Rohrer adviser: ‘A lean campaign’

WEST LAWN—In building an insurgent gubernatorial bid, state Representative Sam Rohrer (R-Berks) will be playing small ball. No expensive office suites. No big staff of campaign operatives. Nothing, in his top strategist’s words, that’s “top-heavy.”

“This needs to be a lean campaign,” Rohrer adviser Jeff Coleman told pa2010.com Tuesday night.

After advising Rohrer through his decision to run for governor, Coleman is now officially on the payroll as senior strategist. Military veteran James May, who lost a Republican primary to incumbent state Representative Karen Boback (R-Luzerne) last year, will run the effort in his first stint as campaign manager. A finance director has been hired and volunteer coordinators are on the ground. But all together, Coleman estimates, the campaign will be staffed at about a fifth the size of its rivals.

Utilization of social networking and communications technologies will be key. Adaptations will need to be made along what is almost sure to be a bumpy road. Money will, of course, need to be raised, but the campaign has yet to set a target, or least one its willing to acknowledge.

Tactics can and will change, Coleman said, “the only thing that will not change is Sam’s principles.”

And the whole time, the campaign will be working against conventional wisdom.

“Political pundits have given up on Pennsylvania” as a Republican state, Coleman said. “They’ve been saying the last few election cycles that it’s either very blue or very purple. We think the right message will win.

“It will be a very different campaign,” he added.