| Featured Case Study |
 John Yarmuth
(D-Kentucky)
2008 Re-Election
In 2006, first-time candidate John Yarmuth defeated 10-year Republican incumbent Anne Northup, 52%-48%, despite being significantly outspent and receiving virtually no help from the DCCC. In 2008, Northup sought to reclaim her seat. Polling initially had the two candidates only 4 points apart, but Yarmuth was aggressive about telling his own story. The 2008 campaign ran 8 TV spots, 7 of which were positive. In the end, despite Northup spending more than a million dollars, Yarmuth coasted to a 60% victory.
 Yarmuth TV Ads
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The 60-second ad, Listening, was the first ad of the 2008 Yarmuth campaign. It shows how we defined the race by emphasizing John's many accomplishments in office. |
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"Darryl" |
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"New Day" |
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"Exceptional" |
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"Everything" |
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John talks about
Dave Heller
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“In challenging a five-term incumbent in 2006, I knew I had to make the case for change, but without sounding offensive. Dave Heller's ads allowed me to do that with humor, uniqueness, and a great visual quality.... I would not have won the election without the very distinctive and gorgeous ads that Dave Heller produced for my campaign.” |
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 Yarmuth Radio Ads |
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Our Record
The Main Street Communications Record
Congressional Races
Main Street is not merely a small firm with a proven record of winning the most hotly contested races; we have the best record among media firms in the Democratic Party helping our clients win contested open seat races for Congress. Most every firm wins with incumbents and in 2004 and 2006 we compiled a perfect 8-0 record with our House incumbents (we were 11-0 in 2008!). But our clients have also won ten out of thirteen general election open seat races for Congress since 1995. The common denominator in each of these races being a smartly conceived, unconventional and well executed strategy and creative, attention-grabbing TV and radio ads.
Statewide Races
At the statewide level, we have been equally successful. At the top of the ticket, in 2002, we helped then-Congressman John Baldacci become Governor of Maine. What made Gov. Baldacci's win especially satisfying was that each of the six New England states (the most Democratic region in the country) held elections that year, and every other state elected a Republican governor. In 2006, we not only helped re-elect Governor Baldacci, we held his Republican opponent to just 30% of the vote!
At the down-ballot level, our clients have won six out of seven down-ballot statewide races. Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Labor Commissioner, even the State Supreme Court... we have helped our clients win statewide for each of these important offices. We helped elect the Attorneys General of both West Virginia and Ohio in 2006; the Ohio win was especially satisfying, as State Senator Marc Dann came from 36 points behind to defeat former Attorney General Betty Montgomery despite the fact that Montgomery had garnered more votes than anyone on the GOP ticket in each of the last two statewide elections.
Mayoral Races
We have a proven record of success helping clients win big-city mayoral races. In 2001, we handled two mayoral campaigns, Matt Driscoll in Syracuse and Jane Campbell in Cleveland – and both won! Driscoll became the first Democrat elected in Syracuse in twelve years, and Campbell the first woman ever to be elected Mayor of Cleveland. We also handled the media for the first African-American ever elected Mayor in St. Louis, Freeman Bosley, Jr.
African-American and Hispanic Races
We have had particular success helping elect minorities to Congress. Recent redistrictings have created many new seats with a plurality of minority voters, and we have helped our clients win repeatedly in these racially diverse districts. In 1998, we helped Michael Thurmond become the first African-American to be elected statewide in Georgia, then in 2002 and 2006 we helped him win re-election at the same time Democrats were losing the U.S. Senate seat and the governorship at the top of the ticket.
All told, David Heller has helped elect and re-elect more African-Americans to Congress than any media consultant in the country, including U.S. Reps. Frank Ballance (D-N.C.), Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), John Lewis (D-Ga.), David Scott (D-Ga.), Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Albert Wynn (D-Md.). Heller also helped elect Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) in a majority-Hispanic district. Additionally, Heller handles the media for the only two whites in Congress to represent majority-minority districts: Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).
The Bottom Line
The reason we win so often, especially when our competitors clients are losing open seat races with higher Democratic performance numbers, is simple: our strategies. We know that no two races are ever the same, so we never use a cookie-cutter mold with our candidates. Democrats today must run on a myriad of ideas and issues. With new ideas come new strategies to convey these ideas. We break the mold to maximize the ideas, vision, personality and record of our candidates, and provide each client with his or her own strategy and uniquely tailored creative media package. We have amassed the best won-loss record among media firms in the Democratic Party. And we have done it the old-fashioned way: by strictly limiting the number of clients we take on, and getting deeply involved in our races. |
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John Yarmuth "Different Direction"
Campaign Plan Development 