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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.
Showing posts with label Senator Tom Coburn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Senator Tom Coburn. Show all posts
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Sharon Caliendo: Great Political Operative
This weekend I'll be writing about Sharon Caliendo, a political activist in Oklahoma. She was an important figure in Tom Coburn's winning a U.S. Senate race. Coburn was the man who introduced John McCain at last Thursday's CPAC meeting in DC.
For candidates to win in statewide or national races, they need people like Sharon. She (along with Greg Alterton) founded the Rudy Giuliani site on Yahoo, and when Mayor Giuliani left the race, Sharon and Greg changed the group to: Rudy Supporters for John McCain. It remains one of the largest groups on Yahoo.
Here's what Sharon wrote about her experience in the Coburn campaign.
"It was the largest grassroots effort ever in the State of Oklahoma, and we did it from the ground up in every county. Then a State GOP Chair was elected that didn't believe in the grassroots and they lost that large coalition of Republicans that worked to elect Dr. Tom. Office holders were behind another candidate in the primary including enlisting help from the WH but Dr. Tom prevailed. The other candidate had a mailer with Pres Bush they sent out in the primary. Never had seen that before."
"Know this is looking ahead but we need people passing out McCain stickers at every major conference football game this fall. We have 85,000 in the stands and another 10,000 milling around at every home game here in Norman for the University of Oklahoma. Lot of Texans come up for our games. We need to get those college CR's around the Country involved so we can get them passing out stickers. We have a Senate race and my hope is to tap into that to get some Inhofe/McCain/? shirts for both OU in crimson and OSU in Orange. OSU only has about 40,000 at their games but we can still tap into them as well. Our largest donors to the GOP in OK are also donors to OU and OSU"
"We could do it around the Country!"
Sharon
Here's how I responded to her:
Sharon, I'm going to reprint your piece (on my blog) about your working for the election of Dr. Tom. I hope everyone who has a blog will do the same thing. There are ways people can magnify their efforts on behalf of a candidate, and you demonstrate exactly how it's done. It's critical for McCain to go out and "engage" with other voters. John McCain has never lost an election, and with the help of people like you, he'll keep that perfrect record in 2008.
Stephen R. Maloney
For candidates to win in statewide or national races, they need people like Sharon. She (along with Greg Alterton) founded the Rudy Giuliani site on Yahoo, and when Mayor Giuliani left the race, Sharon and Greg changed the group to: Rudy Supporters for John McCain. It remains one of the largest groups on Yahoo.
Here's what Sharon wrote about her experience in the Coburn campaign.
"It was the largest grassroots effort ever in the State of Oklahoma, and we did it from the ground up in every county. Then a State GOP Chair was elected that didn't believe in the grassroots and they lost that large coalition of Republicans that worked to elect Dr. Tom. Office holders were behind another candidate in the primary including enlisting help from the WH but Dr. Tom prevailed. The other candidate had a mailer with Pres Bush they sent out in the primary. Never had seen that before."
"Know this is looking ahead but we need people passing out McCain stickers at every major conference football game this fall. We have 85,000 in the stands and another 10,000 milling around at every home game here in Norman for the University of Oklahoma. Lot of Texans come up for our games. We need to get those college CR's around the Country involved so we can get them passing out stickers. We have a Senate race and my hope is to tap into that to get some Inhofe/McCain/? shirts for both OU in crimson and OSU in Orange. OSU only has about 40,000 at their games but we can still tap into them as well. Our largest donors to the GOP in OK are also donors to OU and OSU"
"We could do it around the Country!"
Sharon
Here's how I responded to her:
Sharon, I'm going to reprint your piece (on my blog) about your working for the election of Dr. Tom. I hope everyone who has a blog will do the same thing. There are ways people can magnify their efforts on behalf of a candidate, and you demonstrate exactly how it's done. It's critical for McCain to go out and "engage" with other voters. John McCain has never lost an election, and with the help of people like you, he'll keep that perfrect record in 2008.
Stephen R. Maloney
Grassroots Politics & McCain Victory
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If you'd like to see my daily columns, this is the best place to be. Please bookmark this site and return often. Your comments are always welcome.
Later today (Friday, February 8, 2008), I'll be writing about the tactics advocated by an Oklahoma activists, Sharon Caliendo, who lives in Norman. Sharon discusses how you can turn your favorite candidate from "someone who came close" to "someone who celebrates a victory on Election Eve."
Sharon, along with Greg Alterton, began the Yahoo Group of Rudy Giuliani supporters. When Rudy dropped out, the Group became "Rudy Supporters for McCain." It was and is one of the largest groups on Yahoo, with approximately 1500 members. It was a factor in John McCain's winning the Oklahoma Primary.
Her emphasis is on grassroots politics -- basically on political activists (like you) recruiting other activists. Of course, we each have ONE vote, but if we act wisely we can leverage our vote into many votes. It's something like a snowball rolling down a hill. By the time it reaches the bottom it has turned into a huge mass.
To win on November 4, 2008, John McCain will need approximately 70-75 million votes. Sharon's analysis explains how McCain can accumulate enough support to win. I hope you return to see what she says.
SHARON CALIENDO'S COMMENTS ON THE SUCCESSFUL GRASSROOTS EFFORT IN OKLAHOMA TO ELECT TOM COBURN TO THE SENATE. SENATOR COBURN INTRODUCED JOHN MCCAIN AT YESTERDAY'S CPAC MEETING.
It was the largest grassroots effort ever [the one for Tom Coburan] in the State of Oklahoma, and we did it from the ground up in every county. Then a State GOP Chair was elected that didn't believe in the grassroots and they lost that large coalition of Republicans that worked to elect Dr. Tom. Office holders were behind another candidate in the primary including enlisting help from the WH but Dr. Tom prevailed. The other candidate had a mailer with Pres Bush they sent out in the primary. Never had seen that before.
Know this is looking ahead but we need people passing out McCain stickers at every major conference football game this fall. We have 85,000 in the stands and another 10,000 milling around at every home game here in Norman for the University of Oklahoma. Lot of Texans come up for our games. We need to get those college CR's around the Country involved so we can get them passing out stickers. We have a Senate race and my hope is to tap into that to get some Inhofe/McCain/? shirts for both OU in crimson and OSU in Orange. OSU only has about 40,000 at their games but we can still tap into them as well. Our largest donors to the GOP in OK are also donors to OU and OSU.
We could do it around the Country!
Sharon
If you'd like to see my daily columns, this is the best place to be. Please bookmark this site and return often. Your comments are always welcome.
Later today (Friday, February 8, 2008), I'll be writing about the tactics advocated by an Oklahoma activists, Sharon Caliendo, who lives in Norman. Sharon discusses how you can turn your favorite candidate from "someone who came close" to "someone who celebrates a victory on Election Eve."
Sharon, along with Greg Alterton, began the Yahoo Group of Rudy Giuliani supporters. When Rudy dropped out, the Group became "Rudy Supporters for McCain." It was and is one of the largest groups on Yahoo, with approximately 1500 members. It was a factor in John McCain's winning the Oklahoma Primary.
Her emphasis is on grassroots politics -- basically on political activists (like you) recruiting other activists. Of course, we each have ONE vote, but if we act wisely we can leverage our vote into many votes. It's something like a snowball rolling down a hill. By the time it reaches the bottom it has turned into a huge mass.
To win on November 4, 2008, John McCain will need approximately 70-75 million votes. Sharon's analysis explains how McCain can accumulate enough support to win. I hope you return to see what she says.
SHARON CALIENDO'S COMMENTS ON THE SUCCESSFUL GRASSROOTS EFFORT IN OKLAHOMA TO ELECT TOM COBURN TO THE SENATE. SENATOR COBURN INTRODUCED JOHN MCCAIN AT YESTERDAY'S CPAC MEETING.
It was the largest grassroots effort ever [the one for Tom Coburan] in the State of Oklahoma, and we did it from the ground up in every county. Then a State GOP Chair was elected that didn't believe in the grassroots and they lost that large coalition of Republicans that worked to elect Dr. Tom. Office holders were behind another candidate in the primary including enlisting help from the WH but Dr. Tom prevailed. The other candidate had a mailer with Pres Bush they sent out in the primary. Never had seen that before.
Know this is looking ahead but we need people passing out McCain stickers at every major conference football game this fall. We have 85,000 in the stands and another 10,000 milling around at every home game here in Norman for the University of Oklahoma. Lot of Texans come up for our games. We need to get those college CR's around the Country involved so we can get them passing out stickers. We have a Senate race and my hope is to tap into that to get some Inhofe/McCain/? shirts for both OU in crimson and OSU in Orange. OSU only has about 40,000 at their games but we can still tap into them as well. Our largest donors to the GOP in OK are also donors to OU and OSU.
We could do it around the Country!
Sharon
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