Focus on Press Coverage
A press focus will be helpful. Local press loves to cover events with a national tie in. For example, during the Super Bowl, most local stations go to local gatherings of people watching it. We can get the same kind of local coverage. The press will already be expecting the teaparty fundraising news that weekend. If we get press releases out in advance, the press should come and broadcast it. The rally does not need to be long. An hour is sufficient to get a few seconds of film of the group, and maybe a comment or two with a spokesperson, on TV. Print media might interview somebody longer.
Moving the rallies to the 15th is a good idea. Any publicity we get from them will only help RP get more donations on the 16th. Of course, people could bring tea bags to promote the teaparty07 theme.
Media Market Areas
I would encourage groups to coordinate rallies within their media market areas. This file lists them, in order of market size.
http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t29/tab03a.pdf
If there are not enough people in one area, they can merge with a larger area. For example, the group here in Asheville is still not sure if we can get enough people together to get press coverage. If we do not, the most popular fallback plan is to go to the next closest larger city, which is Greenville SC, and also a key primary state. Other groups near key primary states might also do the same.
I would encourage more locations over bigger ones. For example, I think if we have 50 people here in Asheville, there is a good chance of getting on Asheville TV, whereas the folks in Greenville will probably have enough people, even without us. 50 people is plenty for TV image. One early rally I organized for the first Gulf War (when it had a 95% approval rating) had only 50 people at it, but it made a good TV image, and it was repeatedly picked up on the national news (libertarian signs were visible, too).
Fed Focus
UPDATE: I noticed that there is a fed protest planned for the 23rd, but I did not see not much traction on it. Sometimes, the same thing repeated too soon does not get traction, e.g. the November 11th money bomb. I am not sure how much press we will get on the 23rd, or if we can get enough people out. Would it make more sense to focus on December 15th and 29th, to promote the two money bombs?
The original thisdecember16th website (which now forwards to teaparty07) had rallies listed at all the major federal reserve offices. That might get good publicity, particularly with the dollar at all time lows, and the inflation tax being part of the teaparty07 theme. Besides the major fed offices listed on the FRN's, there are many branches. Groups who do not have a federal reserve office nearby, or with a good rally setup, can rally at their best local locations. If we are going to keep with a theme, federal buildings would be consistent. Not a lot of people rally at federal buildings, so that in itself might be newsworthy.
I am working on the legalities of being able to simply give notice and avoid any permitting for using plazas at federal buildings. My position is that the permit process is for educational and cultural type events. Political speech should not need a permit! Hopefully, we will just give notice, as a courtesy. If we need to take this to court, that in itself might be good publicity. I would be a plaintiff if necessary, on behalf of an unincoroprated association. I might even be able to get a civil rights attorney involved.
New Years Money Bomb Rallies
Back when the thisdecember16th site first went up, I had originally suggested also doing rallies on Jan 1, but that was when the New Years money bomb was originally scheduled that day. I like that the money bomb has been moved to December 31, to get into the 4th quarter. To publicize that money bomb, we might also rally on December 29th. At some point, we might want to start another thread on that.
Yours in Liberty,
Jerry
RonPaulMax.com
