Campaign Expert Reveals Methods Of'60 Elections

Contacting voters by telephone and mail is often the most important part of a successful political campaign, according to Joseph Napolitan, public relations expert who worked for President Kennedy during the West Virginia and Wisconsin primaries and the 1958 senatorial campaign.

Napolitan, who spoke before the six members of the HYDC who were not otherwise occupied during last night's riot, also emphasized the importance of distributing handbills at the polling places, particularly during primary and local elections when the voters have little idea who is running for many of the offices.

A local resident well-known in the precinct area can often swing from 4 to 20 votes to the candidate of his choice, Napolitan said. He then pointed out that one more vote in each precinct would have given Nixon a majority of the popular vote in the 1960 Presidential election.

Late in the campaign, "every minute of the candidate's time is blood," he said, stressing the need for proper schedule planning. "Every morning he should get up by 5:30 or 6 a.m., be out in front of some plant or factory handing out literature," Napolitan added.

Napolitan, who also managed the unsuccessful bid of Endicott Peabody '42 for the state gubernatorial nomination last year, discussed the use of such communications media as newspaper ads and signs. He warned, however, of the danger of using vounteers to put up posters, since in many areas, "the sign hangers union will tear down any signs that aren't stamped by them."