. Negative ads that make truthful criticisms can be a legitimate way to inform voters, but his opponent’s ads crossed over the line with factual inaccuracies and inappropriate schoolyard distortions of Matsunaka’s Japanese surname. Because of his positive message, he received the endorsements of seven local newspapers, including papers that had not endorsed a Democrat in 30 years. Several prominent Republicans quit their local party leadership positions and formed a Republicans for Stan group because they were fed up with the negative campaigning of Matsunaka’s opponent and inspired by Matsunaka’s positive message. While his opponent ultimately won because of her million-dollar last minute barrage of misleading ads and the power of the presidential coattails, Matsunaka has maintained his credibility and stature, and can use his campaign experience to either run again himself or help others to run.

3. Be inspirational. Matsunaka’s speeches project a sincerity and strength that is inspirational. No matter what your political convictions, if you believe them strongly and come to the political arena ready to work hard to make them a reality, you are more likely to attract supporters the way Matsunaka did.

4. Be strategic. Matsunaka took the time to hire political consultants to help him craft a message that was well-received all over his district. Education, healthcare, jobs and response to the local drought were issues he advanced through his work as a legislator and in his campaign for Congress. Win or lose, campaigns galvanize support for positions that can bear fruit in later campaigns or legislative proposals.

5. Be tactical. Matsunaka responded well to several salvos of misleading television and direct mail messages from his opponent before the final $1 million tsunami of ads hit the airwaves. He put his opponent’s negative ads on a non-public page of his website so that the press could see for themselves how his opponent had not proposed a positive agenda but only a negative one. Soon after, Matsunaka received seven endorsements.

6. Be tireless. Matsunaka worked harder than almost any person I have ever seen, and his staff responded by working hard as well. Fourteen hour days were not uncommon, as he worked valiantly to overcome the huge financial advantage of his opponent. Voters were impressed by Matsunaka’s willingness to go the extra mile, and one very conservative paper that disagreed with him on the issues gave him an endorsement because he was the only candidate to come twice to their rural area of the district.

7. Be willing to challenge entrenched power. Matsunaka ran in a district that Democrats had not won in 30 years, and made a credible challenge to a Republican candidate who many newspapers, community leaders and voters saw as being out of touch with the district. Following the example of his father and the 442 veterans, he decided to “Go for Broke,” even in the face of overwhelming odds. As an APA community, we too have to “Go for Broke” to challenge entrenched candidates and an entrenched winner-take-all voting system that favors big money interests and attack ads over positive discussions of the issues. Like Matsunaka, we must keep trying, learn from our losses, celebrate victories and come back fighting for the democracy that we hold so dear.

Reach Phil Tajitsu Nash at pnash@campaignadvantage.com.