THE GANTT REPORT, by Lucius Gantt
I love blues music, classic blues music. Little Milton and his type are good but I’m talking about Son House, Muddy, John Lee Hooker and the like.
Robert Johnson was a master blues musician. He could sing, he could play his guitar and he could definitely put on a show in the streets and on a stage at the neighborhood juke joint or “hole-in-the-wall”.
Johnson only recorded two albums but his songs have been covered by every important blues band.
One day, according to widespread tales, Johnson traveled to a crossroad where he met the devil and sold his soul to satan in exchange for a great career as a blues singer.
Today, political campaigns are cranking up. Like Robert Johnson, candidates are meeting people at various crossroads.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a local, state or candidate for a federal office, at every crossroad you venture to cross you will find one or more people that will claim that they have the help you need to win.
In politics, everybody says they are experts! They’ll say, “I can get the votes you need to win.”
The truth is that very few people are qualified to give reliable political advice.
History is a very good political teacher. If you want to know who can help your campaign, look at who has helped other politicians and candidates.
While too many Black candidates prefer to get political advice from family members and neighbors, some candidates depend on Greek organization brothers and sisters, church members, coworkers, side pieces and others.
Anyone can tell a candidate to get a sign, a flyer, a T-shirt, a radio ad or a TV ad but the most important thing in political campaigning is “timing”. Even if you do what you believe are all the right things, if you make your campaign moves at the wrong time you are destined to lose.
It’s easy to recognize a reactionary candidate. They are the ones that say, “My opponent has campaign hats, so I should buy campaign hats.”
The reactionary political candidates don’t have a campaign calendar, they don’t have a campaign plan, they don’t have a media plan, don’t have a direct mail plan, don’t have a fundraising plan, don’t have a canvassing plan, don’t have an absentee ballot plan and they don’t have a GOTV plan.
If you don’t know, sometimes it takes years to put together a winning political campaign. Why in the hell do you hear Trump and Biden talking about a Presidential election now that won’t take place until 2024?
The voter turnout for most Black candidates is very, very low. If some Black voters know you, they don’t want to vote for you and if they don’t know you, they don’t want to vote for you.
There are Black men and Black women that would rather lose multiple elections than to patronize the Black printer, buy an ad in the Black newspaper or get a commercial on the Black radio and TV station.
Take a rudimentary glance at the announced candidates in your community and you’ll find more than a few perennial political losers.
Every candidate is not necessarily a winning candidate and everyone that asks candidates for money is not necessarily a political expert!
When you get to the political crossroad, beware of the political devil!
Lucius is a contributing columnist to NNPA newspapers around the nation, and the author of “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” available on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.