Paper campaign

A paper campaign is a political campaign in which the candidate does little else besides filing the necessary papers to get on the ballot.[1][2] The purpose of such a token effort may be simply to increase name awareness of a minor political party or to give voters of a certain ideology an opportunity to vote accordingly. It can be a cost-effective means of getting media coverage by simply filling out candidate surveys that are then publicized. An informational campaign, by contrast, takes the intensity of the effort a notch higher through such methods as news releases, getting interviewed in the paper, making a brochure for door to door distribution, organizing poll workers, etc. As the level of seriousness rises, the marginal cost of reaching more people rises accordingly, due to the high cost of TV commercials, paid staff, etc. which are used by competitive campaigns.[3]

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