Topic: Presidential Campaign 2008
Grassroots to Barr: A Little Water Please? Reliance on media appearances and the internet will not cut it. This war must be fought in the streets.by Dusty Sensiba
(Libertarian)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
As a small business owner, I cannot run my business like a miniature big business. I have a limited advertising budget, so no TV, radio or newspaper ads. I have to get out there and talk to people face to face to get business. It's hard work, and while it sucks, it doesn't suck as bad as dealing with the lack of personal freedom a 'real job' entails.
Speaking of the relatively low funds available to the Barr campaign, a recent New York Times article has this quote from Russ Verney, the campaign manager: "One of the blessings of the Perot campaign," Mr. Verney said dryly, "was that you didn't have to worry about the money part."
Everybody remembers the Ross Perot infomercials of '92. Thirty minutes of primetime TV doesn't come cheap, and neither do the accompanying 30-second commercials. All in all Perot spent over $65 million of his own money on the campaign. It doesn't look like this is going to happen this year for Bob Barr unless he wins the lottery or a rich and unknown uncle dies.
And 'internet activism' is only going to carry the campaign so far. The Ron Paul campaign had lots of enthusiastic support on the internet and was only able to carry a million votes in a nation of 300 million. The internet is a great coordination tool, but has its limits when it comes to getting the message out to the public, especially swimming against the riptide of mainstream media.
Sign waving is also terribly ineffective. Nobody is going to be convinced of anything by guys standing on the side of the road with signs and banners about Bob Barr. Once again, it didn't work for Paul. Ditto for bumper stickers and t-shirts.
As a campaign with limited funds, the Bob Barr campaign needs to make some small-business decisions. Instead of trying to wage a national media and internet war on Obama and McCain, the battle needs to be fought in the streets. Anybody who has ever been involved in a local campaign knows that thorough canvassing wins precincts. It sucks, walking door-to-door in the wind, sun and rain, but watching your neighbors go out in droves to vote for McCain and Obama sucks more.
And canvassing can come cheap. The Paul campaign shows us that there are willing volunteers in every community if the cause of freedom and liberty is at stake. Millions across the country would be willing to run the campaign for their town in their garages and basements. If it worked in Silicon Valley, it can work for the campaign. This untapped kinetic energy is only waiting to be released, and we see the Barr campaign doing nothing to harness it.
It would take very little effort on the part of Barr, Root and Verney to get this ball rolling. A new section on their website recruiting volunteer leadership would be the first thing needed. Some training videos on Youtube can be added to help organize the methods used to reach voters. People respond better to their neighbors than they do to talking heads on television. The only real money spent would be on printing campaign literature and shipping it to towns all over the country.
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2008 Dusty Sensiba, all rights reserved.
Published: Sunday, June 29, 2008
Last modified: Sunday, June 29, 2008
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I disagree with the comment about the Ron Paul t-shirts, signs, bumper stickers, etc. It was all about name reconition. Since the MSM certainly wasn't going to give him any, we had to in ways we could afford to do so.. I don't think it would hurt Barr if supporters did the same. I actually think it would help get his name out there, at least to those paying attention.
Posted By: John Campbell
Date: 2008-06-29 17:46:14
I do see the campaign working to get Meetup groups organized. That would be the way to organize the kind of volunteer grass roots activism you are talking about. Give them some credit. Having followed previous LP campaigns, I'd say they are off to a great start.
What should be realized, was Ron Paul's supporters formed mostly on their own, and those bumper stickers, signs, and t shirts were mostly produced and distributed, not by the campaign, but by individuals committed to the message.
Yes there is a network of individuals, but just asking them for money rather than anything else is not the way to win their support.
Don't get me wrong. I love the attention and the ability for Bob Barr to get the media exposure. But I'd like to see him get a little more aggressive regarding the responses he gives about the "little" role he is playing in this election, and to twist the tables.
A good example would be when Chris Wallace asks "Are you comfortable with Obama getting elected because your in the race?" Don't give a lame answer. Be harsh. Be offended. Maybe say, "If I was comfortable with either of the two major party candidates, I wouldn't be running."
I don't think this article nails what is missing right now in the Barr campaign. It does come close, but after some brief brainstorming, I came up with the following...
The Barr campaign needs
door-to-door canvassing
tabling
sign waving
letters to the editor
The first two need printed campaign materials and they all need motivated volunteers.
To build more volunteers, the campaign needs a simple coherent message. Any good campaign manager will tell you a candidate needs to convey three good strong messages. For Barr they should be...
Barr is like Ron Paul
Barr is good for the economy - Obama and McCain are bad for it.
Barr wants to give you back your civil liberties.
Now the Barr campaign needs to deliver the campaign material. Those materials should sell # 2 and 3 above, the top-down structure of the campaign needs to communicate to the bottom-up (meetup) people how to convey #1 above, and keep doing the media appearances.
I suggest borrowing heavily from the Ron Paul rEVOLution stencil look subbing Bob Barr rEVOLution in its place. Maybe the official campaign shouldn't convey this so as to retain Barr as a unique brand, but the grassroots people need to be telling and suggesting to everyone the liberty message Ron Paul embodied is represented by Bob Barr too. The graphic style can help, and the people knocking on doors with slim jims, tri-folds, etc have to close the sale one person at a time.
I predict if they do that, the next money bomb will be in the high 6 or low 7 digits instead of 5. Given the short amount of time Barr has to make the sale, if he accomplishes the same number of popular votes in the general election as Paul did in the primaries, he will have done well. I think he will do better. Its all dependent on getting mobilized quickly to get momentum, ballot access, and more momentum.
Hopefully the Barr campaign and the LNC can raise enough to put him on the ballot in at least 48 states, otherwise, all bets are off.
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2008 Dusty Sensiba, all rights reserved.