US political guru to help Fine Gael

THE disastrous election defeat can be overturned is the message Fine Gael activists will hear from a top US political strategist at their behind closed doors conference today.

US Republican party strategist Ray Howell will tell 500 of the key party faithful it is vital to get the organisational structures sorted out early, but the specifics on policies can wait.

The Boston-based PR guru has been involved in four successive election victories by Republican governors in the Democrat-dominated state of Massachusetts.

“I know what it’s like to fight an uphill battle,” he said.

Talking to the party on the US experience of the nuts and bolts of political campaigning, Mr Howell will also tell them how to support candidates with campaign management and communications set-ups.

In 1990, Mr Howell was press secretary for William Weld who overturned 20 years of Democrat rule to pull off a dramatic win for the Republicans. Then in 1994, Mr Howell was campaign manager as Governor Weld was re-elected by the largest majority in the State in the 150 years.

Since then, in 1998 and 2002, Mr Howell has been involved in the campaigns of Paul Cellucci and Mitt Rowney, both of whom have held the Governorship for the Republicans.

The 42-year-old public relations lobbyist was also involved in US President George W Bush’s campaign in 2000, working in the state of New England.

In recent years, Fine Gael has been renowned for having policies on every subject under the sun but failing to actually convey them properly to the electorate. Mr Howell says political campaigns should consider holding back until closer to polling in order to stay fresh and flexible but get the organisation end sorted out early.

“Being prepared is always important. Putting together an infrastructure is something that can be put together early. I’m not sure it is important to develop messages too far in advance because the world changes so fast. You need to always be current and relevant.

“But the infrastructure needs to be done early. You need to obviously have some fundamental principles and goals and that drives everything else. In terms of the specifics, that can come later.”