Topic: Ron Paul
How Ron Paul Won Jefferson County If the grass roots wants to help Ron Paul win this election, it needs to emulate what works, quickly. One county in Iowa figured it out.by Bob Nightingale
(Libertarian)
Friday, January 18, 2008
Ron Paul has the money and the enthusiasm of the grass roots. What he lacks is an army of political professionals. Most have come to his aid via the Internet. Many have never been active in politics before. They will have to learn what works quickly, if they want their candidate to win on Feb 5.
If you're going to get advice, take it from an expert. The first place to do it right is Jefferson County, Iowa.
Ron Paul came in fifth place in Iowa, with regards to number of delegate votes. These are the delegate counts, statewide, from the Iowa GOP website.
40,841
Huckabee
29,949
Romney
15,904
Thompson
15,559
McCain
11,817
Paul
4,097
Giuliani
524
Hunter
5
Tancredo
However, Ron Paul was one of only three candidates to come in first place for a county: Jefferson. The top candidates--Romney and Huckabee--split the other counties, about half each. The Iowa GOP still has the map up at this link: http://www.iowagop.net/#fullstate
When you pass your cursor over Jefferson County, you can see the vote totals.
298
Paul
263
Huckabee
132
Romney
80
Thompson
38
McCain
25
Giuliani
3
Hunter
So what did the Ron Paul supporters do right? The answer from Dr. Brian Horsfield, organizer of Ron Paul Meet Up group #267 (http://ronpaul.meetup.com/267) of Fairfield, IA, was everything. But not at first. They made mistakes and corrected.
Horsfield sent out a note to Ron Paul supporters documenting his group's success. I'll paraphrase and expand below.
Don't waste your time cold calling to get Ron Paul supporters. It's frustrating and it takes time away from other activities.
Participate in Local Meet Up Groups. This will be a center of shared learning and mutual support.
Build your Meet Up Group by Advertising in the Local Newspapers. There are Ron Paul supporters, but they may not know where to go. Publish website info and phone numbers.
Use the Meet Up Website to the fullest. Use it, advertise it.
Regular Meetings at Farmer's Markets. That was good for Iowa. You will have to find an equivalent in your community.
Weekly lunch meetings at a restaurant.
Regular table at monthly Art Walk evening. Find a regular public monthly event, and attend as a group. I've heard about a table at the local gun show and flea market.
Public meetings at the local library with local speakers and videos of Ron Paul.
An advertised distribution point for signs, buttons, bumper stickers and campaign literature (we used a bulletin board and lobby area of our office which was open 24/7.)
Advertise a local supporters phone number, or at least create an e-mail address to contact on all ads.
Horsfield recommends using local media to your fullest.
Write letters to the editor of your local and state papers
Call in to radio stations
Signs of all types. Bumper stickers are good but also put signs in the windows of parked cars.
Pick up truck billboards. Getting 4x8 billboards in good locations is a challenge -- but getting them on a pickup truck is very easy to do and park in high traffic areas.
Buttons --get tons of these of many different types, both stick on and pin on. The stick on lapel labels are very cheap and effective conversation starters
Compile a digest of Ron Paul news every 2 or 3 days and e-mail your supporters. Make it short, format it nicely with lots of links to stories and YouTube. Put your Meetup and other local contact information on the bottom
Add a quote or link to your e-mail signatures to promote Ron Paul
He summarizes....
Time is short so focus on the younger voters and folks with internet.
Build a list of supporters e-mail addresses, phone supporters to ask for their email addresses.
Advertise these events in local newspapers. This can be organized state wide, but try to get a LOCAL contact number for each paper. Use a supporters phone number. Don't worry they'll be overwhelmed with calls -- they won't be. But better to encourage a supporter to schedule a weekly lunch meeting.
What's striking about his suggestions is that his group makes use of the local newspaper to coordinate their activities. He recommends that regular ads should first show a picture and give a few key points about Ron Paul (can change them every week to have different themes). And then each should have an action step, such as:
Come to a public lecture given by local Ron Paul supporters and Video of Ron Paul
What Horsfield has done in Jefferson County is maximize the effectiveness of his Meet Up group. Yet he didn't duplicate the media efforts by the official campaign. No where does he speak for the campaign. Instead he refers the public effectively where they can get more information on the candidate. He gives would-be activists something to do right away.
Currently Brian Horsfield is vacationing in Arizona. He deserves it. However, he's getting emails for advice. Recently he's helped a Utah supporter get an article run pretty cheaply. From the Meet Up Group website, he writes,
I made an ad this morning and we just made an incredible deal to get this in 40 local papers throughout Utah. It's 3.79" x 4" and cost just $578 to be in 40 papers next week delivered to 200,000 households....
The views expressed in this
article are those of Bob Nightingale only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Bob Nightingale is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
www.bigdaddywebcam.com
Please send this link out, it is a categorized website for all the best RP vidoe's and ads. Very useful for people new to Dr. Paul. quicker than going through internet search results and logically organized.
www.bigdaddywebcam.com
I am a very active supporter FROM Jefferson County, and I can tell you... all of the things listed in this article are important to success, it worked for us, and we are proud of what we have done. BUT, if our local volunteers do not exercise extreme diligence in watching and participating in all of the hand counts, its going to be worth next to nothing.
On top of the incredible grass roots activities we engage in, we must, we MUST be diligent about watching and participating in the vote counts!
Posted By: Brian Horsfield
Date: 2008-01-18 22:56:33
The excellent "We the People" ad running in Utah next week was created by Mike Parker of St George, Utah, with minor reformatting by me. Also for Jefferson County I'd like to acknowledge the very dedicated team under the leadership of Roger Leahy, Ron Paul County Chair for Jefferson County.
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