Clint Eastwood for Mayor of Carmel

Although this race happened before the formation of The Kern Company, it illustrates how we analyze situations and come up with solutions designed for the specific race and the individual candidate.  The lead consultant was Eileen Padberg with whom we teamed again in 1996 for the successful No on Recall in Dana Point and the Chuck Smith for Orange County Supervisor races.

Situation

Clint Eastwood was running for Mayor in the City of Carmel.  The campaign was being run by Eileen Padberg, one of California’s leading political consultants. The Eastwood campaign was a classic American political story. He had been badly treated by the City and he and his neighbors were mad.  At their urging, he was thinking of running for Mayor.  A survey had shown that the incumbent Mayor had a formidable lead -- 49% to 29% for Eastwood -- and that people were afraid of turning Carmel into a Hollywood circus.  The very thing that made him a major candidate -- his celebrity status -- also made him a major underdog.

 John Kern

 Eileen Padberg called in John Kern as both an expert in local government and as a copywriter.  After talking with Eastwood and reviewing the data, Kern recommended that the traditional brochures and messages be abandoned.  Instead, since Eastwood had virtually 100% name identification, Kern wrote, and the campaign produced, only one brochure.  It featured a picture of Eastwood and three pages of text.  We believed interest was so high that people would read the text, no matter how long it was.  The message was that Carmel was his home, he would take the duties of Mayor seriously and it was time for a change.  If the City officials would treat him badly, they would do it to anyone. 

 In addition, Padberg designed a campaign around a series of coffees-- Eastwood called them teas -- rather than precinct walking.  Rules were devised that coffee hosts could only invite Carmel residents and a limit of five other people.

 Results

 After seven weeks of campaigning, Eastwood was elected with 73% of the vote, a turnaround of 44 points from the survey.