A Strategy / Plan to WIN in 2010
A Strategy / Plan to WIN in 2010
In the first post of “So why aren't YOU running for office? A PLAN”, Mr. Stephenson lays out a strategy I've long advocated – that is to run both Democratic and Republican candidates at the same time.
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=165770
Unfortunately, what he outlines falls far short of what needs to happen, so lets flesh that out.
[01] The precinct leaders program is good in concept. C4L wants you to to sign up and go door to door in your precinct and get to know the people in your community. DON'T DO THAT! (yet). Winning everyone in your precinct over to our side does absolutely no good if you are surrounded by precincts that didn't get the memo. Instead, think about those you've had contact with in this movement. Go to the sites that list individual political contributions and rank by size of donation to Ron Paul and other liberty candidates and go to the Meetups still in your area (we still have 1,154 of them) and look for those that have attended events and been the most active. The first step needs to be recruiting at least one precinct leader in each precinct – before you even think about working your own precinct. A good way to do this is to have a get together, or several – potluck, BBQ, movie screening, concert and social, Christmas party – whatever and invite from the above list. Then start door knocking, calling and mailing the ones that didn't show up.
[02] As the same time, you want to look over those lists and try to identify people to recruit for other things, specifically candidates, campaign managers, fund raisers and support (printers, artists, computer and database people, etc.). In looking for a candidate, people that are already known in the community are ideal – examples are radio talk show hosts, newscasters, doctors, car or furniture business owners that do ads of themselves on TV, etc. Anyone that is a local celebrity already or that holds a position of trust and respect (doctor, dentist, veterinarian, firefighter, police officer, teacher, priest, etc.). Small business owners are ideal if they have been in business a long time and many use their products. For the support people, please direct them to: http://operationcatherder.com/index.php/Skills_Bank so we can use them nationally.
[03] Identify all your local talk radio stations / programs and jump on the “Fairness Doctrine” bandwagon and get invited as a guest on these shows regularly as well as call into them. It will give our candidates name and issue recognition as well as serve as a recruiting tool to swell our ranks. Getting on good terms with these folks will also be very useful later. Work the AWB and REQUIRED community service issues also and in appropriate communities.
[04] Every month try and pick up something that will be useful for campaign materials later – a bulk ink feed system that works with your printer, a box of 5,000 sheets of paper, a couple of sheets of Coroplast, spray paint, bulk grommets, a button making machine and supplies, bulk Avery sticker paper, etc. Save your pocket change in a jar and wait / watch for sales – you'll be surprised how fast it adds up.
[05] We need to get clusters of states together and for every 5-6, have the Leadership Institute come out and teach their Campaign Manager and Future Candidate schools. On a more local level, think about taking a public speaking class at a community college or joining toastmasters.
http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/
[06] Look into robo-dialing and consider building one: http://operationcatherder.com/index....d_Robo-Calling
One of our candidates right before the election made something like 150,000 calls with the message: “We regret to inform you that the federal government is monitoring your calls...” it went on to note that this and other laws (mil commission act, patriot act, etc) were all voted for by the incumbent and what effect that had for their civil liberties. 400 outraged people called the FBI. A similar number sent hate mail or left angry phone messages for the campaign. It made the news! We need to do that all over the place!
[07] While running someone is better than running no one, we should run the best people we can find. That isn't necessarily you. The ideal candidate should be known in the community, a sharp dresser, easy on the eyes and a good public speaker. Run candidates for Congress first and if you can only find one, run one in the party that is dominant locally. After that, try for governor, state house and senate, etc. Remember that for each candidate you also need a campaign manager. Advantages to running candidates on both sides is that with 2 candidates, you can do debates and invite the incumbent and anyone else running and get news coverage that way. You can also educate members (voters) of the opposite party that normally would tune out what the opposition candidate would say and win votes if/when one of the candidates drops out / looses the primary. The first year is VERY important, because that may be all we get. The other thing this does is introduce issues into the discussion that the regular candidates wouldn't normally deal with – but will now be forced to deal with. We really need to run as Democrats and Republicans – while talking to and getting a third party to endorse you as their candidate too, running as a third party will basically guarantee you almost zero media coverage and a guaranteed loose. As C4L can't endorse or support any political candidate, most of this will have to happen separately from them. We really should form a grassroots coalition/organization not so bound to specifically support candidates. There was/is a Meetup specifically for our Congressional candidates – we had about 20 campaigns in there, and will do it again. It's ONLY open to candidates and campaign managers! PM me if you qualify.
[08] Bands and liberty concerts – well, more on that later... if you are interested in helping, PM me.
[09] Don't forget that some should start attending meetings of the political parties and trying to get themselves elected to committee positions.
-t
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