Winning Elections in 2008: McCain

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Today on MSNBC, political pundit Roger Simon said the way to win elections in 2008 is to attract a core of people "who go door-to-door . . . friend-to-friend." That's the essence of grassroots politics.

This weekend (Saturday and Sunday) I'll be discussing a very successful political operative, Sharon Caliendo of Norman, Oklahoma, who's an expert in the kind of politics described by Roger Simon. If you scroll down to the previous column, you'll see how Sharon and her friends helped ensure the election of conservative Tom Coburn, in his race for a U. S. Senate seat.

(You can find Sharon's (and Greg Alterton's) blog at: http://rudysupportersformccain.blogspot.com/

In fact, Sharon's effort went one better than the door-to-door approach. She and her co-workers went where the people were: specifically, to the huge crowds that attended University of Oklahoma football games. In Oklahoma, the political activists handed out tee-shirts that promoted both the football team and the candidate. It would be possible to sell such tee-shirts, but it's better (if the campaign can afford it) to hand them out for free -- and encourage people to put them on right away.

She indicates the same approach would work country-wide.

The following are some additional comments by Sharon on the Coburn grassroots effort:

[I] added some more to the Coburn grassroots. It really needs to be an example for any candidate running a campaign on what they can do to get the grassroots involved.

Dr. Coburn held BBQ's around the state with free hamburgers/chips/drinks to recruit volunteers along with town hall meetings. The guy that did the grilling was a BBQ guru from the Tulsa area who made the best hamburgers. We held one at the OU duck pond and about 75 people turned out to the event and out of the 75, we recruited 63 of them to help, and it was repeated around the State and it just kept growing. Most amazing thing I have ever been involved with.

I will never forget when Dr. Tom won our County straw poll and was the only candidate there without a group of paid staffers but we won. I was Coburn rep for counting ballots and will never forget the look on Humphrey's campaign aide's faces when Dr. Tom won -- priceless. I live in the 3rd largest county and that was the beginning of a win for Dr. Tom who has never lost a race. In fact he won his House seat in an area that is heavily Dem and we haven't had a Republican since he left.

Hearing Dr. Tom speak today [at the CPAC convention where he introduced John McCain] brought back all those great memories from his campaign.

MCCAIN OPERATIVE BRAD MARSTON ON RADIO SUNDAY!

Brad Marston, who's been extremely successful in Internet politics for John McCain, sent the following:

I will be on live on 1590 AM in Nashua New Hampshire on Sunday 2/10 at 1 pm talking about John McCain. The call in number and the internet link are below. The shows host, Karl Zahn was one of the earliest and most influential NH supporters of McCain. New Hampshire is where it all began for McCain 2008.

I hope you and the rest of the MV08 bloggers will post about this and give the internet link so McCain supporters from around the country can listen in and join in. [Note: Find Brad's site at: http://mccainvictory08.com/.]

I doubt the Senator can join us but I am cc'ng the campaign to see if someone else might have a few words to say. Here's the link to the program: http://wsmnradio.com/.

Listen Live on the Internet.

603-883-9900 is the call in number.

Brad


Here's a partial list of the Bloggers 4 McCain, the world's fastest-growing group:

Ali Akbar, AzaMatterofact, AzaMatteroPrinciple, Blogs4McCain, BroadSideoftheBarn, Angora Politikos, ElectionNightHQ, America's Best Choice, Blue Star Chronicles, campaign2008victorya, Elyery Landavazo, Evangelicals for McCain, Gen X Dad, Georgians For McCain, How I Lost My Heart, RDM20, Libertas01, McCain Jewish Coalition of Illinois, Missourians For McCain, Myth Debunker, The Only Electable Conservative, Pajama Pack, Real World Libertarian, Right Wing Sparkle, Rudy Supporters For McCain, Rudy Supporters For McCain Yahoo Group, Think Right Arizona, Hoosiers4McCain, Iowa4McCain, McCain Blogettes, McCain States, McCain Talk, McCainVictory08, McCain Campaign Blog, Metaxupolis, My McCain Blog, NH4McCain, NJ4McCain, Pardon My French, Partisan American, PoliticoMafioso, Purple People Vote, Reality Bytes, Respectfully Republican, Stand Up For McCain>The Mad Irishman, The McCain Times, Vote McCain, With Both Hands, Porter County Politics, But I am a Liberal.Blue and New, Brainster, California Thoughts and Dreams, College Kid for McCain, McCain Monitor, Empty Rhetoric, Andrew Jones for America, JohnnyMillerBlog, Keystone for Victory, Michigan4McCain, Why McCain, and Wisconsin4McCain.