smear tactics from Rick Perry's campaign?

As Herman Cain becomes more and more irritated and flustered with the three sexual harrassment charges dogging his presidential campaign, Herman Cain’s campaign is calling out rival Rick Perry’s camp as the responsible party for leaking sexual harrassment news to website, Politico.

Could news of Herman Cain’s past as the recipient of sexual harrassment charges have been leaked by Rick Perry as part of a smear campaign against Cain, who up until this week, was considered the GOP frontrunner? It disturbes me that GOP presidential candidates who are lacking in groundbreaking ideas to help improve our country, are resorting to schoolyard rumor mongering to gain traction in the 2012 presidential race. Smear campaigns and mudslinging are a turnoff to the American public and they just make all politicians look bad.

Herman Cain has stated that he believes it was GOP rival, Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is responsible for leaking Cain’s sexual harrassment charges that are a decade old, to the media. Politico.com was the media outlet first responsible for breaking the Herman Cain sexual harrassment story, but did Politico harm a viable presidential candidate just to score a journalism coup for its media outlet? And was this news leak the desperate act of a candidate (Perry) who has nothing legitimate to offer?

According to Huffington Post, “The former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza signaled his belief to Forbes that Curt Anderson, who worked on Cain’s unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2004 and now serves as an adviser for Perry’s political operation, was behind the allegations in question resurfacing.”

Forbes Magazine reports that a one-time Cain ally has turned against him, saying, “In the summer of 2003, Cain recalls briefing Anderson, his general campaign consultant at the time, that sexual harassment claims were brought against him while he was chairman of the National Restaurant Association from 1996 to 1999.”

It stands to reason that Herman Cain would suspect Curt Anderson of leaking the years old sexual harrassment news to Politico, since Anderson was in the know.

For Curt Anderson’s part Anderson, however, “[he] contends he first learned of the accusations Cain faced when they resurfaced in a story published earlier this week by Politico.” (HuffPost)

Curt Anderson states, “I have nothing but good things to say about Herman Cain. I’m not going to bad-mouth Herman Cain to anyone, on or off the record. I think he is a guy of great leadership and integrity.”

I said in my last blog post about political public relations that I would give feedback on my experience interviewing David Plouffe, the mastermind campaign manager who led President Barack Obama to victory last year.

One thing that certainly gives me an advantage as a publicist and marketing consultant that most of my colleagues do not have is my direct access to some of the most famous, brilliant, and innovative minds of our time. I don’t take this opportunity lightly or ever take it for granted. I am grateful for this every day!

That being said, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe was one of those meetings of the minds that left a huge impression on me, mainly because he was one of the greatest teachers of grassroots marketing and public relations that one could ever hope to learn from. As I read his book, The Audacity to Win, in preparation for our interview together I couldn’t help but soak up the invaluable playbook by which David Plouffe and his partner David Axelrod ran Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign. Some of the things that jumped off the page the most were the following strategies:

1. Rather than simply competing with your competition for existing customers or clients, create new customers in areas where your competition may not have looked. I use this tactic to my clients’ advantage when I work now.

2. Don’t be above canvasing at the most grassroots level. If it’s good enough for our President, it should be good enough for your company or organization. This could include making phone calls, door to door, newsletters, flyers, attending conferences, visiting private clubs or schools… anywhere you can reach people in their own familiar environment to get your message across one person at a time. The catch: You better have a solid and concise message. Practice and polish before you hit the “field.”

3. Be above anything petty. Don’t get “down in the muck,” as President Obama would always say to David Plouffe during his campaign. Forget negative message public relations strategies or retaliation. Stay a cut above by displaying integrity. Announce what sets you apart in a positive way rather than cutting down your competition. Don’t retaliate against your competition with a counter negative attack. That is so 20th century, no? Be more evolved. Instead, clarify why they are incorrect and go on to communicate your authentic message.

To read my interview with David Plouffe – http://www.pr.com/article/1137

To visit Allison Dawn Public Relations and read more about how I work with my own clients click – www.allisondawnpr.com