Campaign Etiquette: How Not to Accept a Congratulations Call.

Daily Ructions is pleased to include among its diverse readership people involved in all aspects of political campaigns, including candidates. There are times when politicians require a reminder to behave in a manner most of us view as instinctual. For those lacking in basic grace, pay attention as a lesson begins.

When you, a candidate, has won your contest, you should expect to receive a call of congratulations from the loser. Perhaps the vanquished will pay a visit to your headquarters to deliver those good wishes in person if logistics, aides, and the spirit allow.

Assuming congratulations are offered by phone, let the disappointed candidate speak. If you cannot refrain from interrupting, do so only to offer your thanks. Do not interrupt a few syllables into his or her real or feigned good wishes to commence a harangue fueled by petty slights. Do not, and there is no room for negotiating on this rule of civilized behavior in a democracy, announce the loser never should have been a candidate in the first place or ought to have dropped out to make way for you.

If a victorious candidate engages in such ill-mannered behavior, the losing candidate may not get to the crucial congratulations stage of the conversation. The well-wisher with curdle good intentions may withdraw his or her incomplete felicitations, hurl a vulgarity at the winner, and terminate the call.

The bitter winner is never attractive. To stoke bad feelings at the conclusion of a primary campaign seems especially foolish since the winner will require unity and goodwill. Arguing over the recently concluded past is not the way to achieve it. Civilization preserves and advances itself through these small acts.

Published August 12, 2022.