Josh Friesen / Idaho State Journal
Greg Graf discusses social media and how it can be utilized in political campaigns during a presentation at the Homestead Restaurant in Blackfoot.

By Josh Friesen, jfriesen@journalnet.com

BLACKFOOT — As times change, so too do campaign strategies and the politicians who continually have to maneuver to adapt to them.

It’s a challenge that’s being faced head on by Idaho Republicans.

“The latest and biggest change is how the Internet and social media have changed how people learn about candidates and learn about political issues,” said Dan Cravens, Bingham County Republican chairman.

The East Idaho Campaign School was held last week in Blackfoot. The objective of the meeting was to help inform some of those running for local offices in the upcoming elections. Office runners came from as far as Teton County.

The event was hosted by the Bingham County Republican Central Committee and the Idaho Republican Party. Cravens, who helped organize and put on the event, called it a success.

“We had a really good session,” Cravens said. “It was well-received. As a county committee, we were really pleased with how many people enjoyed it, and we were glad to facilitate it.”

Steve Taggart, who managed Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper’s campaign, spoke first and broke down various campaign strategies, including calculating how many votes are needed to win, where you will get the votes and how you’ll get individuals to vote for you.

After Taggart spoke, the event’s keynote speaker, Idaho GOP Chairman Steve Yates, spoke about campaign philosophies and the importance he feels 2016’s election has.

“Politics, very simply, is supposed to be a social exercise,” Yates said. “I’m always stunned at the number of people who feel like they’ve arrived at an expert idea and have somewhat antisocial behavior and they think that they’re going to win votes. You need people to like you. You need people to want to hear what you say.”

Following Yates, Greg Graf, who’s an expert on social media, presented on the pros and cons of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Social media, Cravens says, is one of the more effective ways to get a candidate’s name out there.

“My very first political campaign, I was a volunteer when I was in sixth grade,” Cravens said. “How you made contact with voters was through television advertising or news stories or media coverage for an event. … (Today) a lot of folks are very busy, and a lot of people get quite a bit of their information off social media. So learning how to use that technology to share our message as Republicans and to distinguish ourselves… is important.”

To round out the presentation, Pocatello attorney Dustin Manwaring — who’s running as a Republican for Idaho State Representative, District 29-A — spoke about campaign finance law and election law. To conclude, Dave Johnston, the executive director of the state Republican Party, presented on data and voter analysis and a new voter database, which Cravens says has been heavily updated to be more user-friendly.

Cravens says because of how well the campaign school was received, he’s looking forward to perhaps expanding on it in the future. He’s also been contacted by various local nonprofits, who inquired about presenting on the same marketing principles touched on at the campaign school.

“I received a lot of positive feedback,” Cravens said, “and it’s probably something we will do before the primaries again in 2018.”