GOP Tries to Go All The Way... 15 Minutes Into the First Date!

[Jason Taylor]

I've said both here and elsewhere that the GOP needs to be less concerned with winning elections and more concerned with winning hearts and minds. Well, this morning I found another reminder.

You see, I have the worst problem with emails. I keep receiving them, all sorts of them. I read most of them, many of them get caught by the spam filter, and some of them I just never actually open. It really just depends on who they're from, because it only takes a few months to find your "new" email address stuffed on a couple mass mailing lists.

The worst part, though, is that I don't erase them every day. They just continue to multiply like little cancer cells until I go in and perform the monthly erasure.

So here I sit on a cold Tuesday morning performing a particularly large "tumorotamy" in my Inbox, when I come across a bunch of GOP election emails sent throughout the campaign. Before sending them to the digital trash can, I stopped to read a couple. Guess what?

They all, and I mean each and every last one of them, are focused on collecting money to "help win the campaign!" Now I have no problem with fundraising, and we all know that McC got his butt kicked in the funding department. But there's something that's missing here.

How about a little courtship? I remember reading about people quitting their jobs to go work on the Obama campaign. I guarantee that the Obama camp's relationship with these people wasn't so shallow.

Look, I know that you have to rally the troops. The problem is that, just because somebody got onto one of your mailing lists doesn't mean that they're a "trooper". Sending them a beg letter 15 minutes after they sign up to "support" one of your party's candidates is an awful lot like trying to "go all the way" just 15 minutes into the first date.

You guys have to win hearts and minds here! If you took just a little time to email updates, and maybe email or phone in an invitation to a local meeting, that'd be a great start. Then, maybe do a little to get this person actually involved in the conservative movement. You could maybe let them in on why what we're doing is the right thing, why it'll give them a better country and a better life.

If we ever took the time to actually get people to really believe, then we wouldn't have to worry so much about begging for funds. People who really buy in to the movement will give all the money they can, all the time they have, and talk to friends and neighbors by the dozens. All this will be done not because you begged for it, but because they really believe that it's the right fight to join.

So, Mr. Chairman, until you learn to have a meaningful conversation with me, get your hand off of my leg.

[Jean La Rue]

A top notch post, Jason. Please post this as a topic on the main list (if you haven't already). It really does need to be read by a much wider audience. I support Matthew's blogging idea, too and have commented on it on one of the group threads.

The crux of the issue is that our party organizations and volunteers need to give up the idea that our work is done on election night - that we can all just head on home and do nothing for a year and a half until the next campaign season revs up. Do you know any PCO's that walk their precinct or hold a coffee in between campaigns? I don't. Aside from the requisite Lincoln Day Dinner, do you know anyone who's actively fundraising in between elections? I don't. How many monthly meetings have you gone to in between campaign seasons and found that half the committee heads can't be bothered to show up, let alone any volunteers? Lot's, I'll bet.We all (and that includes me) tend to walk out the door of the big tent the minute the show is over. We need to stop acting like little party sparklers that burn hot and bright, but too quickly go out. I would submit that the work we do between election cycles might be more important than the work we do on campaigns. If we can get that right we might just find that campaigns will be a whole lot easier, less costly in time and money, and have a much better result. Spending that time "teaching people to fish" and helping elected Republicans utilize technology to be better communicators could pay huge dividends.

[Matthew P. Block]

Dead on!
This is one reason I'm making a push to get representatives to connect with constituents through blogs.....all the time. Imagine that, a politician keeping in touch every week when it's not even election time! It's just as you said,
"If we ever took the time to actually get people to really believe, then we wouldn't have to worry so much about begging for funds."

[Whitehorse (Robin Ray)]

I understand from where you come, Jason! Top leaders in the Republican party have done a terrible job at educating & reminding of what we believe. Another great problem is that too many of our representatives & leaders abandoned fiscal responsibility & limited government. Under Republicans, spending should not be done recklessly, as it has been. Also, government should not grow. This has happened, & led to defeats in 06 & 08. Here in the grassroots we make impassioned defenses of core conservatism that fall flat when our leaders & representatives fade their colors to appear more like the Democrats.