Table 3.

Interview guide (questions selected based on interviewee)

1. Please describe the nature of your job in general and a short description of your organization.

2. What was your relationship to the initiative to raise alcohol taxes in [state] during the [year] legislative session? How did you and/or your organization participate in the campaign to raise alcohol taxes (i.e., please walk me through the entire process from start to end)?

3. How did you decide that [year] was the year to advocate for the tax increase? What had happened in previous years to make you think that you had a good chance at getting a tax increase in [year]?

4. From your perspective, what were the key phases of that campaign? Is there a specific strategy that you followed to get the tax passed? If so, please walk me through all the stages of your strategy.

5. How familiar are you with the research on the potential public health benefits of raising alcohol taxes in reducing alcohol-related problems? What role do you think this research played in the campaign?

6. Did you incorporate polling into your campaign? If so, when did you conduct polling, what were the outcomes, and how did you use them?

7. How did you work with journalists to get your side of the story out there? Which newspapers/journalists do you feel did a good job of reporting the story? Were there local newspapers in key areas of the state that you targeted? What was the central message you were trying to get out through the news media, and how successful do you think you were at getting it out? What if any barriers did you encounter with the news media?

8. Was there any paid media used during that time? If so, who paid for it and what was the message?

9. What was your opinion of the section of the bill that dedicated new revenues generated by the tax increase to specific programs?

10. Do you think dedicating these revenues to specific programs hurt or helped the bill’s chance for passage? Why?

11. What in your view was the single most important factor shaping this campaign?

12. If there was one piece of advice that you could go back and give yourself early on in the campaign, what would it be?

13. Did other groups/individuals create a communications or organizing strategy to fight the ballot initiative? If so, who were they, how did they organize, and what were their primary messages?

14. If you had to do it again, is there some strategy/event/approach that you would do differently?

15. Who else do you think I should be talking with?