ok... don't waste your time canvassing.. the pollsters got that 5% out there and that's that.
I would really appreciate the Paul campaign doing some advertising here in NC so we can go out and canvass without being ridiculed. As it is, that 5% is going to hold steady until our primary in May.
liberteebell - we could use the signs.... and anyone else who has signs, bumper stickers, slim jims, etc please send them to a meetup organizer in NC or contact meetup organizers in NC to get them picked up. We don't have any campaign offices.. our 69 delegates aren't important apparently.
Can you give me some contact information?
I agree that you need some advertising and were I running the show, I'd arrange a rally near Fort Bragg or Camp LeJeune and woo the press to attend. But alas, I don't run things
I do think you should absolutely bug HQ to death to try to get something like this. Since he raised more money from the military in Q4 than all the other candidates combined, he should take advantage of that in any way possible.
FWIW, since you have some time before your primary, there are some things I wish I'd known long ago. I have to tell you this too: during our primary yesterday, we no doubt won some votes by having signs at as many precincts as possible and by having someone manning the precincts handing out literature.
This post from this thread
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=116653&page=3 is very helpful:
1. identify supporters and turn them out to vote.
2. identify "supervoters" who usually vote and spread the message to them; if you can't get a list of the actual voter rolls with histories, then look at the election returns--especially for primaries--and see which precincts have the highest turnout of Republicans (rank them by most Republican supervoters to least, hit as many precincts at the top of the list as you can; use the official campaign's Precinct Leader list to supplement your efforts but keep the information on a Google.doc spreadsheet accessible to the others with whom you are working).
3. identify all of the voting locations (make sure signs are posted at all voting locations in accordance with local ordinance the night before and have people leafleting for Dr. Paul there--dress well and be polite!)--if a caucus, follow leadership in your state on speeches or whatever.
4. each group needs to act to contact media about events and get their own endorsements for the campaign.
5. use your efforts to help Dr. Paul AND the other Liberty Candidates out there--make the most of your efforts!
6. SMILE We have so much to be thankful for in finding each other, Ron and Carol sacrificing so much of themselves, for having this opportunity in this great country...
*********************
I posted this on another thread; they are some lessons I learned the hard way and most of it, too late to correct.
I'm NOT saying we did anything wrong, nor am I trying to be negative. Much can be learned from failures. I'm just looking at this from hindsight and frankly, through tears after my home state of Virginia's abysmal performance yesterday. These are lessons I learned from my personal experience. Things that I was "guilty" of.
1. Thinking that a self-organizing system, devoid of some sort of organization, plans and yes, leadership was going to win elections. Like it or not (and I don't), we could have done a much better job of developing a plan for success and systematically carrying it out.
2. Being politically naive and being novices to the political system. Not knowing The System, how to win elections and how to properly work it and having few people inside the grassroots who could effectively educate and organize us and channel all the grassroots energy into winning the primaries. Things like effective canvassing, especially for super voters and turning them out on election day and effectively targeting and appealing to the conservative base. We should learn from this and carry this knowledge forth to elect future Liberty candidates. We spent too much time voting in on-line polls and not enough time earning real votes.
3. If there is such a thing: being so well informed, we were not able or effective in dumbing down our message enough to appeal to the general public. Have you ever met a Ron Paul supporter who isn't a walking encyclopedia on the Constitution, government corruption and abuses, in depth knowledge of things like the Federal Reserve, Austrian economics, etc, ad infinitum? Didn't think so. The American public wants sound bites and glitz. We offered none of the above. We all know that the American public has been effectively brainwashed. They are stuck in a false left/right paradigm, afraid of a couple of guys in a cave in Pakistan and think there "outta be a law" for just about everything. Thus, our appeal for following the Rule of law came off as being fringe kookdom. People need to be spoon fed this new information; it is a completely foreign way of thinking for most. They need to think that they arrived at this on their own; they need to be given just enough to make them want to research more; get a chink in their armor, if you will; rather than trying to bash them over the head with the whole thing at one time. We need to find things that work and share successes with others. We often need to listen more and talk less.
4. Allowing the msm to "define" us and thus, control our public perception. We spent too much valuable time trying to make the national media notice us when we should have become the media on a local level. We should have appointed press secretaries in our localities and effectively used the local press to get the media we desired, needed and quite frankly, deserved. We are informed, articulate and passionate and we could have done one hell of a job on a local level. From this day forward, we should all Become the Media. Locally.
That being said, we've had tons of successes. It made my day yesterday when one of my co-workers, a hard-core democrat, called me to tell me that he'd voted for Ron Paul because it was "a vote for America and the Constitution". We've awakened a whole bunch of people, who will, in turn, awaken other people. I've never met anyone who isn't hungry for Freedom; it's just that some of them don't know it yet. Our numbers are growing and we should be very proud of what we've done so far, improve on that and carry forward. We have a long way to go and a lot of work still ahead!
