•October 12, 2016•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

In 64 BC, Quintus T. Cicero gave the following advice to his more famous brother, during Cicero’s successful campaign for consul of the Roman Republic that year:

Exploit the weaknesses of your opponents (he had two), flatter voters shamelessly, promise them anything, and give people hope. He undoubtedly added, though it is not recorded: Spend buckets of money, as they did back then.

There are four resources available to any campaign: money, people, time and skill. All are limited, though money appears almost limitless in Illinois legislative campaigns this year.

Abraham Lincoln said the job of a campaign is to “canvas your district, identify your voters and get them to the polls.”

Nothing much has changed, except the technology and the money spent.

In Lincoln’s 1858 campaign for the US Senate, campaigning was conducted largely in person and by local party organizations.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.