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View Full Version : QUESTION FOR THOMAS: Help with strategy for future/current candidates




1836
05-22-2012, 10:32 PM
Thomas,

First of all, congratulations. I mean damn, you ran a great campaign! You're going to be an awesome congressman, and you have my support wholeheartedly.

There are many potential, and possibly current liberty-minded candidates on these forums who wish to win public office as you most certainly shall, and as you did so well in your primary perhaps you can lend a hand of advice.

1. PHONEBANKING W/ VICTORY VOIP - I know you used the Victory VOIP system that Ron Paul used, and the "Phone From Home" system that plugs into the database therein. How effective do you think this was, and how instrumental? Also, if you could give us an idea of how expensive it is; it seemed like it really proved to be an advantage that you could tap into the grassroots online when others clearly weren't.

2. FUNDRAISING - How do you feel your online fundraising drives played into your campaign as opposed to live fundraising events? As establishment candidates usually use the latter, this would be an interesting thing to know.

3. CANVASSING - Did you do much door-to-door canvassing through the district of registered voters? How did this work out for you? Did others do it on your behalf? Etc.

Thanks in advance. Congratulations on moving the ball forward for liberty!

1836
11-10-2012, 11:45 AM
Bump, would love for Thomas to answer this, but not sure he's on the forum any longer.

tsetsefly
11-10-2012, 04:43 PM
He was on the forum at some point?

Jeremy
11-10-2012, 05:20 PM
Bump, would love for Thomas to answer this, but not sure he's on the forum any longer.

I asked Thomas and this was his response:



There is no substitute for a physical phone bank. Comradery and real-time shoulder-to-shoulder competition spur progress and keep folks motivated. In the primary, we tried phone from home and a VOIP phone bank. In the general, we abandoned phone from home because it just gave well-meaning folks a rationalization to stay home instead of coming to the phone bank. 75,000 calls from the physical phone bank, but less than 500 calls from phone from home. What works for Ron Paul (phone from home) might not work for local elections. As to the cost… phones aren't that expensive, but you need a consultant who is going to manage the databases and organize the phone campaigns. Most of the phone campaign is spent ID'ing voters. Some is spent "persuading voters". And finally, in the last 3 days, your phone effort is spent on GOTV. Expect to spend $50,000 per election on phones and a voter ID consultant. You might get it done for half of that.

The candidate is "the fund raiser in chief". Of the $1,000,000 raised, less than $80,000 came from online fund raising. Most of the "online" $ came from a single event in the primary that was successful only because Ron Paul sent out an email for us. It's hard to replicate that (e.g. we weren't able to replicate that in the general election). I would recommend to anyone running for any office that they prove to themselves that they can raise at least 10% of the money required for the campaign before they even file to run. In my case, I got personal "commitments" for $100,000 before I put my name on the ballot, because I thought it would take $500,000 to win the primary. (which turned out to be true). It literally took 3 months to convert those "commitments" to $ in the bank after I filed. Most fund raising will come from hard work on the part of the candidate… personal requests and live events. BTW, if you can't get friends to donate, you probably won't have much success with strangers, and in that case, I recommend you do not run.

In my first local election, with a voting base of only 10,000 people, I did all of the door-to-door myself, and farmed out phone calls to 10 friends. In a congressional race, it is not feasible for the candidate to do much door-to-door. Volunteer effort (and money) should first be focussed on phone campaigning… if you have enough volunteers, then they should do door-to-door as well. Hopefully you have enough volunteers to do both. Door-to-door is most feasible in a primary where the universe of voters is much smaller. Door-to-door is also key for deploying yard signs, which I believe are important. (some people think they aren't)

1836
11-12-2012, 01:24 AM
Jeremy, you are the freaking man. Thank you so much. Please forward my regards to Rep. Massie...

Also, send me a PM.

1836
11-12-2012, 01:32 AM
I just love Thomas's response here:


In my first local election, with a voting base of only 10,000 people, I did all of the door-to-door myself, and farmed out phone calls to 10 friends. In a congressional race, it is not feasible for the candidate to do much door-to-door. Volunteer effort (and money) should first be focussed on phone campaigning… if you have enough volunteers, then they should do door-to-door as well. Hopefully you have enough volunteers to do both. Door-to-door is most feasible in a primary where the universe of voters is much smaller. Door-to-door is also key for deploying yard signs, which I believe are important. (some people think they aren't)

He's absolutely spot-on. In local elections, door-to-door is key. Candidates should do every door they can in smaller elections. As in, it is indispensable if you are going to give yourself the best chance of winning the election. If this hasn't already been beaten to death, the point must be driven home to local liberty-minded candidates.

Further, I love his advice on door to door for sign placement. If you take the time to knock on someone's door, and they are kind enough, they will likely be so impressed by your efforts that they won't mind putting a sign up (even if they don't plan to vote for you).

We always need to have our campaigns deploy this strategy in strategic locations throughout districts, because it is something that very few campaigns actually go to the trouble of doing. While having your signs in supporters' yards is nice, it's better to find people who will deploy your signs on the corners and through-streets that really are seen. That creates a presence, which I think is what Thomas is getting at when he mentions that he feels signs are important.

Having a presence matters for a candidate who not everyone knows, because though signs won't get you many (if any) votes, they do create a bit of a buzz around a particular candidate, and create the illusion of momentum and support (real or not).

Sola_Fide
11-12-2012, 02:33 AM
Thomas was a beast when it came to signs. He, being an engineer, came up with a rock-solid way to display the big 4 x 8 signs. These things would withstand a hurricane I think.