Media response here was easy to arrange, and when we make a big deal of a candidate, the news people will usually follow suit.
Now, here is how I did it:
1. Find a place, and pick a date. You should contact campaign office's and make sure the candidate would be available. Then get hold of Sputnik as the State Office may be able to pay any fees associated with the hall rental.
2. Get on the internet, and find the Secretary of State for Texas, look under elections, then under primary elections. You will find a list of both parties candidates that have filed for election. Concentrate on the Senate seat for your district, as well as the House Reps from the district where you are holding your event. Keep it local! Try not to get too many races involved other than this as it will eat you up in time.
3. Contact the candidates for the House and Senate races by phone first, then send them an invitation. Let them know of the event, and get a commitment to appear.
4. Get some flyers made up, and get the local chapters of TMRAII associated with the event to start getting them out. Notify the local newspaper and get notice of the event published. This is required to be fair and un-biased!!
5. Contact the media in the area. Our local TV Station was glad to come over. The local radiop also participated. Both of these are excellent advertising, and used properly, they are free. Don't forget the newspapers in the area, especially the close by small towns that have district interest in the event.
6. Arrange a panel with 2-4 well thought out questions. We had a special meeting for the Piney Woods and Crockett Chapters where we had spaghetti dinner (everyone thinks better on a full stomach) and then worked up three questions that we wanted each one of the candidates to answer. Stay with the Personal Freedom and governmental infringrmrnt of these freedoms for a theme. This covers one hell of a lot of ground, but the main thing is to have a theme in the questions. Now pick the people for the panel to ask the questions. Use the more articulate people you have available. Remember, this is a very public event. You should also prepare some questions for the audience members to ask. We had five of these questions printed and then handed them out to our membership as they entered. (Stacking the deck so to speak)
7. Send the questions to the candidates at least one week in advance. This will let them know and prepare for these 2-4 questions ahead of time. Send them an agenda of the event, how much time is allowed for what, when things happen, etc. Let them know that there will be a couple of questions allowed from the audience for each of them. Verify with them at this time that you have contacted the media, and hopefully you will have commitments from them for coverage. Request a SHORT!!! biography from them for their introduction. Keep this part short. We are interested in their integrity and their qualifications!!
8. Make sure that the local members of TMRAII are going to be there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9. Get to the event early, set up a theater type setting. Have a table down front for your panel to be seated at. We provided coffee and refreshments (soda!) plus a couple of veggie trays and a meat tray for food. Total cost for refreshments and food was less than $100.
10. STAY IN CONTROL OF THE EVENT!! You are the moderator! Explain the format and agenda to the audience at the start. Explain who we are at the start. STAY WITH THE TIMES ON THE AGENDA!!! We had four candidates beside Senator Patterson. By staying with the agenda, we managed to have 30 minutes for the Senator to speak at the end, and still kept it to a two hour event. We ran the House race first, then the Senate race, and then Senator Patterson's race.
11. BE READY TO SPEAK TO THE MEDIA ABOUT US AND OUR GOALS!!!!!!!!! cause it is gonna happen!!
12. Relax and be your self! This group and your members have confidence in you. IT IS TIME TO DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One final note for getting help on the moderation of the event. If you
get in touch with the local chapter of the League of Women Voters you may
find help with putting on such an event.