Campaigning for Ron Paul 2012

So, do you want to be involved to some degree in the upcoming Ron Paul campaign?

If so, here are the basics that you need to learn and don't skip the 6 Essential Rules

of campaigning at the bottom of this note.

1. This campaign will not be won on facebook, gasp!

You will need to get involved with your local Republican party, another gasp!

After all, you will be campaigning first for the Republican nomination. Hence,

you will need to convince actual blue haired old ladies, who only watch Fox News,

that they should vote for the Champion of the Constitution. Yes, it can be done.

2. Find or start your local Meetup group for Ron Paul.

Go explore here: http://www.meetup.com/

(Careful, there might be several groups--some defunct.)

Here are the best grassroots sites that will keep you informed.

Go ahead and sign up to get an account on both of these sites or at least

bookmark them for later.

http://dailypaul.com/

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/

And if you are going deeper into exploring libertarian philosophy and Austrian economics:

http://mises.org/

My favorite usage of the site is falling to sleep while listening to something from the

huge library of audio books or lectures. Top notch for the intellectual who likes to

actually listen, too.

Events

I won't bore you too much in this note, but there are 3 major events you need to plan for.

They involve traveling to Iowa and maybe even New Hampshire. While you probably won't

be able to vote for Dr. Paul at these events. The friends you will meet and the lessons you

will learn about campaigning will change your life. If you plan now, you can ask off work

and adjust your schedule. Don't worry about food and lodging--there will be so many

projects for funding all of that.

Make plans now to attend the Iowa Straw Poll this coming August 13th.

August 13, 2011 - Ames, IA

Ames Straw Poll

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ames_Straw_Poll

Later your help will be put into practice during the Iowa Caucus in January? of 2012 or

in New Hampshire. If you are serious about this, just plan now to spend Christmas in

Iowa or New Hampshire.

Okay, here's the important part. The key to being a good campaigner for a political

candidate involves cultivating a basic understanding of marketing and sales. By the way,

it is possible to keep your moral integrity through this process--but it is a tricky, no doubt.

You should never lie and misrepresent the truth--but this doesn't mean you bury your head

in the sand and not learn how TO SELL.

Canvassing is the process by which you interact with an individual, qualify that they are

a likely voter and persuade them to support the candidate you are representing.

The overarching principle to learn is to never show your cards before they show

you their cards. You need to know how to best approach each individual you speak with.

Here are 6 rules to guide you when selling your candidate:

1. Don't make your issue their issue.
2. Don't get into debates.
3. Don't go down rabbit holes.
4. Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know."
5. Don't trash-talk other candidates.
6. When you make a sale, stop selling.

I could write a couple paragraphs on each of these points, but I'll leave it at this for now...

And, wow, number 4 is profound! I'm considering adding a final step of "asking for a

commitment." If you've sold someone on your idea or candidate, you need to involve them

in an action that they can take to fulfill their verbal commitment.

This list was inspired by a video about campaigning for Ron Paul found here:

http://youtu.be/Ib1EEFzRqW4

That's all for tonight.

Aaron