Steve Deace is a Blaze Radio host and podcaster. If you want to hear a biblical culture view you need to listen to Steve Deace. Spotify site: https://open.spotify.com/show/2pJ9TfiD74kY2oqSYj5186

Steve posted his rules for winning elections on Twitter. He helped turn Iowa redder than Texas, so his opinion is worth posting.

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So you truly want to run for office or get involved as an activist/appointee/official? I get asked all the time what do I do or need to know? To that end, here’s my 10 Commandments for Draining the Swamp (because personnel is policy) after 15 years in full-time activism from school board elections to presidential campaigns:

1. Primaries are more important than generals. Winning general elections is important, yes, but even more important is who you win them with.

2. Move as many primaries as possible to state conventions, where the activists are the most involved and the media-establishment industrial complex is easier to defeat.

3. Go into this with a trusted inner circle, and the best-case-scenario is that is primarily or at least includes your spouse/family. People who were with you and demonstrated they cared about you before you got involved, but they also need to have the fortitude for what must be done (and endured) at the same time.

4. The best messaging possible is the endorsement of your enemies — whether that be their fear, disdain, or lamentations. Work hard to earn it, and then work even harder to share it.

5. The #1 determiner of who wins primaries is name ID.

6. If name ID is relatively even, the candidate perceived to be the most based will win.

7. NEVER stop hitting your opponent’s primary weakness.  People have short-attention spans. Play the hits they already know the words to so they’ll sing along.

8. Political Twitter is not real life, but it is where real narratives real people will eventually see are formed. You must have a robust presence there for that reason.

9. Make sure you have access to your own real data, because you cannot trust either the data — or the motivation for it — from most public

10. “Ground game” rarely makes up for being badly out-spent, unless you already have earned sufficient Name ID and/or we’re talking a low-turnout, localized election like a school board or a rural state legislative district. Everywhere else, for every Dave Brat there are at least a hundred failures. Hence, commandment #1.