CALLING ALL BLOGGERS: RUSSELL CAMPAIGN

Can we beat the liberals at their own game?

The blogging community will play an important part in helping Lt. Col. Bill Russell defeat John Murtha. If you look on my other site (one that has the same postings as this one), you'll discover approximately 40 blogs listed as "4 Russell." All these blogs have printed material supportive of Russell; several of the bloggers have contributed to the campaign; a few are actively involved in their own fundraising efforts for the campaign; an important group of the bloggers (Douglas Gibbs, Eric Dondero, Jenn of the Jungle, and Snooper) have interviewed Bill and other people supporting him on BlogTalkRadio.

Traditionally, liberal, the "netroots" (or "nutroots," as some call them) have been better than we conservatives at online politics. That's changing -- as it must if we're to say competitive.

In 2004, Joe Trippi ran the successful Internet campaign for Howard Dean, and it was a tremendous success. In Trippi's book The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, he says that Dean's "Meetup" site had 600,000 participants. The Dean Campaign raised more than $50 million, much of it coming from people online.

No Republican Campaign has come anywhere close to those numbers, although Ron Paul is setting some records of his own. In one day, Paul raised a total of $10 mllion from people contributing online.

To defeat John Murtha (who will spend $4 million-plus in this election cycle), Bill Russell needs to raise at least $500,000 -- preferably more. As usual, the Murtha campaign will throw money at his supporters in ways that are of questionable legality. In contrast, the Russell effort will be scrupulously legal and very efficient, with every dollar aimed at finding and getting votes.

In terms of contributions, Russell is doing well online, but needs to keep doing better. Correction, those of us campaigning online have to do better. We have to keep spreading the message that Murtha can be beaten -- and will be with the supportive of the conservative online community.

Yes, John Murtha will receive many millions of dollars from lobbyists and companies that he's essentially bought and paid for with federal dollars, a percentage of which are returned to him in the form of campaign contributions. You can check out the malicious mess that is the Murtha Campaign by going to http://opensecrets.org and keying in the name "Murtha." You'll see that for the 2008 election, he'd already spent by last September 30, a total of almost $700,000. By the December 31 Federal Election Commission reporting date, Murtha will have spent more than a million dollars.

I assure you the contributions didn't come from lobbyists and shady companies committed to Good Government.

How can those of us committed to Russell overcome that avalanche of payoffs to "The Prince of Pork?" We can do it by outsmarting him in the campaign, which luckily won't be that hard. We can also do it by making the maximum use of an inexpensive medium -- the Internet. For example, this particular communication is not costing me anything, aside from the blood, sweat, and tears always involved with writing.

What do we need? At least 30,000 people online backing the Russell Campaign by advocating his candidacy (relax, we apparently have more than 1,000 already). Of the 30,000 as many as 2,000 should be bloggers. We also need 3,000-plus people to go the Russell web site and contribute money. A lot of contributions of $20, $50, and $100 will go a long way toward defeating Murtha.

Politics isn't brain surgery. It consists of the three M's: message, mobilization (of supporters), and money, which is necessary to get the message out and to mobilize thousands of people to win this race.

What can you do? Be one of those people that spreads the message; also, be a person who asks others to join you in volunteering to help Russell.The third part is the most important.

We conservatives need to start out-contributing the liberals. Go the Russell web site and so what you can to make sure this outstanding candidate has the support he needs. Trust me: you'll feel good about it.

The Mainstream Media: Oblivious to New Realities on Iraq, McCain

If you want to know why so many people are so angry about John Murtha's false charges against the "Haditha Marines," please look to your right and click on the Newsmax story: "Bombshell Cripples Case Against Haditha Marines." If you want to hear some hard-htting conservative radio, click on Jenn of the Jungle, founder of http://screw/ liberals.com/ Tell us how you really feel, Jenn!

Note: As promised, I'll be writing later today and tomorrow about how John Murtha's use of "earmarks' (taxpayer funded projects directed to his district) do long-term harm to the Johnstown, PA area and to the nation.

The MSM has only a tangential relationship to relationship. Some fascinating things are happening, but the media, committed to stereotypes and repetition, is the last to know.

For example, the U.S. is winning the war against al Qaeda in Iraq, something that has escape the attention of many reporters. Also, John McCain, whose candidacy was long ago left for dead by many political journalists, is now running second (to Rudy Giuliani). These are important developments, but somehow the MSM seems oblivious to the implications.

As the U.S. position improves in Iraq, there are tremendous implications for the success of the Republican presidential nominee, for the Party's capacity to raise money, and for conservative candidates to win contested elections.

RUSSELL SUPPORTER? YOU'RE INVITED . . .

Hello,

Please be advised we will have a dinner/meeting on Thursday, 15 November, to welcome William Russell to Johnstown. As you all know Lieutenant Colonel Russell is challenging john murtha in Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District.

The dinner/meeting will be held at the City View restaurant in Johnstown at the top of Johnstown's historic Incline Plane. The address of the restaurant is 709 Edgehill Drive, Johnstown, PA 15905 and is in the Westmont section of town. The web address for the restaurant is www.inclinedplane.com/restaurant

We will have dinner at 6:00 and the meeting will start at approximately 7:15. The dinner is at your expense and appetizers and drinks will be available for purchase for those who only attend the meeting.

Please be advised you do not have to attend the dinner in order to attend the meeting and you are certainly welcome to attend the meeting only.

If you will be attending please e-mail me by Wednesday, 14 November, and let me know if you will be attending the dinner/meeting or just the meeting so I can ensure we reserve enough space.

Also, I encourage you to forward this e-mail to other supporters of LTC Russell since I do not have the e-mail addresses of all of my good bootmurtha friends. I look forward to seeing you on 15 November.

Craig Minnick
Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom

Reply to: IraqVeteran220@cs.com

Note from Steve: If you have any friends or family in the Pennsylvania/Ohio/WV areas, please forward this information to them. You can learn more about Lt. Col. Russell's campaign by going to: http://www.williamrussellforcongress.com/. I've written several columns about the Russell campaign -- scroll down.