The Permanent Campaign

This is the archive page for The Permanent Campaign, which is no longer actively sending. Sarah Isgur, a veteran of national campaigns and the hard-knocks world of political communications, provided insight into strategy and mechanics of political campaigns with some behind-the-scenes flavor along the way.

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The Sweep: It’s Election Day!

Why you should ignore the early vote, and why bad polls might be good for democracy.

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The Sweep: When Both Sides See the Other as a ‘Threat to Democracy’

Plus: Which candidates are benefitting from gubernatorial coattails?

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The Sweep: DCCC Chair Sean Patrick Maloney Faces Mounting Criticism

Plus: How to read the Election Night tea leaves.

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The Sweep: Will the Dems’ McMullin Strategy Pay Off in Utah?

Plus: Georgia Republicans appear to be uniting behind Brian Kemp.

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The Sweep: Beware of Sloppy Polling

Plus: Kari Lake’s canny campaign strategy.

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The Sweep: October Surprise

Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker faces allegations that he paid for a girlfriend’s abortion in 2009.

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The Sweep: Here Comes Senate Debate Season

Plus, does the fundraising battle in Arizona even matter?

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The Sweep: GOP Still in the Driver’s Seat

New polls push back on the narrative that the Democrats will win the midterms.

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The Sweep: Primary Day in New Hampshire

Plus: What if the polls are wrong? (And why they might be.)

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The Sweep: How Will Abortion Play in the Midterms?

Special elections and an Arizona Republican's pivot offer clues.

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The Sweep: As November Nears, Senate Battlegrounds Tighten. Er—Most of Them.

Plus: Former January 6 investigator John Wood bows out of Missouri Senate race.

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The Sweep: Warning Signs for the GOP’s Senate Hopes

Plus: It’s 2015 all over again.

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The Sweep: The GOP Plays Hungry, Hungry Hippos With Campaign Emails

Plus: What to look for in the Wisconsin primary.

The Sweep: What We Learned

A pro-life constitutional amendment fails in Kansas, and Trump-endorsed candidates fare well in Arizona.

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The Sweep: Reading Between the Lines on Voter Registration

The numbers are helpful for political scientists to study voter trends over decades. For political operatives? Not so much.

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The Sweep: What Stacey Abrams’ Fundraising Tells Us About Her Campaign

Plus: Why Democrats are losing Hispanic voters.

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