PledgeForPaul
Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2007
- Messages
- 232
1. Try to do the cold calling. Many of the votes in my precinct came because of cold calling. Start every conversation saying you live a couple blocks from them and would like to know if you can drop off a pamphlet. Drop it off within 1 hour of the call. Cold calling will break you down mentally. Read the posts I made in this thread to see what I mean: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=65750 I thought my cold calling was not helping, but caucus night several RP supporters I had no memory of calling knew my name from the phone calls.
I’d also like to thank these ronpaulforums users: DanConway, grizzums, Leslie Webb, Ron LOL, and especially annamoo. These users responded to my threads asking for help in phone calling and letter writing. We are one of the grassroots teams that gave RP a precinct win.
2. In my opinion RonPaulAirCorps is the best place for grassroots money. 1 person in my precinct decided to vote RP because he saw the 30 foot tall picture of Ron Paul's face flying through the sky. It gave me such a great feeling when I saw it as well (see thread & pic: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=72908)
3. Get a staple gun and do a late night sign raid on all your wooden telephone/power line poles/etc. Compared to the mental torture the of cold calling, this is virtually no effort. Do it as soon as possible. Make sure everyone in your precinct sees 2 or 3 of these signs. Message your meetup group and say you really want 20 signs. Use quantity over quality in placement… don't stress about the major intersections where they will likely be taken down soon anyway. EDIT - Many users consider this tacky... and it is often illegal. Use disgression, and no matter what don't do it if it may distract drivers from driving.
4. With the Iowa Caucus, I believe the 1 to 2 minute speech was critical. I don't know if this is done in NH, but if not I am writing this for other caucus states who do, and something to keep in mind if you have any conversations in the minutes leading up to the vote.
The other campaigns had state senators from out of state come in to give speeches for Romney, Huckabee, and McCain. I heard that one of the Cedar Rapids precincts even had an Alabama national senator speak for Romney. I opened my speech mentioning fond memories I had of attending the school we were all sitting in - this gave me a significant edge over the slick talking out of state politicians wearing suits.
The first half of my speech was fairly quick points about Ron Paul (small government, voting record, refuses pension plan that turns all the members of congress into multi millionaires, all spoken casually with care for pauses between each point). I then went for the full hail mary because I had no idea my precinct had so many RP supporters. My transitionary line was a 3 second pause followed by "Now, I read the polls. I know most of you have come here to vote for Romney or Huckabee - but I want you to, right now, to seriously consider Ron Paul for the following reasons". I then cited 2 polls showing Romney and Huckabee losing to Clinton by a double digit margin, pointed out that the dem party has not released a single negative statement against Huckabee (then I stammered a little with a statement about InTrade pricing that I should have left out). My last line was (and really the only line I had spent sufficient time rehearsing):
"70% of the American public opposes the war in Iraq. If our party nominates a pro-war candidate, we will lose to Hillary and will have several years of a Democrat controlled house, senate and executive branch {I used "several" to let them conclude on their own it could be above 2 years and subconciously value me as not using irrational scare tactics}. I do not like how this system works either... but every vote cast for Huckabee tonight, it is pushing us towards socialized medicine, Hillary Clinton values, and higher taxes. {I had practiced, but forgot to say here, a line like 'that is how the system works that we are in right now'} If you are an independent this may be okay with you and you can stick with your candidate, but I am asking those of you supporting Romney and Huckabee to please consider switching to Ron Paul {I specifically said Huckabee and Romney, and didn’t mention any other candidates the entire speech}".
I don't suggest this type of approach at all precincts, and you need to be a good speaker to do so (I am a decent speaker). The official campaign sent me a letter (as RP precinct captain) saying the goal of this speech is to get people who are undecided. I disagree with this and say when in a small environment such as this it is fine to target people who are already decided on other candidates. Even though I was targeting Mitt/Huck supporters, I'm skeptical my speech was less effective at getting the undecided votes as well.
5. Show up really early, and wear a RP button. Give buttons out too. The Romney campaign had some of our RP supporters wearing Romney stickers somehow (I think because my location had Dem and GOP both and at the door they were saying "are you GOP or DEM? GOP? Ok, here is a sticker"). I showed up 45 minutes early, waited in line for 20 minutes, had to re-register Republican (cause I wasn't on their record somehow) and didn't make it inside until the last minute. In my case I was a little glad I didn't know the RP support was so strong until after the vote came back, and we all met/talked after the caucus. Even though the state did poorly, I was happy last night.
I’d also like to thank these ronpaulforums users: DanConway, grizzums, Leslie Webb, Ron LOL, and especially annamoo. These users responded to my threads asking for help in phone calling and letter writing. We are one of the grassroots teams that gave RP a precinct win.
2. In my opinion RonPaulAirCorps is the best place for grassroots money. 1 person in my precinct decided to vote RP because he saw the 30 foot tall picture of Ron Paul's face flying through the sky. It gave me such a great feeling when I saw it as well (see thread & pic: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=72908)
3. Get a staple gun and do a late night sign raid on all your wooden telephone/power line poles/etc. Compared to the mental torture the of cold calling, this is virtually no effort. Do it as soon as possible. Make sure everyone in your precinct sees 2 or 3 of these signs. Message your meetup group and say you really want 20 signs. Use quantity over quality in placement… don't stress about the major intersections where they will likely be taken down soon anyway. EDIT - Many users consider this tacky... and it is often illegal. Use disgression, and no matter what don't do it if it may distract drivers from driving.
4. With the Iowa Caucus, I believe the 1 to 2 minute speech was critical. I don't know if this is done in NH, but if not I am writing this for other caucus states who do, and something to keep in mind if you have any conversations in the minutes leading up to the vote.
The other campaigns had state senators from out of state come in to give speeches for Romney, Huckabee, and McCain. I heard that one of the Cedar Rapids precincts even had an Alabama national senator speak for Romney. I opened my speech mentioning fond memories I had of attending the school we were all sitting in - this gave me a significant edge over the slick talking out of state politicians wearing suits.
The first half of my speech was fairly quick points about Ron Paul (small government, voting record, refuses pension plan that turns all the members of congress into multi millionaires, all spoken casually with care for pauses between each point). I then went for the full hail mary because I had no idea my precinct had so many RP supporters. My transitionary line was a 3 second pause followed by "Now, I read the polls. I know most of you have come here to vote for Romney or Huckabee - but I want you to, right now, to seriously consider Ron Paul for the following reasons". I then cited 2 polls showing Romney and Huckabee losing to Clinton by a double digit margin, pointed out that the dem party has not released a single negative statement against Huckabee (then I stammered a little with a statement about InTrade pricing that I should have left out). My last line was (and really the only line I had spent sufficient time rehearsing):
"70% of the American public opposes the war in Iraq. If our party nominates a pro-war candidate, we will lose to Hillary and will have several years of a Democrat controlled house, senate and executive branch {I used "several" to let them conclude on their own it could be above 2 years and subconciously value me as not using irrational scare tactics}. I do not like how this system works either... but every vote cast for Huckabee tonight, it is pushing us towards socialized medicine, Hillary Clinton values, and higher taxes. {I had practiced, but forgot to say here, a line like 'that is how the system works that we are in right now'} If you are an independent this may be okay with you and you can stick with your candidate, but I am asking those of you supporting Romney and Huckabee to please consider switching to Ron Paul {I specifically said Huckabee and Romney, and didn’t mention any other candidates the entire speech}".
I don't suggest this type of approach at all precincts, and you need to be a good speaker to do so (I am a decent speaker). The official campaign sent me a letter (as RP precinct captain) saying the goal of this speech is to get people who are undecided. I disagree with this and say when in a small environment such as this it is fine to target people who are already decided on other candidates. Even though I was targeting Mitt/Huck supporters, I'm skeptical my speech was less effective at getting the undecided votes as well.
5. Show up really early, and wear a RP button. Give buttons out too. The Romney campaign had some of our RP supporters wearing Romney stickers somehow (I think because my location had Dem and GOP both and at the door they were saying "are you GOP or DEM? GOP? Ok, here is a sticker"). I showed up 45 minutes early, waited in line for 20 minutes, had to re-register Republican (cause I wasn't on their record somehow) and didn't make it inside until the last minute. In my case I was a little glad I didn't know the RP support was so strong until after the vote came back, and we all met/talked after the caucus. Even though the state did poorly, I was happy last night.
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