humanic
04-22-2008, 09:26 PM
I wanted to give everyone a report from PA.
I live in southwestern PA, where there are four congressional districts: 4, 12, 14, and 18. Each district and PA gets to send three delegates to the RNC. But, district 18 gets one extra because Tim Murphy is the Republican Representative there. Remember, in PA the delegates are elected directly on the ballot by Republican voters and they are completely unbound at the convention.
Now, Districts 4 and 18 only have one Ron Paul republican running, but 12 and 14 have three each. So, we have the potential to take 8 out of 13 possible spots if all of our delegates win.
We decided a while back that given our limited time, resources, and number of volunteers we would concentrate our efforts on 12 and 14: three times the payoff for the same amount of effort. Besides making thousands of phone calls to Republicans in those two districts, our main plan was to station volunteers from all four districts at the "key" locations in those two districts with literature about the delegates. By identifying the locations with the highest historic Republican turnout, we were able to leverage our numbers pretty well.
Before traveling to my "key" D14 precinct I headed over to my home precinct to finally cast the vote I've been waiting to cast. First thing was first though: I had to put up a giant Ron Paul sign three times bigger than the Hillary or Obama signs:
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/abcdefghijklmnopenis/1.jpg
This was pretty much standard throughout my area, and I suspect most of PA. We had a team of people dropping delegate literature at the unmanned polls in D14 all day and they made sure to leave giant Ron Paul signs next to the tiny Hillary and Obama ones.
I did not see a single John McCain sign all day (and there were signs everywhere).
I got to cast my vote on an AWESOME ELECTRONIC MACHINE. Will it be accurately counted? Who knows! It's like a neat guessing game!
Huckabee was still on the ballot despite dropping out long ago. I'm sure that pleased the anti-Paul crowd (and was possibly even their doing) considering that it split the anti-McCain vote. With Huckabee off the ballot Paul likely would have picked up the majority of the votes that went to Huckabee, which could have been his biggest primary showing yet.
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/abcdefghijklmnopenis/2.jpg
I spent the next nine hours or so at one of the "key" precincts. I'd say about two thirds of the people at this place were Democrats, but that is true throughout most of the district thanks to some awesomely patriotic gerrymandering.
I was blown away by how many super old people were there. Not old; super old. Every few minutes a new town car would creep into the parking lot. The driver would get out, open the passenger door, reach inside, and produce a smiling geriatric, who would begin their slow walk to the door. Many of them were in their 80's, easily. A lot of them stopped at the giant Ron Paul sign outside the door and said aloud "Who's that?" I think most of them voted for our delegates, though.
Only one Republican asked me who the delegates supported for president. People have no idea how the primaries work. I was not pushy though -- the literature had their bios and their platforms (which is basically Paul's platform obviously), so they were free to make their own decisions.
Most of the Republicans were friendly towards me since they saw me as "one of their own" (even though I just switched to Republican a few months ago for Paul).
Most of the Democrats were friendly too, but some of them avoided me like the plague when they found out I was "not one of their own" (even though I just switched to Republican a few months ago for Paul.)
That was probably the most interesting thing to observe: the bitter partisans who see the "other side" in pure stereotypes. I saw more of the Democratic ones being that I was there promoting Republican delegates, but I did see a number of Republicans turn their nose up at the Democrat who showed up to pass out literature in the evening. These people (on both sides) still don't see the "Quigley Formula (http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/realityzone/RZtourflyer.pdf)" at work: the one party system masquerading as a two party system. "How could that be the true paradigm? The good-looking, omniscient TV people insist the parties are as different as night and day!"
Upon hearing that I was supporting a few friends as Republican delegates, one fortyish-looking dark haired lady said "Uhhh... REPUBLICAN!? No thanks!" She was completely indignant. She took a few more steps and mumbled "I would NEVER vote for a Republican!" She was already at the door, so I just responded "Ron Paul." She was like "Ha! Yeah!", as in "Yeah right!" I'm not sure if that was because she thinks he can't win or because she hates freedom.
That's a hyperbole of course. The sad truth is she probably doesn't understand what it really means to live in a free country, not only from a practical point of view, but from the philosophical point of view upon which this country was founded. And, she definitely doesn't understand that Obama and Hillary are working in concert with people like John McCain to undermine our ability to live in such a country. What exactly makes Ron Paul so laughable compared to the person she is voting for? I'd have loved to find out, but she made a point of not coming anywhere near me when she left. Maybe she thought Ron Paul should have voted for the Iraq War like Hillary, the Patriot Act like Obama, or the Real ID Act like both?
I'd love to write more (there's plenty more to tell), but I am completely beat and need to sleep for about twelve hours. All-in-all things went pretty well at my poll, and I've heard similar reports from other volunteers. Don't worry too much about the primary results -- watch for the delegate counts. Will we win? No idea. I think we'll have at least a decent showing. I just got off the phone with another volunteer who was at a location where two different precincts vote. One of our delegates took first in one precinct there and second in the other. The other two didn't crack the top three. Only one precinct though-- we'll have to wait and see how we did statewide
This is only the beginning for those of us who seek to restore liberty and Constitutional government. Regardless of the results of this primary and this entire election, don't go nowhere. I know I'm not.
I live in southwestern PA, where there are four congressional districts: 4, 12, 14, and 18. Each district and PA gets to send three delegates to the RNC. But, district 18 gets one extra because Tim Murphy is the Republican Representative there. Remember, in PA the delegates are elected directly on the ballot by Republican voters and they are completely unbound at the convention.
Now, Districts 4 and 18 only have one Ron Paul republican running, but 12 and 14 have three each. So, we have the potential to take 8 out of 13 possible spots if all of our delegates win.
We decided a while back that given our limited time, resources, and number of volunteers we would concentrate our efforts on 12 and 14: three times the payoff for the same amount of effort. Besides making thousands of phone calls to Republicans in those two districts, our main plan was to station volunteers from all four districts at the "key" locations in those two districts with literature about the delegates. By identifying the locations with the highest historic Republican turnout, we were able to leverage our numbers pretty well.
Before traveling to my "key" D14 precinct I headed over to my home precinct to finally cast the vote I've been waiting to cast. First thing was first though: I had to put up a giant Ron Paul sign three times bigger than the Hillary or Obama signs:
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/abcdefghijklmnopenis/1.jpg
This was pretty much standard throughout my area, and I suspect most of PA. We had a team of people dropping delegate literature at the unmanned polls in D14 all day and they made sure to leave giant Ron Paul signs next to the tiny Hillary and Obama ones.
I did not see a single John McCain sign all day (and there were signs everywhere).
I got to cast my vote on an AWESOME ELECTRONIC MACHINE. Will it be accurately counted? Who knows! It's like a neat guessing game!
Huckabee was still on the ballot despite dropping out long ago. I'm sure that pleased the anti-Paul crowd (and was possibly even their doing) considering that it split the anti-McCain vote. With Huckabee off the ballot Paul likely would have picked up the majority of the votes that went to Huckabee, which could have been his biggest primary showing yet.
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h49/abcdefghijklmnopenis/2.jpg
I spent the next nine hours or so at one of the "key" precincts. I'd say about two thirds of the people at this place were Democrats, but that is true throughout most of the district thanks to some awesomely patriotic gerrymandering.
I was blown away by how many super old people were there. Not old; super old. Every few minutes a new town car would creep into the parking lot. The driver would get out, open the passenger door, reach inside, and produce a smiling geriatric, who would begin their slow walk to the door. Many of them were in their 80's, easily. A lot of them stopped at the giant Ron Paul sign outside the door and said aloud "Who's that?" I think most of them voted for our delegates, though.
Only one Republican asked me who the delegates supported for president. People have no idea how the primaries work. I was not pushy though -- the literature had their bios and their platforms (which is basically Paul's platform obviously), so they were free to make their own decisions.
Most of the Republicans were friendly towards me since they saw me as "one of their own" (even though I just switched to Republican a few months ago for Paul).
Most of the Democrats were friendly too, but some of them avoided me like the plague when they found out I was "not one of their own" (even though I just switched to Republican a few months ago for Paul.)
That was probably the most interesting thing to observe: the bitter partisans who see the "other side" in pure stereotypes. I saw more of the Democratic ones being that I was there promoting Republican delegates, but I did see a number of Republicans turn their nose up at the Democrat who showed up to pass out literature in the evening. These people (on both sides) still don't see the "Quigley Formula (http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/realityzone/RZtourflyer.pdf)" at work: the one party system masquerading as a two party system. "How could that be the true paradigm? The good-looking, omniscient TV people insist the parties are as different as night and day!"
Upon hearing that I was supporting a few friends as Republican delegates, one fortyish-looking dark haired lady said "Uhhh... REPUBLICAN!? No thanks!" She was completely indignant. She took a few more steps and mumbled "I would NEVER vote for a Republican!" She was already at the door, so I just responded "Ron Paul." She was like "Ha! Yeah!", as in "Yeah right!" I'm not sure if that was because she thinks he can't win or because she hates freedom.
That's a hyperbole of course. The sad truth is she probably doesn't understand what it really means to live in a free country, not only from a practical point of view, but from the philosophical point of view upon which this country was founded. And, she definitely doesn't understand that Obama and Hillary are working in concert with people like John McCain to undermine our ability to live in such a country. What exactly makes Ron Paul so laughable compared to the person she is voting for? I'd have loved to find out, but she made a point of not coming anywhere near me when she left. Maybe she thought Ron Paul should have voted for the Iraq War like Hillary, the Patriot Act like Obama, or the Real ID Act like both?
I'd love to write more (there's plenty more to tell), but I am completely beat and need to sleep for about twelve hours. All-in-all things went pretty well at my poll, and I've heard similar reports from other volunteers. Don't worry too much about the primary results -- watch for the delegate counts. Will we win? No idea. I think we'll have at least a decent showing. I just got off the phone with another volunteer who was at a location where two different precincts vote. One of our delegates took first in one precinct there and second in the other. The other two didn't crack the top three. Only one precinct though-- we'll have to wait and see how we did statewide
This is only the beginning for those of us who seek to restore liberty and Constitutional government. Regardless of the results of this primary and this entire election, don't go nowhere. I know I'm not.