Brian's strategy that won last time is exactly what we need to repeat and expand on this time around. The % of people who attend the straw poll or caucus is so low they can easily be overwhelmed. Focus on those who normally don't go to the Ames Straw Poll but whose main issue is ending the wars (or war on drugs), slashing the federal government, civil liberties, etc. You can find these people easily (for free) via anonymous poll (phone or door to door), then follow up in a month or two with a call targeted at their issue:
ie, for someone who says their prime issue is ending the war but is a strong democrat, you call back with something like
"Hi, I'm an antiwar activist and I'm looking for Iowa citizens who feel the same. Are you for the wars sir?"
"Certainly not!"
"Great! Would you be willing to volunteer for an afternoon to make a major impact?"
"Uh, doing what?"
"Well, the most important thing at this point is to inject ending the war into debate, so at the moment we need people to go to Ames and vote for Ron Paul, the anti-war republican. Would you be willing to do that?"
"But I'm a Democrat."
"I understand, but we need to show support for antiwar candidates to shift the political winds and there's no better place to do that than the presidential race."
"OK...what do I do?"
"Go to his iowa campaign website; he has a package deal which includes bus transportation, a ticket, tshirt, etc for $20? Is that OK?"
"Oh, now you want $20 out of me too?"
"If you can't afford it we can put you on a backup list in case we get enough donations to fund your ticket...would you be able to drive there?"
"No, I can afford it. I'll look into it, thanks."
And since Obama has the dem ticket locked up that same anti war dem could easily be convinced to vote for RP in the caucuses next year.
