Posted on 02/28/2015 2:55:54 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
This week's Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, brought all the expected on and off the main stage in Washington D.C. — speeches by presidential hopefuls, debates and the annual straw poll. But there was one big addition: hundreds attended the conference's first-ever Activism Boot Camp, which trained attendees in the best practices of do-it-yourself campaigning.
The boot camp, powered by American Majority, a nonprofit conservative organizing group, was split into two tracks: the "Candidate, Campaign Manager & Campaign Operative" track and the "Activist" track. It featured lessons on social media, fundraising, organizing and data and technology.
Ned Ryun, American Majority founder and president, led a session called "Why We'll Lose the White House in 2016 (and Deserve to)" — call it a talk for motivated pessimists. He outlined exactly what President Obama did in his 2012 presidential campaign that was so successful and how Republicans can emulate it. Namely, he said, President Obama used the best data analysts and technicians from the for-profit tech sector.
And, Ryun says, Obama mobilized thousands more volunteers on the ground who were able to reach more voters in person than Mitt Romney did.
The message at CPAC was clear: a win for Republicans in 2016 must be a team effort. Conservatives need their activists to be active as individuals — on social media and in their communities — and as a whole to serve as a well-trained "grassroots army."
Sen. Ted Cruz enthusiastically made that call during his CPAC speech: "To turn this country around it will not come from Washington; it will come from the American people. And so I will ask every one of you if you will join our grassroots army." He then asked the audience to take our their cell phones and text the word 'Constitution' to a number he repeated.
There's a lot the right can learn from the left's grassroots campaign skills, said Charlie Kirk, founder of student-run nonprofit Turning Point USA. For one, President Obama "built his legions on the backs of millennials," he says.
Stephanie Sparkman, a Texas conservative who attended CPAC, agrees. One thing Republicans can do better, she says, is "flipping copy [on] what the Democrats have been so successful doing. It's not that hard."
The key part of that Democratic script, leaders say, is connecting with voters through in-person conversations, recruiting committed volunteers and paid interns, and establishing offices and executing targeted voter registration in battleground states like Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina and Florida. And no more knocking on doors with paper and pen, they advise — use tablets and smartphones instead. And, use social media to push conservative ideas.
One major target of that social media effort: Facebook. Obama's posts on the network were liked nearly twice as much as Romney's in June 2012, according to a Pew Study. Hoping to flip those numbers in 2016, one boot camp session taught activists how to cheat the Facebook algorithm to get more impressions on posts.
Firing Up Young Activists
Young conservatives also acknowledge they have a big role to play in the 2016 effort, especially when it comes to social media and on-the-ground engagement.
Many students attended CPAC and the boot camp in groups, including sophomore Alex Carrey, who helped organize the trip for 37 members of Miami University's College Republicans chapter. He was most excited to see Gov. Scott Walker speak, and most concerned about foreign policy and the turmoil in the Middle East.
One edgy speech spoke directly to young people. An activist who goes by Sabo, and calls himself a "Republican guerilla artist," said some may think he was there to teach "out-of-touch politicians how to connect with young voters." But, he spoke directly to them — talking about kicking former Sen. Wendy Davis' Hollywood donors in the nuts, and calling actress Gwyneth Paltrow "a tool" while photos of his "Obama drone" posters and a tattooed Ted Cruz were displayed on the screens behind him.
Sabo conceded that he knows street art is illegal saying, "I'm not trying to drag you kids into the gutter any more than I'm trying to drag you to church." But he says he's "trying to touch kids who are disinterested politically."
Political commentator Tom Basile says in order to reach millennial activists and voters, messaging must be visual and personal. Student-focused Turning Point USA, for example, tries to "unite people around principles" like free markets and limited government with slogans like "Big Government Sucks."
And those messages are sticking with young activists who say they are ready to change the tide in 2016.
Huh?
I no longer consider myself a part of the republican grass roots base.
I hope they have something up and running like this website soon.
This Organization is under the radar and connects all the lefties and cross funding and training, an they are 10 years ahead of us.
A series of unrelated unconnected rebels trying to overcome this? maybe, I wish them well....
Donna, I think Ted Cruz has the Tea Party’s best interests at heart. What makes you think differently?
“Abolish the IRS!”
We shouldn't be attacking our own (Christie Whitman Barf)
11 NOVEMBER 2009 | POLITICO
Christie Todd Whitman is a colossal hypocrite:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2384392/postsThe Committee for Responsible Government (CRG) was founded by a group of moderate Republicans in 1992 as a response to the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, Texas where Pat Buchanan gave the address known as the “culture war” speech.
The Republican Leadership Council (RLC or RLC-PAC), founded in 1993 as the Committee for Responsible Government, is a political advocacy group and political action committee that promotes Republican candidates who espouse a platform that the organization characterizes as “fiscally conservative, socially inclusive.”
Senator John Danforth and Governor Christine Todd Whitman created the political organization...
Also, they changed many of the state primary rules so that ‘open primaries’ would allow for more RINO’s to be nominated.
What’s his plan to reclaim the social issues from the federal judges?
I don’t know what Cruz said about the Constitution. But I suspect that if you asked people in the audience what the Constitution’s Section 8 of Article I is that you’d get a bunch of blank looks. And if such is the case then people are foolishly relying on others to know the Constitution for them.
American Majority and AFP-Americans For Progress (and maybe other groups) are in competition for the shoes of volunteer activists.
American Majority will ultimately support the establishment.
AFP will be anti-establishment but not all local AFP groups will support the same alternative..at least not at the beginning.
Historically the paid consultants (both establishment and otherwise) didn’t want any volunteer they couldn’t control. And they got paid by a percentage of the TV buy. so there was nothing in an army of door-knockers for the paid consultant. AFP is changing that and American Majority is trying to play catchup. that American Majority and not AFP was able to capture this CPAC workshop Tells you something about how CPAC is run by ACU. Remember ACU was anti-Ronald Reagan because Reagan was not in the conservative establishment (not to be confused with the Republican establishment).
We’ve seen it coming, huh. W was a big disappointment for me right up front when he went ahead with Powell as SOS after he had refused to endorse Bush during the recount.
me too, I watched his whole speech there.
There were some things that he did to audience going
but that was ok with me. This man has the MORAL FIBER
to lead this country NOT Rand Paul
hugs & TY!
From NOI website
“Of course, winning alone isn’t enough. It’s the way we win that matters. Whether waging a Presidential campaign or jumpstarting a farmer’s market, Engagement Organizers live by four core principles:
Fight. Stand up and take responsibility, not just to criticize the world, but to forge a path forward.
Engage. Invite others to join the fight, not just as bodies or wallets, but as whole people, with brains, skills, networks, and so much more.
Learn. Rigorously analyze what’s working and what’s not, and empower everyone on the campaign with that data.
Win. Settle for nothing less than real, concrete change that measurably improves our lives.”
There’s no magic in the NOI approach.
Those are the conservative activists they are talking about, Donna. CPAC is not a meeting of Rinos.
But, if we end up with another rino, like Jeb, conservatives won’t be able to get out the vote for that - more of the abusive same. He’s got the elite money people behind him due to the desire for homo dominance, open borders and amnesty.
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