Operation Fix The Campaign: How National Parties Help Unlikely Winners

Does your brother manage your campaign? Did your dad's team help you capture the nomination? Does your husband answer your house phone and speak to reporters? If you're the unlikely winner of your Senate primary, and you answered yes to any of the above questions, the national party needs to talk to you.

In the year of the insurgent, the tea party and electoral surprises, smart national politics can sometimes fall to the wayside. Senate nominee Rand Paul (R-KY) learned that the hard way, and the D.C. Republican establishment quickly stepped in to shut him up and tamp down his national profile. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is helping coach Rep. Joe Sestak after his surprise shellacking of Sen. Arlen Specter last month, helping him choose a new campaign team since his brother has been one of his closest advisers.

In such a critical election cycle where the Republicans are attempting to win back control of Congress, there's no way either party would leave a campaign up to chance. The under-the-radar changes to each insurgent campaign aren't likely to surface until the fall. But they are in the works.

DSCC Chairman Bob Menendez told reporters at a recent briefing that his team meets regularly in person with each candidate -- even incumbents -- in a "constant effort" to identify weak spots and make recommendations on strategy. Asked specifically about Sestak, Menendez (D-NJ), said the party isn't installing people with a "cookie cutter" approach, and wants candidates to maintain their independence.

"There's a difference between structure and independence and your approach to the campaign ... but any campaign needs a good structure to support even that individuality at the end of the day," Menendez said. "You need a good camp manager, you need good finance people, you need a good press person."

Senate nominee Sharron Angle (R-NV) is in New York and Washington this week for a round of meetings with the establishment party -- with a few newly installed national Republican aides by her side. On Election Day, Angle's husband was answering the phone and speaking with TPM, and she reportedly had no full-time staffers during the long primary campaign. Well, the times are a'changin'.

The Associated Press reported that Angle has hired the media team Prosper Group that aided Republican Scott Brown's successful Senate campaign in Massachusetts this January. (Though the firm also did work for losing Republican candidate Trey Grayson in Kentucky.)

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported today that Angle will sit down with NRSC Chairman Sen. John Cornyn and other party leaders in Washington. She'll also meet with conservative groups that backed her candidacy.

The Review-Journal reported that Cornyn "already has offered Angle as much organizational and financial resources as she needs," news that comes a few days after the Republican told ABC that candidates who win contested primaries "may or may not want our help, but we're here if they want it." Cornyn said he wanted to make sure that she has the team of campaign staff and pollsters in place.

"We want to make sure they have all the resources they need to put their best foot forward," he said. "Winning elections is not rocket science but it does take some discipline."

That's a very similar line to what Menendez said last week at the press briefing. "The bottom line is every campaign needs structure," he said.