Running a Campaign in a Small City

A small-city campaign should begin with evidence, not folklore. “Doors always win,” “spring turnout is low,” and “everyone is on Facebook” may sound plausible, but none is a Stoughton plan until it is measured. The better method is FAT: Facts, Assumptions, Tests.

• A fact has a source: an agenda, budget, official result, city map, or rule.
• An assumption is a planning estimate: doors per hour, volunteer retention, or response rate.
• A test produces new evidence: one canvass shift, ten message interviews, or a forum rehearsal.

Label all three. This keeps confidence from outrunning knowledge.

Before public campaign activity, fundraising, spending, or filing nomination papers, confirm with the Clerk whether registration has been triggered. Wisconsin’s candidate overview describes a $0 registration threshold when any listed trigger occurs ¹.

Use the photograph to plan a present-day observation walk: note crossings, sidewalks, loading, frontage, and transitions into residential blocks. Date every observation. A 2011 image can suggest where to look; it cannot establish current conditions ².

Build an issue log before a platform

Stoughton’s Agenda Center publishes notices, agendas, packets, and minutes for the Common Council and other bodies ³. Use the official budget archive to check adopted budgets and capital-planning documents rather than relying on campaign summaries ⁴. Pair both with the city’s WSTO Video On Demand archive for council, Plan Commission, Finance Committee, and other meetings ⁵. Video reveals questions and uncertainty; documents anchor exact proposals and recorded action.

Create one row per issue:

Field	What to capture
Source	body, meeting date, agenda item, packet page, video timestamp
Decision stage	briefing, referral, recommendation, council vote, implementation
Constraint	cost, law, staffing, timing, intergovernmental dependency
Perspectives	strongest fair version of each stated position
Mayor’s role	chair, appointment, budget review, liaison, advocate, or no direct power
Open question	what a resident still needs explained
Next source	staff report, ordinance, budget page, minutes, or responsible official

Do not turn the public-comment microphone into a campaign prop. Observe to learn. When a meeting ends, write three sentences: what was decided, what was not decided, and what happens next. That habit is more valuable than collecting applause lines.

Read one real result without inventing a theory

Dane County’s stable 2026 reporting page lists 3,534 votes for Tim Swadley and 106 write-in votes, or 3,640 votes recorded in that contest ⁶. Its page-wide disclaimer treats municipal results as unofficial, so use these numbers as a planning-scale snapshot—not legal certification. For the legal result, ask the Stoughton City Clerk. The total is also not automatically turnout: voters may leave a contest blank, and turnout needs a separate denominator and election-level total. It does not prove why anyone voted or whether a particular tactic worked.

Safe inference: plan and audit work at a scale of thousands. Unsafe inference: “3,640 doors guarantees a win.” Candidates, ballot composition, and participation can change.

Convert time into a testable contact plan

Use capacity math before setting a voter-contact promise:

attempts = canvassers × shifts per week × hours per shift × attempts per hour × weeks

Example assumptions, deliberately labeled:

• 2 canvassers
• 2 shifts per week each
• 2 hours per shift
• 12 attempted doors per hour
• 8 weeks

The model gives 2 × 2 × 2 × 12 × 8 = 768 attempted doors. If 35% produce a conversation, the planning estimate is about 768 × 0.35 = 269 conversations. At 8 attempts per hour the same plan yields 512 attempts; at 16, it yields 1,024.

These are not performance standards. Weather, access, walk distance, conversation length, and experience change the rate. A door is not a voter; a conversation is not support. After every shift, record hours, attempts, conversations, follow-ups, and issues heard. Replace the assumption with a four-shift rolling average.

Capacity rule of thumb: schedule only 70% of theoretical volunteer hours. The other 30% absorbs cancellations, training, data cleanup, and long conversations. This is a planning buffer, not a fact about Stoughton.

Make a message that respects mayoral authority

Use PERN: Problem, Evidence, Role, Next step.

Problem: “Residents have asked how the capital plan affects street repairs.”

Evidence: “The question appears in these agenda items and budget pages.”

Role: “The mayor reviews the budget and works with the council; the mayor does not appropriate money alone.”

Next step: “I would request a plain-language project dashboard and use the public budget process to compare priorities.”

The structure prevents two common failures: promising a result the mayor cannot order and using an anecdote as if it were citywide evidence. Stoughton’s 12-member council represents four districts, while the mayor is elected at large; a mayoral message must explain how citywide leadership and council action fit together ⁷.

Score each proposed priority from 0 to 2 on four questions: Is it repeatedly visible in sources? Is it within meaningful mayoral influence? Can the trade-off be explained honestly? Is there a first step that can be observed? A score is a focusing device, not proof that an issue matters more than an unmeasured concern.

Field rules that protect trust

Write these operating rules before recruiting volunteers:

• Respect “no soliciting,” private-property boundaries, and a resident’s request to end a conversation.
• Never imply a campaign volunteer is a city employee, election official, or news reporter.
• Do not use city staff time, equipment, logos, nonpublic information, or official channels for campaign work.
• Collect only data the campaign can protect and use lawfully. Explain why contact information is requested.
• Offer accessible ways to participate: readable literature, a phone or email option, and events that do not require stairs or long standing.
• Correct a factual error publicly in the same channel where it spread.
• Review printed and paid digital advocacy for the required attribution. The Ethics Commission generally expects “Paid for by” plus the full registered committee name, subject to current format rules and exceptions ⁸.

For signs, canvassing locations, text messages, email, volunteer data, and election-day activity, obtain current written guidance. Ethical instincts help; they do not replace law.

A 30-day pre-campaign lab

This lab produces a go/no-go decision, not a campaign launch. Confirm registration boundaries before doing anything public or spending money.

Days 1–7 — Map the office. Read three recent council agendas and one committee packet. Watch 60 minutes of WSTO video. Add ten issue-log rows. For each, identify what the mayor can and cannot do.

Days 8–14 — Listen without pitching. Hold ten structured conversations across different parts of the city. Ask the same four questions: What works? What is frustrating? What decision do you not understand? What would a trustworthy update look like? Record themes, not gossip.

Days 15–21 — Test capacity. With no campaign advocacy unless properly registered, run two logistics-only route tests or comparable volunteer exercises. Measure travel, access, weather, and data-entry time. Build low, middle, and high capacity cases.

Days 22–30 — Synthesize. Draft three PERN messages. Cite the source behind every factual sentence. Rehearse a 30-second answer, a two-minute answer, and a respectful “I do not know yet.” Ask two skeptical readers to underline promises outside mayoral authority.

The deliverable is one page: three evidenced issues, office limits, a realistic capacity range, Clerk questions, and reasons to run or wait. Deciding to wait can be a successful result.

Weekly campaign drill

Every Sunday, classify the dashboard:

• Facts: actual hours, contacts, donations, costs, deadlines, sourced issue updates.
• Assumptions: future volunteer hours, response rates, persuasion goals.
• Tests: one change to route, script, event, or follow-up process.

If the campaign cannot distinguish those columns, it is not learning. The goal is not to imitate a generic “small-town campaign.” It is to build a lawful, measurable Stoughton campaign whose claims match the office and whose plan improves when evidence changes.