Explanation for California...

[Kalash]

The people here are just stupid.

Rudy is beating Paul by about 6%.


But really... people here are STUPID.

I have about 5 people wondering why I was wearing an, "I voted" sticker on the bus/places I went.


My favorite was the one kid I asked if he was voting. "No - I'm not registered. When is the voting over?"

"Today. But you can't vote. You had to register by Jan. 22nd."

"Oh. Well... anything is better than Bush. When do we know won; who the next president will be?"

"Umm.... Novemeber. And you can still register to vote in that election - just register before Oct. 15th...."



I don't think that sold him - but there will be a marijuana initiative on our Nov. ballot to make pot legal for ALL people ages 21+.

That got him excited.
:rolleyes:

[Kludge]

Bah humbug California -_-

[Kalash]

Bah humbug California -_-

Basically.


I tried.

Some lady made me turn my shirt inside out to vote. :(

I wore my "I support Ron Paul" shirt.

Luckily it was short sleeved, and I put 4 of my money stamps on my arms.

Couldn't cover them up - and she didn't make me wash them off =D

[QCB79]

maybe thats the angle you have to take...."hey man, do you know if you vote for Ron Paul, he'll make weed legal again?" if all the smokers would get off the couch and vote RP would win by a landslide

[Edu]

California!!!! You have some 'splaining to do!

[Kalash]

maybe thats the angle you have to take...."hey man, do you know if you vote for Ron Paul, he'll make weed legal again?" if all the smokers would get off the couch and vote RP would win by a landslide


I got all my stoner friends registered.

Unfortunately I don't live near any of them any more.

They all got Myspace messages last night - and I was assured they'd vote today...


Haven't gotten reports back yet though :(

[280Z28]

California!!!! You have some 'splaining to do!

Both parties offered options to the People's Republic of California this cycle. They found the candidates more agreeable than ever before!

[RPinUptownChi]

--

[Kalash]

This is really disappointing. We had the biggest Meetup groups out there. I know trying to get my sister out there to register as a Republican was like talking to a damn wall...

Do the people in Cali not remember the S&L bullshit at all with this subprime thing happening now? Does no one remember McCain was taking Charles Keating, Jr. to look the other way while taxpayers got smoked?

This is really disappointing, I guess I was stupid to think we had a real chance out there...The fact Rudy outpolled Dr. Paul makes me want to go throw up. dammit...


There's no excuse for the Rudy thing.
I don't get it.

People out here must be DAFT.

Or.... Something is VERY not right.
Ron Paul had no media out here - but signs were up.

Obviously the signs weren't enough.

[danberkeley]

the biggest counties in california havent finished voting or havent reported any result. btw these counties all have different demographics and paul will get way more than 4% of the vote.

[Alawn]

CA made a huge huge push to make people vote by mail. I bet half of the state did and we sent the votes out weeks ago.

[The New Revere]

They also need t count the apparently large number of RP votes that are provisional. I know of many myself.

[dblee]

I don't know what to say.

Those of us who tried, really tried.

Unfortunately it seemed like the majority of the meetup members only wanted to do the fun stuff like sign waving and midnight sign bombing. Proven to be absolutely useless activities.

When it came down to the REAL grassroots type activities, people wussed out. I'm talking about things like making presentations at the senior centers, knocking on doors and canvassing (NOT just literature drops), setting up booths on weekends, putting ads in local newspapers, and working the phone banks.

Not that these activities didn't happen, just that most people were content to let others do the grunt work, while they proudly displayed their nifty REVOLUTION t-shirts and chanted loudly at rallies.

A lot of the people that I called today to GOTV said something along these lines,
"Oh, yeah, I know you called me to remind me to mail out that form you dropped off for me, but I never got around to it. Maybe next time then."

A lot of the young people (not anyone I personally knew) were seduced by the glitz and glamour of the obama campaign. I RARELY saw anyone under 25 at the meetups. It was all the older people in this movement (I salute you) that not only talked the talk, but walked the walk.

And above all the MSM's 3 week blackout of paul really screwed us. Some people I talked to said 'He's still in the race?.' Many of my canvassing attempts were met with 'I haven't seen him on the news therefore he can't win.'


Let this be a lesson to those of you in the 20 remaining states:

QUIT DOING THE 'FUN' STUFF. Following the other candidates around with Ron Paul signs does NOT work. Go door to door, talk to everyone you know, get the word and the message out, identify the voters, and then on election day, GET OUT THE VOTE.

We have a huge hill to climb with the MSM working actively against us. Perception is everything. If you have a well organized, highly visible, grassroots effort it puts a face to the candidate. I know I personally was able to win over many voters due to expending the effort to make a personal connection.

When was the last time you voted for someone based on glimpsing their name on a sign while zipping by at 60 mph???


Anyway, I haven't quit. I'm in for the long haul. Rome wasn't built in a day. The first American Revolution took nearly 3 decades to complete.

We can blame the establishment, we can blame HQ, we can blame the media, but at the end of the day the only thing we can change is OURSELVES. So lets take responsibility for our actions and learn to do better, fight harder, and never give up.

[Neomatrix]

Maybe all the stoners forgot to vote. :D...Aw crap dude, we were supposed to vote today.....Oh well, hand me the bong!

[GTMomma]

Personally, my meetup group sucks. I just joined it last month and was extremely disappointed to see that only 7 out of 45 people attended the last meeting. Most of the messages on the list were from myself, urging them to become precinct leaders and to keep donating money.

I didn't sign up to be a precinct leader until maybe 3 weeks ago. When I was out canvassing, most people had not heard of Ron Paul. Several people liked him, but felt he couldn't win. And A LOT of the people I spoke with had already voted through the mail.

Lastly, I think there are way too many sheeple hanging out with the "happy cows" here in CA. :rolleyes:

[Edu]

It's OK, this group can get congress to do what Ron Paul wanted anyway. They could get rid of all those departments today if they wanted to. We have a large group, over 500,000 that can put pressure on these guys to do what's right or we will start recalling them.

It doesn't take a large group to do a recall, less than 100 to start and less than 40 for a local recall.

They hate recalls because it ends their career and stops the money.

GET ON IT!