Well, not JUST NOW, but last night. I was super-tired when I got home last night and went straight to bed, so that's why I'm typing it now.
First, a few things that Debbie told me that are very important for everyone:
1. Make sure you, everyone in your meetup, and everyone you know who supports Ron Paul goes to
https://www.ronpaul2008.com/join/ and signs up.
This is critically important! She said of most of the people she's talked to from meetup groups only about 30% of them are registered with the site.
2. Take care of your own backyard first! There's a lot of excitement in IA & NH, but make sure you have all your ducks in a row in your state FIRST
3. Become a delegate and know your primary/caucus process in your state. She also stressed the need for precinct captains and for them to perform the duties of a precinct captain (ie calling voters in your precinct, identifying Ron Paul supporters, getting out the vote, etc).
The first, I'd say, hour and a half was Debbie addressing the primary process in MO and answering questions. Debbie is very knowledgeable and a veteran in politics and she knows all her stuff. I know there's a lot of doubt about HQ's ability, but after talking with her that shored up any doubts I may of had.
There were a lot of former Buchanan supporters that worked grassroots for him in St. Louis and MO in general (Debbie included). One of the gentelman that participated in the delegate process described what it was like. He said when the Buchaninites won and they elected a Buchaninite chairman, they literally had to rip the microphone out of the previous chairman's hand (he said he was a Doleshevic
)
About seven of us stuck around and just hung out with Debbie to 'shoot-the-breeze.' She shared a lot of great information with us as far as voter turnout for the primaries in MO in the 2000 election (Ron Paul can win the primaries EASILY IMO), what it's like at HQ, what Ron is like etc.
I also asked about Ron security detail. She said there is one person on HQ, but whenever they travel there's always a contingent of off-duty police officers present. She said that after the post-debate rally in MI, things changed as far as Dr. Paul going into the crowd. Everyone at HQ freaked out as they watched Ron Paul on justintv, literally be engulfed by the crowd to the point where they couldn't see him anymore. Don't expect Dr. Paul to be doing that too much anymore.
Also, money-bombs are awesome, but they create a lot of chaos for HQ. This wasn't a complaint, just an FYI (she was just describing what it's like to work at HQ). Right after the last money-bomb, HQ hired ten people and immediately sent them to IA.
In OH, they contracted a company out to help with gathering signatures.
HQ has a 'SWAT' team. They send these people to primaries and caucuses and make sure there are no dirty tricks going on. For example, during the delegation process for Buchanan, all the delegates for Buchanan were distracted for free food and drinks in a seperate room while the votes were cast (this was in MO). Dirty tricks like that are quite frequent and that's why they have the 'SWAT' team.
Debbie said these people are professionals and have been in the game a long time.
Also, if you're going to be a delegate and you're a big person, there's a floor position for the delegate (kind of like a bouncer from the way Debbie described it). She said I'd fill that position well (I'm 6'2" 262#s)
HQ sometimes peeks in on these forums in case you were wondering.
We talked about a WHOLE lot of stuff, so I may remember something in a few minutes and come back and update thread
When we got up to leave, I looked at my watch and it said 11:30pm!!
(the meeting started at 6:30pm)
I have great confidence in the campaign and last night was fantastic. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the database and start making some calls and getting out the vote. I'm also going to be a delegate!
If you have any questions, feel free to post them. As I said, we talked about A LOT, so I may have forgot something.
Oh, and Bradley in DC, she gave you high marks.
Peace,
Denny
