Bradley in DC
02-13-2008, 01:01 AM
Ok, some general thoughts in random order.
We did very poorly here. It is HQ's fault. Period. The grassroots mobilized early last spring and summer to win DC (I'd posted about it here and publicly posted our strategy on a local forum, and possibly parts of it here). HQ intervened, told everyone not to cooperate with us, so we all stopped. Then nothing happened. They did next to nothing. This is the result. No one knowledgeable of the situation here would disagree.
Voter turnout in DC was unexpectedly very high. According to unofficial results with 139 of the 142 precincts reporting, there were 5,801 Republican votes for president cast. The RP grassroots analyzed past voter registrations and turnouts and forecast a turnout of 3,000 for our primary and a goal for us to get 1,500 votes. The DC GOP had heard the same consensus number from other sources as well. It was way up for the Ds too, but I didn't follow their numbers.
The DC GOP establishment had been nearly all united behind Giuliani until he endorsed McCain--then they all dutifully followed suit. The fewer "reformers" backed Romney. The Huckabee campaign did a major outreach to the churches, including the black churches.
I was told tonight by the now laid off former official campaign DC organizer that 700 people from DC donated to the campaign and his goal was for us to get 500 votes. (no comment) The official campaign's GOTV consisted of this one email:
February 8, 2008
J Bradley,
Ron Paul has a very good chance of winning Washington, D.C. -- if you act now.
There are just five days to go before the Washington, D.C. Republican primary on Feb. 12. There may be as few as 3,000 voters participating in the primary. 16 delegates are up for grabs [my edit: there are 19 delegates up for grabs]. We can win them.
To do that, we have to identify more Ron Paul supporters and we have to get out the vote. There is still time - sign-up as a Precinct Leader and begin canvassing your precinct immediately. Every new RP supporter we find and every undecided Republican we win over may provide the winning margin.
Put 110% into your efforts as a Precinct Leader. And urge all your friends who are registered Republicans in the District to vote for Ron Paul on Feb. 12 (unless you know they're supporting someone else).
These last few days can make all the difference.
A win in the District will give Ron Paul much-needed momentum and help to establish him as THE alternative to John McCain.
The push-back is under way. Help us win the battle of the Potomac!
Debbie Hopper
Assistant Campaign Manager
Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign Committee
with no follow up or reminders the actual week of our primary and, reportedly, one large postcard mailing (which I never received--but it could be waiting for me at my PO Box).
While I voted on Monday, paper ballot by choice, absentee (since I was in NOVA on election day with the McKinley for Congress (http://mckinleyforcongress.com/) campaign putting up his and RP signs at voting locations there), most voting was done via touchscreens. As I posted on my strategy, the DC Board of Elections and Ethics allowed an open instruction [edit: that should read "inspection"] on the workings of the machines, but as far as I know, no one bothered to show up. Similarly, no notice or reminders went out to be observers at polling locations.
I was asked, last minute, to be the campaign's representative as an election observer at the DC BoEE. I agreed. I'd say it's a boring thankless job, but Paul Craney of the DC GOP and some of the RP Meetup people DID thank me for doing it. It was still boring. Long story short, I think I was the ONLY observer there...for any campaign...of any party. Yup. (I know. What else do you want me to say?) They had four cameras set up to monitor things and broadcast that to closed circuit for the press and observers, but I don't think any other campaigns showed. I went up to the room with the ballots rather than watch the camera. They were fine with that (many recognized me from previous visits preparing the campaign and our people for the big day). Disturbingly, security didn't check IDs, question anything, make me go through the usual metal detectors, nothing: I just went in the building, walked past the security desk, went up to the second floor, etc.
Voter fraud: I don't think DC would have ANY interest in REPUBLICAN voter fraud. I mean really. We're just a legal technicality here, an afterthought, a footnote. But hey, we did pull more Republican votes in our primary than the DC Statehood Green Party did (though their candidates total did get more votes than the good doctor did :o ).
The grassroots group had set our goal of winning 1,500 votes in DC. While I think we could have done that, I don't think that still would have won it. We had hoped to register a lot of Libertarians and Arabs and others, but none of that materialized when HQ took over. We also had plans for a more intelligent and comprehensive GOTV than HQ's, but oh well. [hint: focus on the precincts with the highest concentrations of Republican supervoters and work your way down the list and follow this checklist (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1226001#poststop).]
We are currently at 8.12% for Ron Paul in DC--these are UNOFFICIAL returns. Dr. Paul got 8% in NH (but I don't have more exact numbers) so this might have been our best primary performance to date!
Oh, I made myself available for the press and took the initiative to introduce myself to them. No one cared. Republican? ... DC?
We did very poorly here. It is HQ's fault. Period. The grassroots mobilized early last spring and summer to win DC (I'd posted about it here and publicly posted our strategy on a local forum, and possibly parts of it here). HQ intervened, told everyone not to cooperate with us, so we all stopped. Then nothing happened. They did next to nothing. This is the result. No one knowledgeable of the situation here would disagree.
Voter turnout in DC was unexpectedly very high. According to unofficial results with 139 of the 142 precincts reporting, there were 5,801 Republican votes for president cast. The RP grassroots analyzed past voter registrations and turnouts and forecast a turnout of 3,000 for our primary and a goal for us to get 1,500 votes. The DC GOP had heard the same consensus number from other sources as well. It was way up for the Ds too, but I didn't follow their numbers.
The DC GOP establishment had been nearly all united behind Giuliani until he endorsed McCain--then they all dutifully followed suit. The fewer "reformers" backed Romney. The Huckabee campaign did a major outreach to the churches, including the black churches.
I was told tonight by the now laid off former official campaign DC organizer that 700 people from DC donated to the campaign and his goal was for us to get 500 votes. (no comment) The official campaign's GOTV consisted of this one email:
February 8, 2008
J Bradley,
Ron Paul has a very good chance of winning Washington, D.C. -- if you act now.
There are just five days to go before the Washington, D.C. Republican primary on Feb. 12. There may be as few as 3,000 voters participating in the primary. 16 delegates are up for grabs [my edit: there are 19 delegates up for grabs]. We can win them.
To do that, we have to identify more Ron Paul supporters and we have to get out the vote. There is still time - sign-up as a Precinct Leader and begin canvassing your precinct immediately. Every new RP supporter we find and every undecided Republican we win over may provide the winning margin.
Put 110% into your efforts as a Precinct Leader. And urge all your friends who are registered Republicans in the District to vote for Ron Paul on Feb. 12 (unless you know they're supporting someone else).
These last few days can make all the difference.
A win in the District will give Ron Paul much-needed momentum and help to establish him as THE alternative to John McCain.
The push-back is under way. Help us win the battle of the Potomac!
Debbie Hopper
Assistant Campaign Manager
Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign Committee
with no follow up or reminders the actual week of our primary and, reportedly, one large postcard mailing (which I never received--but it could be waiting for me at my PO Box).
While I voted on Monday, paper ballot by choice, absentee (since I was in NOVA on election day with the McKinley for Congress (http://mckinleyforcongress.com/) campaign putting up his and RP signs at voting locations there), most voting was done via touchscreens. As I posted on my strategy, the DC Board of Elections and Ethics allowed an open instruction [edit: that should read "inspection"] on the workings of the machines, but as far as I know, no one bothered to show up. Similarly, no notice or reminders went out to be observers at polling locations.
I was asked, last minute, to be the campaign's representative as an election observer at the DC BoEE. I agreed. I'd say it's a boring thankless job, but Paul Craney of the DC GOP and some of the RP Meetup people DID thank me for doing it. It was still boring. Long story short, I think I was the ONLY observer there...for any campaign...of any party. Yup. (I know. What else do you want me to say?) They had four cameras set up to monitor things and broadcast that to closed circuit for the press and observers, but I don't think any other campaigns showed. I went up to the room with the ballots rather than watch the camera. They were fine with that (many recognized me from previous visits preparing the campaign and our people for the big day). Disturbingly, security didn't check IDs, question anything, make me go through the usual metal detectors, nothing: I just went in the building, walked past the security desk, went up to the second floor, etc.
Voter fraud: I don't think DC would have ANY interest in REPUBLICAN voter fraud. I mean really. We're just a legal technicality here, an afterthought, a footnote. But hey, we did pull more Republican votes in our primary than the DC Statehood Green Party did (though their candidates total did get more votes than the good doctor did :o ).
The grassroots group had set our goal of winning 1,500 votes in DC. While I think we could have done that, I don't think that still would have won it. We had hoped to register a lot of Libertarians and Arabs and others, but none of that materialized when HQ took over. We also had plans for a more intelligent and comprehensive GOTV than HQ's, but oh well. [hint: focus on the precincts with the highest concentrations of Republican supervoters and work your way down the list and follow this checklist (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1226001#poststop).]
We are currently at 8.12% for Ron Paul in DC--these are UNOFFICIAL returns. Dr. Paul got 8% in NH (but I don't have more exact numbers) so this might have been our best primary performance to date!
Oh, I made myself available for the press and took the initiative to introduce myself to them. No one cared. Republican? ... DC?