Posted on 06/03/2004 6:46:48 AM PDT by Bob Redman
Have a look at my newest essay "Confession of a Wardheeler." I deliberately wrote it to be less combative than my other essays, but I point out at the end the overriding importance of the dying breed of precinct chairmen.
Nice essay. I'm a precinct captain for the Bush campaign this year (our GOP Precinct Committee Officer is concentrating on another campaign). We have to start our GOTV about three weeks early because a majority of voters in my county vote absentee (and Washington is a battleground state which went for Gore by 5% last time). Fortunately for me, I'm in a nice compact precinct less than a square mile in size.
I'm an Assembly District precinct chairman in
California. Our precinct walks are starting
this Saturday. Republicans always make the mistake
of waiting until October, or late September at
best. Not good enough. Some of the people we meet
today might not be home when we drop by in October.
Also, some might turn off Bush and infect others
with their view if we don't talk to them now. And
those who we inspire can do volunteer work over
the summer. Even if they don't, at least they're
more likely to say good things about Bush to
people they know.
As Dick Morris said recently: In politics, you
have to win every day.
Mr. Redman has written a very fine piece about
precinct work. As an experienced grassroots
volunteer, I'd recommend it to every Republican
who is serious about helping President Bush and
the rest of our ticket. Indeed, anyone in even
a minor position of Republican leadership should
print it out and distribute it to his/her most
serious volunteers as a model to follow to the
extent possible.
The activities and attitude Redman describes
in his little essay represent exactly what our
volunteers should be doing. And he's exactly right
that we cannot wait until the "last 72 hours" that
everyone's always talking about. We must start now.
The GOP is stressing precinct walking this year.
Too often in the past, we've taken the easy way
out and relied on phoning, which has been shown
to be far less effective. It is absolutely essential
to cut through all the sales calls and spam e-mail
that people get. We must show up at the door with
a real person who can make a real pitch and answer
questions effectively.
Let me amend my praise just slightly. Mr. Redman
built up his base of 115 identified strong Republicans
very slowly if he did it mainly by chance encounters
while jogging. This is resourceful, but too slow to
rely on as a main tactic. We cannot hesitate to knock
on doors, as long as we know at least one registered
Republican is supposed to be at this address. Of course,
in states where there is no registration by party, this
isn't feasible if you're starting from scratch.
It is in some places. I assume I'll be getting the street lists within the next couple of weeks (and I expect to see the local campaign head in a couple of days, so I'm going to ask her), but I could easily cover my whole precinct myself in a few days, knocking on every door and asking if they're Bush supporters.
I'll even knock on the door with the Kerry sign (maybe they have a rebellious college student home for the summer) and the one with the Dean sign ("Have you considered Ralph Nader?").
That's exactly right, Scott. I'm encouraging everyone
to start early and concede nothing.
One of the secrets of grassroots work is something
you've apparently nailed: Republicans and Democrats
often live together under the same roof. Sometimes,
to reach a Republican, we have to knock on a door
where 2 of 3 people are Dems. We shouldn't be afraid
of this, if we have time for it. Also, that Republican
might just persuade the others in his/her home.
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