My Letter to the Editor

[Briggsy]

Recently our local Newspaper the Utica Observer Dispatch, wrote a peice on the upcoming GOP primaries in NY State. There were pictures of 4 candidates and not surprisingly, Ron Paul was not one of them. The following is my letter, then a response, then a follow up.

Hello, I live in Sauquoit NY and I am a Ron Paul supporter. I don't know if
you know who Ron Paul is or not, but he is running for president. He
recently placed 2nd in the Republican Party Nevada Primary, and either 1st
or 2nd in the Louisiana Republican Caucus (pending provisional ballot
count). I saw that recently the Utica Observer Dispatch ran an article about
the GOP candidates, yet there were only 4 candidates mentioned. When there
is 5 people in the race, why would a news source only mention 4 of them?
Also why would they omit the guy who just got a 2nd and either a 1st or 2nd
in recent primaries. It's a little unnerving to have the candidate who you
support not be mentioned by a local newspaper. The remarkable thing about
all of this is that despite not getting any national, or as it appears now
even local coverage Ron paul still has the strongest grass roots support
system in US Political history. Please view the following Youtube video to
fully understand what I am telling you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZngnWAQfM0

This is a little hard to understand when you think about his fundraising
success, (single day record for any candidate in history 6.6 Million
Dollars) his substantial grassroots support (video I just showed you) and
other factors such as his blimp www.ronpaulblimp.com and the blatent and
transparent silencing of him by the major media corporations. (by the way, a
mitt romney owned company is in the process of buying clear channel
communications, isn't that nice!) Also with any luck, Ron Paul will have the
largest sponsorship on a nascar at the Daytona 500. Not just any nascar
either, the #28 car which will be making it's first appearance on a
racetrack since it's retirement after the death of Nascar racing legend
Davey Allison. There is already a commitment by the Yates racing team to
allow the sponsorship as long as we come up with the money (never a problem
for ron paul supporters). you can check the progress and the credibility
here. www.ronpaulracing.com


I feel the Utica Observer Dispatch would be doing a great service to the
people of the Utica Area to write a full page (or two) article showing the
positives of the Ron Paul Campaign (or Revolution if you will). There has
been so much coverage of the other candidates, there needs to be a balancing
of the news. Especially since Ron Paul is the only voice coming out of the
GOP that is going against the grain and actually proposing real substantial
change, not just paying lip service to the lemmings who run to the voter
booths because fox news told them who to vote for. We do have a local Meetup
group as well so I know you would make at least a few of us happy (and gain
some credibility in journalsim as well)

Due to the very urgent and dire nature of this matter I would respectfully
request a reply from you.

Thank You,

[Briggsy]

Dear Mr. Briggs:

Thank you for writing us about your concerns about our New York state
primary coverage.

Mr. Paul was included in the Sunday front-page list of candidates on the
ballot.

Before Feb. 5, we will publish information on each of the candidates,
including Mr. Paul.

You are welcome to write a letter to the editor supporting Mr. Paul's
candidacy. We require that such letters be limited to 150 words.

Thanks again.

[Briggsy]

Would a "letter to the editor" be a letter to you? Can I e-mail this letter
or do I need to snail mail it?

Re: Dr. Paul being listed, I believe you are correct, however his picture
was omitted. I could reasonably understand showing the frontrunner pictures
only, had there been 6 or 7 or more candidates still in the race. Seeing as
there are only 5, it just struck me as "unfair" to omit one person.
Especially since he is currently in 4th for the number of delagates he has
recieved in state primaries. I am sure you are aware of the Fox News Scandal
where they omitted Dr. Paul in thier debate the night before the NH Primary.
If you are wondering why they have included him in subsequent debates, it is
because his supporters bombarded them with e-mails, and even ordered for a
News Corp (Fox's Parent company) stock sell off. I'm sure it may have been
coincidental but the stok fell 10% in the next 7 days (roughly 6.6
Billion$). I will attempt to play by the rules here and write this letter of
support to the editor. I will not be looking for glorified Ron Paul
Coverage, only equal and fair coverage. There is certainly enough
"newsworthy" things to write about him as evidenced by my previous e-mail.

By the way, did you happen to watch the 30 second youtube clip compairing
the meetup group maps for the different candidates? If not and I could ask
only one thing of you it would be to spend 30 seconds of your life to view
it. The visualization of just how many people are backing Ron Paul is
breathtaking.

Thank You Again,

[Briggsy]

How did I do?

[disciple]

you did great.

[kotetu]

nice job!

[pacelli]

You did very very well! You got them to commit to covering Paul before Feb 5th which is a good step in the right direction!

[Briggsy]

Thanks, I was hoping I used the correct amount of sting in the messages without overtly attacking them, or threatening them. i.e. the news corp selloff info.

I'll post my letter to the editor as soon as I confirm where it needs to go and how. Hopefully he says I can e-mail it.

[PledgeForPaul]

How did I do?

10/10 for effort, 6/10 for execution. The bottom line is this letter, and letters like it, are really helping Ron Paul. Although it is already sent, for the sake of future letters by you or others here is my feedback:



I saw that recently the Utica Observer Dispatch ran an article about
the GOP candidates, yet there were only 4 candidates mentioned.
It would have been more straight forward to say you thought it was strange/awkward of them to picture 4 out of 5. Maybe it would make sense to picture 2 out of 5, or if there were 8 candidates running 4 out of 8, but 4 out of 5 seems like bad editing policy.


The remarkable thing about
all of this is that despite not getting any national, or as it appears now
even local coverage Ron paul still has the strongest grass roots support
system in US Political history.
Giving a strange unsourced fact like "strongest grass roots suppoprt system in US history" makes you sound biased and a little crazy. You can be biased, and use cherry picked data, but just do it smarter... something like: "The remarkable thing about all of this is that despite not getting any national, or as it appears now
even local coverage, Ron Paul was the #1 Republican fundraiser last quarter, has futures contracts trading equal to Huckabee and Giuliani, and is consistantly beating the mainstream polls due to his large first time voter base (Iowa poll was 5% vs 11% actual, Nevada was 6% vs 14% actual, etc)."


...blatent and transparent silencing of him by the major media corporations. (by the way, a mitt romney owned company is in the process of buying clear channel communications, isn't that nice!)
I would have left this entire part out. Stay specific and don't add snippy little side rants that sound crazy if short, and are too long to try to defend in a letter like this to the editor.

In a letter to the editor like this, I always like to end with something like: "With the exception of Ron Paul, every remaining candidate is pro-war. With roughly 70% of the country against the Iraq war, I think it is important to give him fair coverage. Thank you for your time and consideration!"

[Briggsy]

Thank you for your feedback. I will adapt any further letters to the best of my ability.