Some first-hand observations from NH--PLEASE LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES!!!
Posted by mackler on RonPaulForums
Dear Friends,
Having spent the last few weeks in New Hampshire, I am quite disturbed by what I saw. I am sad and upset that we let the rest of the country down, and most especially that we let Dr. Paul down. I pray to God that enough people will learn from what went wrong there to do the right thing in other states. Here are some important lessons I wish to share:
1-5. Lesson One, is also lesson two through five:
Do not trust the official campaign operation. This is so important I will repeat it and repeat it.
Do not trust the official campaign.
I don't know if they are compromised or just incompetent. It really doesn't matter. The people working for the official campaign are not us. They are paid professionals hired to do a job. They leave work at 6 p.m. and go to the local bar and shoot the shit with the workers from the other campaigns. When this campaign is over they will go get another job. They are not quitting their jobs and going days without sleep and then sleeping on air mattresses when they finally do get some rest. They are not us. Do not trust them.
I also heard stories about people who had been called so many times by HQ that they voted against RP for being so annoying.
We've got as far as we have despite the official campaign, not because of it. If you think HQ is going to put you to good use on election day, you are wrong wrong wrong. In fact, if HQ asks you to do something on election day, you can be 90% certain that there is something better for you to be doing.
Here is my story. HQ told me they needed poll watchers. They gave me a list of names of supposed RP supporters and told me to go to a particular polling place and to stay there until the voting was over. and then to come to the big "victory" party.
Pretty quick it was an obvious waste of time. For one thing, there were four tables where people were checking in, so it was impossible to hear all the names. Second, the list they gave me was not in alphabetical order.
Obama had five people there: four taking names and one legal observer. The ones taking names left after noon.
Now think about the logic of this task. Supposedly the official campaign had people at a phone bank calling so many people that with the names I proveded of everyone who had voted already they would save time. I was there for ten hours and I crossed off about ten names from my list. You do the math. Ten hours to save ten phone calls? Please! Meanwhile, when I left, outside I saw people holding enormous signs fro the winning candidates, and one lonely RP supporter holding a little yard sign.
When I called HQ to ask them how late to stay they said until the polls closed. When I asked what good crossing off a name five minutes before the voting ended would do, I got a pause and then the response was "um, let me ask my boss." That was when I started to realize I was at best dealing with incompetent boobs who had barely thought this thing through. They are bureaucrats. They are afraid to stick their necks out. Afraid to get in trouble with their superiors. Do not trust the official campaign staff!!!
6. Do not trust the people running the polls.
I feel like a retard. We just assumed that if enough people voted for RP he would win. After the polls closed we all went to the "victory party." I wondered what the other candidates parties were like. The next day I found out:
The campaigns of the candidates who "won" had people stay at all the polling places until all the votes were counted.
Do you understand that? The votes are counted in a room full of people, none of whom will care if all of RP's ballots go into the trash. The polls are operated by the same kind of people who work to keep RP off of TV. If we want RP to win, we have to watch every poll until the votes are reported. Better yet, be a poll worker yourself.
Apparently no one at the the official HQ thought of this. Please see lessons 1-5. If you're working at a polling place, get there early, learn who is in charge, be friendly and introduce yourself. Then stay and watch the ballots be counted. Do not leave until the count is official. If we had done this at every polling place...shoulda-coulda-woulda!
7. Young people don't vote.
My polling place was next to a college. I could count on my hands and feet the number of college students who come in, and most voted democratic. Meanwhile, every doting, drooling, octogenarian whose heart had beat at least thrice in the preceding 24 hours was wheeled in and had a pen shoved into their hands to cast a vote.
Getting someone to say they support RP is not enough. You better get their name and number, and then drag them to the polls on election day. If they really support RP then they need to join the campaign effort to get more votes. That's what the winning campaigns did.
8. Many if not most people decide who to vote for when they get to the polls.
You may have trouble believing this, but I was amazed at how many people had to pause for thought when asked whether they wanted a Republican or Democratic ballot. I heard many people say, "ummm....oh I guess I'll take a democratic ballot. I really don't know who I'm voting for." I'm not making this up.
My point: if you're going to be at the polls, you may do a lot more good standing outside with a huge-ass RP sign than you will doing whatever jerk-off waste of time HQ assigns you to do.
9. Connect with the locals
We had hundreds of RP supporters come from all over the country. We were outsiders. The other campaigns activated networks of locals. They had locals working at the polls and talking to their neighbors.
If you're canvassing and you find an RP supporter, don't just assume we have their vote and move on. Get than person involved in the campaign. A local who is invested in an RP win will be many times more effective than an outsider.
Summary and Suggestions
A week ago I was sure we were going to win NH. I got 90% positive response while canvassing. I didn't see hardly any signs for the other candidates and we had way more volunteers on the ground. Then about three or four days before primary day everything changed. RP signs started disappearing and other candidates' signs started appearing. Large numbers of supporters for other candidates came out of nowhere.
Suggestion: plan a local sign blitz for two days before your state's primary/caucus. Having more signs out two weeks in advance looks cool, but it will be forgotten by the time the other campaigns activate.
Suggestion: think hard about how effective what you're doing is. Hoving fifty people at a sign-wave on a busy corner looks cool, but may not result in as many votes as collecting names for election day.
Suggestion: do not donate any more money to the official campaign. If you have money, spend it yourself. The official campaign hasn't figured out that running some of the youtube videos that got us all riled up will be more effective than running their P.O.S. "professional" ads. If we want effective TV ads, we are going to have to run them ourselves.
Suggestion: Make a website with a list of every polling place in your state and allow people to sign up to volunteer both inside and outside. This will allow us to make sure every location is covered without unnecessary duplication. People inside take off your RP buttons and keep your eyes on what's happening. People outside bring the biggest RP signs you can find. Try to get at least two RP supporters inside each location in case someone doesn't make it or isn't really an RP supporter. Make sure every location is covered, and do not rely on the official HQ to tell you where to be or what to do.
Once we have people working inside every location, we need volunteers to be outside every location holding huge signs and talking to every voter on their way in.
Most of us are doing this for the first time. Our enemies have done this over and over. They have networks and experience. If we don't start learning fast we will lose.
Thanks a lot for all you have done and your great suggestions!
Yes, most of us are new at this and a lot depends on people like you reporting what you observed in the NH primary so we can learn what is important and what is not and how fast we can learn by our mistakes.
Thanks for your great feedback!
fight4liberty
A Similar Shorter Story
Recount Could Backfire - Insider in NH Campaign Staff Says they Didn't Execute
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/24282
Watch the film "THX1138" online for a glimpse into the future.
http://www.pyrabang.com/view.php?ref=THX1138&post_id=7484
I was sure the campaign was saying "Stay and Observe Vote Count"
Any 3 year old would warn everybody to "Stay and Watch the Votes Being Counted". In fact, I clearly remember advice coming off this website saying "Videotape the vote counting"
Anyone I know would do that anyway...at least if they have been paying attention to what has been going on in the US lately.
I am confused by this.
I wonder if the young guys who chased Sean Hannity voted.
It is possible the ABC debate and/or Hannity Hassle hurt Ron Paul. He got ganged up badly about his blowback theory at the debate and then tied other questions to that national security issue that was his opponents' strength with Republican male voters. That could explain the sudden emergence of other signs by people who had previously flashed the Ron Paul signs.
I see few other explanations for why people who had Ron Paul signs in their yards suddenly switched on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
About Iowa: I was shocked to see the CNN live footage of a caucas where there were McCain signs all over the caucus room...and McCain won with a whopping 50% of the votes in that room...even though he did poorly overall.
Meetup groups
http://ronpaul.meetup.com
Join!
I Would Agree...
...about the level of involvement, based on a response I received from the official RP campaign person in California. Here is her response to my request to become a poll watcher in Northern California; I think it's very lame:
"I don't know who is organizing poll watching up there. I think there is an organization that is recruiting people to help with something like this, but offhand I don't know who they are. If I come across info on this, I'll forward it to you.
"Meanwhile, you can do some google searching. There's a lot out there, I just don't know of any group specifically.
For liberty,
Holly Clearman
CA State Coordinator
Ron Paul 2008 PCC"
ALSO, your posting distresses me because I CLEARLY remember a long posting from Jim Forsythe a few weeks back that reassured us all that the NH RP Campaign HQ was on top of any potential vote fraud. Now I read in The Paulunteer, from another volunteer in NH, that they were told by the campaign NOT to stay around and watch the vote count. Say what?!
GUILTY
Don't blame HQ for all the automatic phone calls. I wanted to help so I bought a machine and had a T-1 line installed. Then called New Hampshire three (3) times, SC twice and one time through Nevada. My machine is now working on Michigan (first pass).
My message is simple and short "Good news. Dr. Ron Paul is running for the presidency or the United States. The best way to discover for yourself Ron Paul is to Goggle him on your computer. End the wars, save the Constitution, vote Ron Paul."
My reasoning was to get his name known as he wasn't getting to much mention on MSM.
Don't know how many other RP fans had the same bright idea.
After your first bitch I stopped calling NH and SC. Whether I was responsible for the late night call you complain about, I don't know.
The reason I'm posting this: I think it's a worthwhile action, but it must be coordinated with other phone actions so we don't piss-off, instead of enlighten our new potential RP fans. Jim
I can be reached at: rmrproducts@verizon.net
i'm not saying this article is wrong,
but i'm not saying it's right.
it was apparently posted over at ron paul forums first, but who's to say if the writer is a supporter or not?
i think we need to be really careful these days with what we accept as factual truth.
also, on another note, if we're doing a re-count, how do we know that ballots weren't thrown in the trash after the primary?
sure hope folks checked the bins behind the polling places.
oh puleeeze!!!
not a supporter?
With all that common sense?
i don't care if he's Rudy frikken Giuliani, that's priceless advice!!!
sheese!!!
We have early voting starting on Wednesday
here in Tennessee. It lasts until the 31st. I don't know how we would be able to find enough people to watch from 8am to 5pm for this amount of time. Also legally are we allowed to just hang around? My election commission lady has already lied to me about requesting a paper ballot, I can't see her allowing me to be there everyday watching the vote, she also knows that I am a committed delegate for Ron Paul and is already biased toward me. Any suggestions?
if you don't get an answer here, just maybe
somebody at HQ can answer some of those questions or is there a Tennessee group he can contact? You at least want to be able to be there for the final counting and might need something from the campaign that you are the authorized person to do that.
Thank you
I hope people will take your advice and also take home the point that sign waves and youtube videos will not get RP elected - there is a lot of hard work of going door to door, taking names, poll watching, etc.
Thankfully I have a member in my group who has actually been at the top of a few senatorial campaigns and he has provided invaluable help of how best to use our limited resources (both $ and people).
To me the dirty secret of the RP campaign is that only about 1/8th of the people "in" meetups actually do anything. Ever. In fact, I might be *over* stating that number. I hate to say, but I suspect that the ratio of people in online forums like this is even lower. Lots of chatter but not much 'real' work.
Of course, this is not entirely their fault. 99.9% never had anything to do with a campaign before and don't know where to begin. Don't know what to do and what not to do (lately I think the later is more important). I guess my best advice is get out there with a voter list, clipboard, material and go door to door. And don't do anything which you think your parents would find stupid or be annoyed with as *those* are the people who vote.
gedankenexperiment.dk views on finance, politics and science
LOL
I love that last line, spot on.
How do I find meetup groop???
Florida, East Pasco County.
Meetup.com
Go to this site to sign up. You can go to RonPaul2008.com to get to that site. They icons are on the left side.
Bob W., Naples, FL
Thank you mackler...
... I recently walked into my meetup group and the sentiment about paid campaign staff was the same.
I believe Dr. Paul's campaign staff is his biggest weakness.
Looking for Florida supporters
This is so true. I registered as a volunteer on the official web site, that was a few days ago. So far no one contacted me by either - phone or email. Obviously, they don't need volunteers.
How do I find supporters here in East Pasco county? I saw just one sign on the side of the road near where I live. So there must be someone here.
Thanks for this post
That was some valuble information. This is the big time folks...he isn't running for city council. Sometimes if feels almost helpless but I think you're right..........the grassroots needs to take the bull by the horns. Even Ron Paul has said this is OUR campaign. Thanks again for your time and effort.
baubaublacksheep
Thank You
As A NH Native I convinced around a dozen people to pay attention early on and they ALL voted for Ron Paul.
Unfortunately I didn't tell them all they had to be independent. Three votes fell uncounted on the Democratic side.
The Radio Add campaign was one add about Illegal Immigration. That not only annoyed me but seemed low budget because it was the only radio add and it was played to Death.
we don't have an illegal immigrant problem in NH because we don't have licensing or an income tax.
Spread the word about the high price of oil and gas that is something that cannot be spun especiall in the cold states. People will understand inflation if you put it in these types of laymans term!
Thanks
I needed this.
Nice post, thank you for all
Nice post, thank you for all you have done.
Join PyraBang the peoples search engine.
Thanks, that's good but depressing info.
I can't believe so many people literally make a decision at the polling place without doing ANY research whatsoever, but I guess that's why we have the obese government we've currently-got...
JMR
This post is awesome, right on for doing this
I have worked the polling places before. It is imperative to remain during the vote counting, that the most important task of all. Honest mistakes happen too and nobody is gonna look out for your candidate except you. Unbelievable that HQ didn't do this. Pathetic.
The official campaign clearly lacks savvy, nimbleness, presence and media skills. The official ads, which are posted on youtube, are embarrassing. Made by hacks that were hacks back in the days of 16mm film commercials, much less with the technology around today. The indie ads are fun to watch.
I also read here that the campaign had ONE radio ad, on illegal immigration, that they ran over and over and over. Is that true?
You're point on young people not voting is spot on. I've lived in so many college towns where, if the students voted, they'd run the place. They show up at rallies or whatever, but they forget to register (point) or just dissipate on election day. Maybe a caravan or vanpool to pick up the students like they pick up the senior citizens.
In fact, a van pool in general might help alot. It's a standard campaign thing, espeically in bad weather states.
You are also completely correct on people making their minds up at the last minute. This is a problem in states that don't permit crossover voting. In California, if you're registered as anything but Republican you cannot participate.
The anecdote about the little signs...I can just picture the scene.
I'm just wishing somehow that Dr. Paul would buck up and reorganize HQ as they have the money and they are misspending it. Official campaigns obviously hire pros who clock out at night, some of that is fine. It's the quality of the talent, I don't care of they get loose over margaritas after a productive day's work. I do mind if it's my money and they are lame.
Anyway, you've confirmed alot of things that I have suspected.
Sad but true
This is how politics works. I'm saddened to hear the NH campaign missed some key elements, at least in your precinct. Dr. Paul is reaching out to young people, which is great, but they don't vote in large numbers. And those who do are often easily swayed in the few days preceding the election.
That's why a well-crafted image is so important - it may be the only thing people know about you when they make that last minute decision. McCain had a great image in NH, even before he moved up in the polls.
Some Good Points
I am young and from Iowa and just thought the message would get votes. These other campaigns seem much more organized than ours, and not sure where that starts, but we had no signs at our polling place, barely any Ron Paul supporters nothing. I found out about Ron Paul ten days before the cuacus in my defense, but this guy is right. It is all about being at the polling places outside for Ron Paul inside anonymous making sure the votes communicated are accurate. That is our only control, because once it is over, it is over and the chances of a recount unearthing any truth and changing the outcome is 1 in a billion. Stop claiming recount and get ready to go canvas voting places.
thanks
for the post. I was sort of thinking some of the same things. I was turned on to RP partly from the awesome youtube videos. If I would have seen those horrible commercials in the beginning, I would not have been attracted to Dr. Paul.
Centralized planning doesn't work. Dr Paul says it, and his campaign is proving it. The responsibillity is on the individual. Get your ass out there and tell your neighbors, etc about Ron Paul in your way, with your excitement.
Great suggestions... Thanks!
"It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams
"The use of 'Conspiracy Theorist' or 'Truther' as a derogatory -- as an epithet almost -- is something the propagandists have perfected over the decades, and it's a useful tool for eliminating articulate dissent."
Poll Watchers
No one needs direction from HQ for poll watching duty. This what the Meetups are for. Each individual is responsible for a self-education on how the task is performed and the Meetup groups are responsible for organizing the members and reporting tallies.