A "Last-Minute" Mid-Term GOTV Strategy That Works

[Parisle]

---- Every single one of us who will be voting in November knows someone else who shares our political viewpoint, but who probably won't make it to the polls. The reasons vary: Not yet registered, too lazy, too sickly, no transportation, borderline apathetic,.. you name it. In fact, most of us probably have someone meeting this description right in our own extended families. The point is for each one of us to take it upon ourselves to get at least one likely "non-voter" to the polls,.. thereby effectively doubling the turnout reflected by those who choose to amplify their impact in this manner. Why,.. you could even "adopt" TWO likely non-voters, eh?

---- Do whatever it takes. Get 'em registered,.. drive them to the polls,.. I never really trusted, nor cared for those party "phone-bank" operations, and I've seen the "buddy-system" work in a variety of applications. Why not politics? If only ten percent of democrats were to do this, then it means an increase of ten percent in overall democratic turnout,... and that is a statistical tidal wave. Perhaps even more importantly (though hopefully, not) it would help de-fuse some of those close-call elections in which electronic fraud is suspected. And the "buddy system" is purely a matter of individual initiative,... no party strings attached, no meetings to attend, no contributions to make. Just do it.

[NMDemDist2]

1. k&N n/t

[ddeclue]

2. Your strategy DOESN'T WORK...

Sorry but it doesn't work for the simple reason that people are far more lazy than they claim and far more afraid to talk politics than they claim.

Most people will not do anything and are totally unmotivated to make a change.

You need to move large numbers of voters not just one or two.

The party based phone bank, robocall, canvass, and mail pieces are the best low price ways to get voters out.

The only other way is a television ad that stands out from the all the other noise on TV. Most ads are too formulaic to be noticed.

An Old Campaigning "Warhorse",

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[Parisle]

4. ... Sorry, Doug,...

---- My suggested tactic works exactly as well as it is applied. If you are implying that not really very many DU'ers, for example, would actually take it upon themselves to make this one small conscientious effort, then we're screwed anyway. Encouraging wider participation is part of the intent, eh?

---- And my grassroots, individual initiative suggestion certainly is not meant to preclude the use of your phone banks, robocalls and whatever. But I will guarantee you that I can pester and rag on one of my friends until they agree to accompany me to the polls,... while you really cannot be that certain of one of your "robocalls." Besides,... I'm driving,... and it costs the party nothing.

---- I'll agree with you about the effect of a singularly unique TV ad. I was an ad agency head writer for ten years,... including a lot of political stuff. The right presentation can be truly galvanizing. And I guess you could say I'm an "old campaign warhorse," as well.

[ddeclue]

6. The problem is that nobody seems to give a damn..

I'm just not feeling the "DU" love out here in Central Florida...

I couldn't get but a handful of volunteers out to work for the Smith campaign for governor and the Davis people fared no better.

Only a few of the truly local county races and one state house race got any volunteers and turnout was absolutely abysmal compared to 2004 OR 2002.

I worked on a Congressional race that could not draw volunteers as well. The only Congressional race with a meaningful "ground game" was the Alan Grayson Campaign for Congress FL-8 and then only because he was a multimillionaire with an essentially unlimited budget who hired a bunch of paid staffers to work for him at $10/hr. (He still lost to the "old money" candidate since he was "new money" and my "grassroots" candidate came in a distant third even though he was the only one with actual gov't experience as a two term county commissioner.)

Only 15% of Dems showed up to vote in the primaries in Florida.

Where are all the cyberspacing DU'ers at in Florida?

I really haven't posted on DU much at all this year because I've been busy on actual campaigns.

Cyberspace clearly does not win elections unless those DU'ers are finally ready willing and able to put down their computers and get out on the streets and on the phones and work in a real world campaign for a while.

Doug De Clue
Orlando, FL

Smith for Governor of FL, 2006
Hartage for Congress, FL-8, 2006
Randolph for State House, FL-36, 2006
Daryl Flynn for Orange County School Board, 2006
Linda Stewart Campaign for Orange County Commission, 2006
Jeff Horn for City Council, 2006
Kerry-Edwards Campaign 2004
Kerry Campaign 2003-2004

[Lasher]

3. I got my inlaws set up for absentee voting

They would not have otherwise voted. In 2004 I helped them fill out their ballots because they asked me. This was confusing for them the first time around. I encouraged them to make their own selections and did not try to tell them how to vote. They voted in the primary and they will vote in November. They are both Democrats.

I've got a couple of potential first-time voters in mind right now.

[IndyOp]

5. Most states allow absentee voting for anyone over 65 years -

Find 2 or more retirees near you, take an absentee ballot application to them, and then check back to make sure they got their ballots, filled them out and returned them.

EASY!

:kick: