The New Hampshire Write-In Campaign

[rodbailey]

If the announcement isn't on the wires already it will be shortly. Farrell Seiler, coordinator for the New Hampshire effort is sending out a press release this evening announcing the campaign to get New Hampshire primary voters to write in the name of AL GORE on their primary ballot. He has been working at organizing and coordinating this effort for a number of weeks now. I first came in contact with him about 2-3 months ago when I was getting started on our efforts in NY to get Gore's name on our primary ballot. He decided, in spite of the algore.org organizers to call an end to the primary efforts in NY, MA, and CA, to go ahead with the NH campaign. I have given him moral and some computer spreadsheet support, as well as some $$. He has a number of people in NH organized in towns and counties around NH. He is anticipating a number of out of state volunteers to come into the state between now and the Jan. 8 primary. I will be going over to NH by Jan. 2. The NH effort needs more volunteers and, especially, more funds for publicity. This is truly a grass-roots effort. No multi-million dollar campaign chests and no paid staff recruiting volunteers. As I've mentioned before, if you can send any amount of money his way it will be put to good use - for publicity and producing materials for volunteers to hand out. There is no overhead costs involved in this effort. As far as I know, Farrell is doing all the work out of his house. Donations can be sent through ActBlue: https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/entity/18577. Any amount will help and be greatly appreciated. PLEASE, spread the word through your circle of contacts and, if you can arrange to get to NH in late Dec. or early Jan., let me know and I'll try to make your acquaintance (a novel thing in this age of communicating by internet). If you have any questions, either post them in this thread, or send them to me directly. AT THE MOMENT, THIS IS THE ONE AND ONLY WAY TO SHOW GORE WE REALLY WANT HIM FOR OUR NEXT PRESIDENT! Keep the faith.

[rosesaylavee]

1. Have you already had your conference call?

What did the other draft gore groups think of the NH effort?

[SharonRB]

2. It's not until 9:30 ET

[rosesaylavee]

3. Ok - guess I can wait a little longer.

I am very practiced at waiting now.

[Pastiche423]

4. We ALL have become practiced waiters

but that doesn't mean I won't be checking in here every 1/2 hour or so.

[rodbailey]

5. I'm back

My ear gave out after an hour. Not much has changed. This is the first time I've been on one of these conference calls with AGO people and it was more than a bit disorganized. But, a couple of interesting things did get brought up. One fellow from Iowa really wanted to try to get some people out there stirred up so that there might be some Gore people at some of the caucuses to try to convince others to go that way. That seemed to be rather cooly received by the AGO leaders, in part, I think because they are still at the point where there shouldn't be any overt activity to try to get Gore's name into play. In that light, there were a couple of mentions of the "renegade' effort in NH to write in Gore's name. I stayed out of that discussion. One other point that I think might take some looking into was to contact local congresspeople, especially the ones who might be environmentally inclined, to have them commit to Gore in their status as one of the superdelegates. As I understand it, all members of Congress are delegates to the Convention - and lots of them have not made a committment to any particular candidate yet. The AGO leaders did say they knew there would be some Gore delegates at the Convention. They didn't give any further explanation, except to say that that would be a way to try to get Gore's name into play if the nomination wasn't locked up on the first ballot. Another person suggested people plan a brief summer vacation to Denver from Aug. 25-28 for sign carrying, etc. outside the Convention in support of Gore's candidacy. Not a bad idea if there is any chance he might be in the mix at that point. I did suggest that they make the lists, by state, that they have of folks who have signed the on-line petitions available to people in states where there might be the possibility of at-large delegates being "elected" in the primaries where deadlines have not passed. I'm not sure that suggestion really got too far, but I'll follow that up with a specific request, with a bit more detail, to the person at AGO that I've been dealing with in the past (although I'm not sure she really trusts me a whole lot at this point). Guess that's it. By the way, I guess there was some mention on MSNBC tonight about a possible Bloomberg/Gore independent ticket. I don't see that happening because I think Gore is too much of a party person to go that route, but then, what do I know.

[Pastiche423]

7. I agree w/you that Gore will run only as a Democrat

It's in his genes.

The rest does not sound hopeful, in the least. It seems the only way we can get anythig going is to get Gore's approval.

[rosesaylavee]

8. Thanks for posting this

But I have to ask this... what does the NH effort hope to do? What significance will there be if Gore has a showing there but not in the other primaries? How many people are involved in that? Is there a plan after NH?

And as for the phone call, did they determine what the heck happened with the staffer and the California person? Did Gore really intend to shut the whole thing down? Do we know that for certain? Do we know that he really doesn't want to run this time 'round?

Sorry for the difficult questions - but I need some more information and you seem to be the only person to ask at this point.

[rodbailey]

11. You're up early

But, to answer your questions - there was no further explanation on the AGO shut-down back in November. I asked if there was any further info. and simply got the same vague answers I got before: it would cause (unspecified) problems for Gore and they aren't at liberty to divulge who in the Gore "inner circle" asked them to stop. It is very frustrating, because they seem to be applying the same yard-stick to everything, including the fellow from Iowa who was suggesting that they really ought to try to influence some of the caucus goers. The AGO people kept suggesting that they take that discussion "off-line," meaning, I think, that they wanted to privately tell the fellow from Iowa to stop trying to do anything like that. And no, I don't think we know that he doesn't want to run this time. I think he hates the way the primaries and campaigning are run (7 dwarfs plus Snow White on stage with 30 seconds to explain what we should do in Iraq). He clearly indicated in that CNN interview on Monday that he might want to get into the political process for president at some point in the future. Well, the future's tomorrow!

As to the impact of NH: Farrell hopes that if Gore can have even a modest showing (he's hoping for 15% which might be a bit ambitious, but who knows - he certainly knows the NH scene better than I do) it will put a roadblock in front of whoever might be the front runner at that point. Can you imagine the situation if Hillary, Barack, and John come out of Iowa with approx. 30% each, go to NH and find that a write-in campaign with very little money has Gore showing up with, let's say 10% of the vote. What do you think the Jan. 9 headline would be? Not how well Hillary, Barack, or John did. As far as what happens after that - hard to tell. If Gore gets less than 5% in NH, I suspect the air goes out of the sail big time. I'm thinking anything more than 5% will get groups revved up in states where there is still some possibility to get delegates favoring Gore on their primary ballots and maybe to Denver in August. So, I think NH may be a lot more important than just the number of delegates for Gore that might come out of the effort. It could re-set the whole table for the Democratic Convention and the primaries that come later in the spring.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. checking in and keeping the faith....

*waiting to exhale*

[rodbailey]

9. Look here --

If you Google "Gore NH Write In" you will see the latest from Farrell Seiler as well as several articles touting a Gore write-in effort - some from several months ago by national writers saying what a great expression of grassroots democracy this would be. The future is now. The New Hampshire effort needs $$ and volunteers (I know, I'm repeating myself) so please do what you can, and spread the word.

[rosesaylavee]

10. This is one excerpt:

http://pundits.thehill.com/2007/10/15/a-new-hampshire-write-in-for-gore-can-win/
"...
Finally, New Hampshirites do not take dictation from Washington insiders and do not follow orders from campaign managers, consultants or the media. They do not appreciate being told what to believe or being instructed about what they must inevitably do.

The voters of New Hampshire may or may not agree with the views expressed here, but anyone with experience in national politics knows that these voters take very seriously their role in choosing our president
and a have long history of confounding the experts, and bless them for it.

If the believers in Al Gore roll the dice and reach out to New Hampshire voters to make their stand in the Granite State, they will be campaigning against everything the American people dislike in our politics and championing a leader with an extraordinary body of work for a lifetime, at the very moment he addresses the world and accepts the Nobel Prize for Peace.

Don’t bet the ranch, but it can be done."

[mopinko]

12. hhmmmmm

not wouldn't that be fun??!!

[rosesaylavee]

13. "Eisenhower repeatedly stated that he would not seek the nomination."

Rod, I posted this before you joined up here. Do you think something like this could happen again? I know the timeline is all wrong as the NH Primary used to be in March.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=260x2356

[rodbailey]

14. I hadn't seen that before, but

I have seen references to NH having been a milestone for Ike in Farrell Seiler's press release or blog or something he put out. I was still a tyke when Ike was elected but I certainly remember the 50's and at least a little something about Ike and the times. In fact one of my grandmother's insisted on being called Mamie because she liked Mamie Eisenhower so much. And yes, I grew up in a Republican household, and, as I recall, my first vote for a president was for Nixon. I think that means I've progressed.

[rosesaylavee]

15. Ha! My great grandmother was a Mamie

and one her daughters was a Mame. I was under voting age when Nixon resigned and remember how sad the whole house on that day. Yes, I came a long way too. My one grandfather, who also lived with us, was the only Democrat in the entire family and I remember him being quiet alot. Poor guy.

Would be interested to know more about how NH could turn it for Gore. I know its all guess work at this point but I am not clear on what the plan is. Can you post Farrell's press release?

[rodbailey]

16. More on NH

You can find info. (not the full actual press release, but a lot of it) at www.draftgorenh.com. There's also a story about the effort at: www.nhinsider.com/press-releases/2007/12/14/nh-gore-supporters-organizing-primary-write-in-vote.html. As you so clearly indicate in that article about Ike, NH has often played the role of really boosting a particular candidate in spite of its probably not being a really representative state for the nation. Such is the way politics is played these days. In one conversation I had with Farrell, he was hoping there might be as much as 15% of the Dem. primary vote going to Gore. I'm not totally sure how well organized they really are over there, and how easily they'll be able to get their message out, so I don't know whether that 15% is realistic or not. I do know, in searching on Google about Gore in NH that some earlier polls (late summer, I think) he was either leading all Dems. or certainly in the mix with the leaders. So, there may be a real undercurrent of discontent with the "announced" candidates that this write-in campaign will tap into. I do know the effort needs some $$ - even small amounts will be helpful because their needs are not huge. Several months back, if you look at some of the postings on algore.org, in fact, there were appeals to send money to NH for this effort. That, of course, was before algore.org decided to stop all such state efforts. Bottom line for me, I guess, is that if the write-in campaign registered at least 5% of the Dem. vote, that would show something; anything less than 5% and I think we don't get any publicity out of the effort that might translate to events in other states. Anything approaching 15% and I think the headline on Jan. 9 will be all about Gore and almost nothing about the "leaders." Wouldn't that be nice. By the way, the link for donations is in the draftgorenh.com site. PLEASE, everyone, spread the word to your friends (and even enemies if you have any). The NH effort could really be the make or break step for a Gore candidacy.

[rosesaylavee]

17. Ok - I will send what I can...

Thanks for the info and thanks for joining to keep us informed on this front. I and I am sure others appreciate it.

[rodbailey]

18. GREAT!

The folks in NH, me, and Al Gore will certainly appreciate it!