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Alan Stock 0:00
And a good morning. Great to have you with us on this big Thursday morning. If it’s Thursday, it’s got to be news and views Thursday. And of course, I encourage you to check out more about news and views by going to the new views, Nevada news and views.com. Nevada news and views.com, great commentary and the latest in all the issues, local, state and national. You’re not going to find any any site better Nevada, news and views calm and who’s the guy who created this whole thing? A guy that I’ve known for, I think, 150 years, Chuck Muth, joining us right now, also president of Citizen Outreach. How you doing, Chuck?
Chuck Muth 0:39
I am fantastic. Alan, thanks for having me on. I’m glad I was able to come up for air and join you this morning.
Alan Stock 0:44
I’m glad you are too. I know you’re constantly busy. Got to keep you well oiled, though, on the air and you know, so this is a great thing. You are working with several candidates feverishly behind the scenes to make sure that they get elected. And you’ve you’ve you’ve changed something around a little bit about how, I guess, we could talk about it on the air, about how people can go ahead and campaign, we see those flyers that come constantly in the mail, but you’ve added another kind of wrinkle to some of these campaigns.
Chuck Muth 1:18
Yeah, this is something I go back to, you know, I’ve been doing politics like you said you and I have been doing it for 150 years, but my real focus over the past 30 years that I’ve been doing this full time has been on the marketing side, learning how to message, writing good copy. My strength really comes from the marketing side, and then I just apply it to politics. And one of the things I teach in our campaign boot camp is from a marketing perspective, if you want to arrive like unlike everybody else, if everybody else is doing postcards, then think of doing something else. And from the marketing standpoint, long form letters actually are more persuasive with undecided voters than the postcards are. So we actually tested this out then Alan, you remember Dennis Hoff ran in 2018 for the assembly, and I was managing his campaign. And Dennis had a strong background in direct response marketing. He sold timeshares, so this guy really got it. And I’ve been trying to talk the candidates into doing letters instead of postcards for years. Dennis was the first one to say, Yeah, that makes sense. Let’s give it a try. And it worked. People actually open the envelope and actually read what was inside, and it made a difference. So that’s what we’re doing this time. I’ve got four candidates out there right now that are using long form letters, just like you get in the mail you’ve probably gotten I know Alan, I know you have letters asking you to donate money to this cause or that cause, and if a four page letter is effective enough to ask someone for money, why wouldn’t it be effective enough to ask people for their votes? And so that’s what we’re doing, and we’re getting just tremendous response back from people who really appreciate taking the time to fully explain their campaigns and their positions, rather than just with a headline and a sub headline on a glossy postcard.
Alan Stock 3:13
I want you to talk about the difference between a short letter and a longer letter. I mean, because I’m not sure that I agree with you that longer letters are the way to go. Are people’s attention? I mean, is the attention span sufficient to be able to go through six or eight pages of a letter? And I’m just asking the question, or do you think that, you know, like a shorter letter to the more to the point, is the way to go.
Chuck Muth 3:42
I hear it all the time. The general rule of thumb, from a marketing standpoint, is, the more you tell the more you sell an undecided voter. And look for most of these races out there. Alan, I’m not talking about Governor or Congress. Most of these races, the voter has absolutely no idea who these candidates are. They’re trying to make an informed decision. Now, if you’ve already made up your mind, you get a four page letter, or six page letter, you’re not going to probably not going to read it, because you’ve already made up your mind. Same with the postcards, though, but the feedback that we’ve gotten from voters, even one Erica Neely did a six page letter. The response she got back from the voter was, thank you for sending the letter. I read your first page. Oh, here’s the other key. The letter can’t be too long, but it can be too boring. One of the people that I learned from was Claude Hopkins. He wrote a 23 page letter to sell Rolls Royces back in the 1950s and it was so well written that people read every page of the 23 page letter. And the same with Erica, the text that she got the day her first one hit, she said, I read your first page. It was so interesting. I read all six pages. Thank you. I would have not known about you otherwise. I’m voting. For you. I’m telling my friends to vote for you, and I’m making a contribution to your campaign today, so they work, and I hope that none of my editors find out that this works and tries to replicate it, because if you’re an undecided voter, you do not want to make an uninformed choice. And so the long form letter, four or six pages that gives them the information that they can justify in their head. Okay, I know enough about this person that I can comfortably cast my vote and not have to worry about it. So they work,
Alan Stock 5:34
wow, as part of your whole strategy about how you work with candidates and Erica, by the way, let me just say I would talk to her for years, and she has come such a long way she is. So she’s great on the air, and she’s got a greater sense of confidence. And by way of disclosure, of course, her, her assembly district is mine or my, I’m in hers. And so I’m, I am looking forward to having her as my next assembly representative assembly woman, absolutely. And so I hope everything you’ve been working with her on, I think has worked very, very well. I want people to realize that, because I know you work with campaigns, you know people running office all the time, and next time people decide to run, they ought to really think first and foremost, I think about contacting you about you know exactly what to do, because you could probably give them the best guidance. Then they’re going to get anywhere here in Southern Nevada.
Chuck Muth 6:36
She really is special, and she came to me about two years ago when we started working together, and she went through my training. She went through the boot camp. But here’s the thing about Erica, and you were going to be so well represented by this young woman if she gets elected in November Alan, when everyone else would show up for the training, they would come in with a standard yellow legal pad to take notes. Erica came in with a binder, you know, three, four inches thick. She was taking notes and collecting things. I mean, she does her homework. And if you give her something to do and you say she told me her story about adopting her daughter, and this is fantastic, you should write a book about it. And I’ll tell that to a lot of candidates, you know, go write a book about your experience. Eric is the only one that’s actually done it, and it’s a fantastic, unbelievable story. It hits people emotionally, and she’s just a terrific, terrific candidate. You’re going to do well with her representing you in part,
Alan Stock 7:35
I’ve got a copy of the book sitting right here on my shelf, just a few feet from me, so I know exactly what you’re talking about, and you’re absolutely right about her. I want to talk about a couple of the other races going on, congressional and county commission. I’ve got to take a quick break, though, so stay with me. I want to continue with Chuck Muth in just a moment. This is Nevada news and views Thursday, and of course, who’s the founder and publisher of Nevada news and views, Chuck Muth. And we’ll continue in just a moment right here on Vegas at eight and a good morning. Great to be with us on this big Thursday morning, Nevada news and views. Thursday. If you want to find out more about Nevada news and views, go to Nevada news and views.com the best in commentary, trust me, anything local, statewide or national. Nevada news and views.com What? Want to focus on two quick races that are going on that are getting more attention. You can see it in the other media forms than just about anything else. One is CD three and the other one is the third congressional district. The other one is the Clark County Commission district. F Justin Jones has been our the guy out there, a terrible, horrible example of what a county commissioner is, but he’s retiring, so he doesn’t have to face any legal problems and and we’ve got basically two people who are running, and we’ve got a great chance of getting a Republican in there. They’re both pro business. And I want to know what you think Albert Mack and Heidi kasama are running for the Republican nomination. And I think whoever gets the nomination will get the will win in November.
Chuck Muth 9:13
Let me go back. Let me go backwards on that. Here’s the concern that we have to worry about. Alan, you would think that whoever wins the primary would win in November. The good thing for Republicans is it looks like whoever the Democrat candidate is going to be is going to be somewhat weak, or a lot weaker than Justin Jones. The problem is, you’ve got a non partisan candidate running Becky Harris, who is a rhino Republican. Name only Republican former legislator, and she’s running as an independent. Now she’s not going to win that seat, but she could potentially pull enough votes away from whoever the nominee is to hand it to a weak Democrat. So that’s a concern I want everybody to keep their eyes on. For November out of the two i. I’m supporting Albert Mac no question about it. I was very disappointed in Haiti kasama. Voting record was not very conservative for a conservative district. In her time in the legislature, she voted for the Hollywood handout. Not only did she vote for it, but she voted for it while on vacation in Mexico, remotely, and there was all kinds of shenanigans pulled in order to be able to do that. Look, if you want to run for an office, I know it’s inconvenient that a special session was called when you were scheduled for a vacation, but you wanted to represent your constituents. She should have been in the building for that vote, and her campaign is absolutely disgusting. What they’ve done with using artificial intelligence to digitally manipulate signs and mailers to try to pretend that Albert Mack is a supporter of Hillary Clinton’s. It’s really hitting below the belt. It’s uncalled for. And I’m just so disappointed in Haiti in the way she’s run this campaign. So I think Albert Mac would be a nice he’s a newcomer. He doesn’t know the issues as well as somebody who’s been in office for six years, but he’s a fast learner. Great family. I think Albert Mac was going to do county commission really, really represent them. Well, if he wins in November,
Alan Stock 11:17
and for me, I don’t want to attack any of the Republicans like you talk about Haiti kasama and and, you know, and various other people, I don’t want to attack anything, because whoever gets the nomination, I will support them. And when you talk about Becky Harris, she is not only a rhino, and I understand what you’re saying. You think that she could take votes from the Republicans. I look at something else that I’ve seen, you know, I’ve learned from you about looking at certain for certain things. And what I’ve seen is that that Becky has got a lot of endorsements, but her endorsements come almost, almost every single one to the letter, from the left wing, from the left wing of the Democrat party. So, I mean, she’s got Democrats looking at her, and I think she’s going to split the democrat vote more than she will the Republican vote. I mean, look at her, the people again who have been supporting her, and they’ve come out and behind her, they’ve all been left wing, and they’ve been left wing Democrats. They have not been won’t find one conservative Republican behind her? Not one.
Chuck Muth 12:24
No, definitely, not, definitely, not conservative Republican, which is why she’s running as a non partisan. She knew she couldn’t win a Republican primary because she’s so liberal. And I hope that you’re right. I hope the I strongly encourage Democrats and county commission F to vote for Becky Harris. Republicans, you vote for whoever the Republican nominee is. All
Alan Stock 12:47
right, we got very little time. Let’s talk quickly about CD three. That’s another one everyone’s watching because Susie Lee has done an abysmal job. She is definitely on the plank to be able to be pushed off into the ocean of sharks. Let her go, and we can get a a good, solid Republican in there. We’ve got some, I think there are three people who who could definitely beat her. One is Jeff Gunter, Tara Anderson and and then we’ve got
Chuck Muth 13:20
Ari Nagy,
Alan Stock 13:21
yeah. Well, yeah, Ari Nagy is not going to
Chuck Muth 13:24
Marty O’Donnell.
Alan Stock 13:26
Marty O’Donnell is got the nomination of the support of the President, and I think that Marty has a good chance of getting I think Jeff gunner just has a good chance of getting it too. And I think Tara would be great also against Susie Lee, your thoughts quickly?
Chuck Muth 13:42
I agree at this point, I’ve met with all four of them on a number of occasions. I like all four of the candidates at this point, if I had to vote today, I would probably have to go into voting booth and flip a coin. Your point we got to beat Susie Lee, who is the strongest candidate in the general election should be what was on our minds when you go into the primary I think that’s probably the most important.
Alan Stock 14:07
And I think that those three, all of them, would be strong against her. I think Jeff has got a lot of energy. I think Marty does as well. And I think that Tara, being a female, would also have kind of an opportunity to be able to go against Susie as well. I think all three would be very good. So, I mean, I you know, again, no matter who gets it, I’m behind them. 100% we’ve got to
Chuck Muth 14:32
get I don’t think any of the three can drink Susie Lee under the table. That might be a challenge.
Alan Stock 14:38
Probably right. Chuck Muth been joining us this morning. If you want to find out more about Nevada news and views, which I encourage you to do. I mean, I it comes to my mail every day just about and I read it from one end to the other. It’s absolutely informative and entertaining as well. Check it out. Nevada News. And views. Calm Nevada, news and views.com, do check it out, and I think it’ll be in your daily reading list. Chuck, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it. The best to you and Kristin and your whole family, and we’ll talk very soon.
Chuck Muth 15:15
Always great to be with you. Alan. You have a great day.
