2009-05-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

Rod Shealy is widely regarded as one of South Carolina’s most innovative & successful political consultants. During the last 35 years, his workshops & training sessions have instructed thousands of candidates, campaign managers and political activists. From the time he taught his first training session in 1974 as one of the earliest associates of the legendary Lee Atwater, Rod Shealy has used his trademark energy, excitement, & enthusiasm to inspire a generation of candidates.

Shealy owns a professional career-winning average of over 75%, including "upset" wins in every election cycle since 1972. He has directed Southern-states campaigns at all levels -- presidential, statewide, local -- but specializes in legislative and other local races. He directed Presidential primary campaigns for both Bob & Elizabeth Dole, and has been called upon to assist campaigns from New York City to New Mexico.

Shealy has conducted his own highly-effective candidate training seminars/workshops each election year since 1982, and has served on the faculty for numerous campaign training schools, including the Campaign and Elections National Training Seminar in Washington, DC; the bi-annual Southern Republican Leadership Conferences in Biloxi, MS and Louisville, KY; and various RNC candidate training schools. He also has conducted special workshops for professional & lobbying associations, PACs, Leadership Training programs, and numerous local government and political organizations.

A creative, colorful and usually controversial tactician, Shealy became known for his "win-at-all-costs" philosophy during the '80s and early 90's. In the late 80's, Shealy increased the Republican foothold in the S.C. State Senate from 10 to 12 by electing both his father and sister in upset elections, making them the only father-daughter legislative team in America. During a 1991 election-law revision, South Carolina Democrats attempted to pass a state law aimed at keeping Shealy from managing future campaigns.

After some of his campaign tactics resulted in a $500 fine and a front page story in the NY Times, Shealy decided to leave politics to devote full time to his community newspaper publishing business. But in the late 1990's, after establishing a successful weekly newspaper publishing business (five markets), Shealy returned to the political arena to develop his theories about organizational-based local campaigns.

He is now his state's leading advocate of the organization-based, positive approach to local political campaigns, and has increased his winning percentage since adopting the new philosophy, including a string of record-breaking upset wins during 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2006. (His upset win for now-U.S.Rep. Henry Brown, R-SC, in June, 2000, gained national attention when he countered a 3-to-1 financial disadvantage by direct mailing 30,000 Oh Henry candy bars as a part of his counter-negative strategy.) Professionally, Shealy has over 75 upsets in his career.

Shealy is now regarded as the leading -- and one of the few -- bi-partisan consultants in his state, handling Republicans, Democrats and non-partisan candidates. He now works only in South Carolina campaigns, but travels to other states to conduct workshops, and is developing StatiCycle.com to be an online resource available to candidates in all areas.

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