rodo1776, awesome writeup. Thanks for taking the time to write it. Is there any way you can put your "methods" into a flowchart? This may make it easy for someone who is under the gun during the caucus to know what the best choice is when it comes to deligate elections, etc. It seems the key is to remain discreet to the others that you are RP supporters. Pullling people to the side might raise questions of other caucus voters. Is that a fair assessment?
Hey Ronin, As for a flow chart it is kind of hard to do one because every state has different rules, and every caucus will be different and fluid and it is difficult for someone never having been to a caucus to make a snap decision. Also the timing of the caucus and where we are in the picture at the time is important and who the candidates are that are viable at the time of the particular caucus. The main point is try to be organized in advance. Even if it is only 5 people that are Paul supporters in your particular caucus.
If someone goes into a caucus unorganized then sees more Paul supporters then you can just go for it and hope you have enough support to get at least one or more delegates elected. And given the circumstances yes it could look weird and hurt your chances if you try to pull everyone aside or ask for a break or whatever. But why not then go to the caucus at least a half hour early. Wait out front and look for people with Ron Paul buttons or some type of ID so you can pull them aside and try to explain that what is best for Ron is to have a set list of delegates and for each person to know who is on the list and do not have more people than votes to be elected on this “SLATE”. You do not want to dilute your strength. And if you don’t have enough people for all the vote slots then remember to BULLET BALLOT. Only vote for the Paul supporters and make sure everyone knows that they don’t need to use all of their votes. If you don’t have a full slate for ALL the delegate spots that is. Many people think that they should vote for the full complement of delegates allowed. Hey the precinct convenor says to do it and she/he seems to be in charge and hey I have no idea what is going on so I will just put down ten names even though some of them are not Paul supporters because I think I am supposed to do that. No you do not have to vote for all the slots (at least the rules should state that. If you for some reason have a caucus that requires you to put down all the names and vote for all the slots then in that case put down all the Paul supporters and then put down the people who seem to have the least chance of winning. Do not put down the best speakers, the people with the most experience in the party, or the funniest person etc. Put down the ones in your judgment who have the least chance of winning) If you do and you have no full “Slate’ of Paul supporters then you dilute your votes and will be helping to elect other candidates delegates.
And don’t fall for the “oh that person seems so nice and I know his kids etc thing” so I’ll vote for them. You are diluting the votes and will lose support.
The issue of being discreet is not one everyone would agree on. Especially new people to the process. The Idea is “Hey I’m for Ron Paul and I want the world to know it” That is great but in the caucus you will find all types. Many with buttons for other candidates. Many proclaiming their support vocally. Everyone wants to do that. However keep in mind that you will also find many uncommitted people and people who are not part of any organized campaign and just show up. This group of people is where you get your other votes to elect the Paul delegates. Because remember the entrenched hacks who will be the majority are already committed and organized usually and they will not vote for a known Paul supporter and they will be bullet balloting or more than likely have their full slate already picked. Someone who is uncommitted or first time attendee even if not for Ron will still vote for a Ron Paul person if the Ron Paul person gives a nice speech, is likable, well known or funny. And these people will vote all the slots on the ballot. They will not be bullet balloting so you have a chance to pick up votes from these people.
If you are discreet and claim you are uncommitted for president (and other contested local offices) it really is a double edge sword (only if you are in a caucus that is unorganized FOR Ron though) Because then the advantage is that you could be undecided for example and pick up votes from the undecided or new people group as well as from any known Paul supporters if you have them organized. If unorganized and there is no time to organize people early before the caucus starts then the other side to the sword is that being discreet now you lose the chance to pick up support from Paul supporters who are there but who you have not talked to or know. But then make a decision. Are there enough identified Paul supporters running for delegate to fill the slots? Does it appear that there is a good level of support for Ron even though they are not organized? If there are more Paul supporters running than slots avialabe, then if there is no way to communicate your best bet is to not run yourself or run and then get up and say “Well I am a Ron Paul supporter and wanted to be a delegate but since it appears we already have enough Ron Paul supporters running to fill the available delegate slots then I will drop out here and run as an alternate instead. Maybe in that case others will do the same and there will be a chance to get just theright number of Paul people running as there are slots avialabe. Why do this? Because in a situation where there is an open total caucus election then running more Paul supporters than the available delegate slots weakens the vote totals and gives support to the other candidates. You may be in a caucus like this. The thing with our revolution is that everyone is involved. Everyone is gung ho and active and vocal. That is what makes this so great. However when we have no plan and when we go to a caucus and everyone there who supports Ron is so active and vocal and committed that they all volunteer to run for delegate or alternate at a level way more than the available delegate slots then we kill ourselves. The local GOP hacks there at the caucus love this kind of situation. They will then assure that no one gets elected or at least the quantity of elected Paul delegates then will not even approach the true percentage level of support that Ron Paul has in that caucus. It’s the old strategy of divide and conquer. And then everyone leaves after the caucus and is pissed off and hates the system even more. What happened? We got killed in there and we didn’t even know how it happened?
We have to realize this and this is critical. For Ron Paul to take the oath of office then we need to TAKE OVER THE GOP PARTY!!!
Please everyone get this and understand it. We have to take over the party. And we have to do this playing by THEIR rules. Not our rules THEIRS!!! So we need to know the rules and work within the rules and understand that we have people working against us who know the rules so well that they can actually USE us for their own purposes. And if we don’t know the rules then we will let them use us. Please everyone know the rules and have a strategy for your caucus. Understand that the goal here is taking over the GOP PARTY! Right now it is their party not ours. But we can take it over because it is a democracy and they have to play by the rules that they have set as well. So know the rules, organize and strategise and then we can do this.
{{merry christmas}}
