You can check out the new site at http://www.lutherstrange.com

Here’s a picture from our New Year’s Eve Open House. We had just found out that Forward Focus Media had been listed as a win in the latest version of Politics magazine.  Coincidentally, newly elected Birmingham City Counselor Kim Rafferty stopped by the party.  Pictured, from left to right, are Shana Kluck, David Ricker, Kim Rafferty, Stephen Gordon, Mark Bodenhausen and John Killian — all of whom worked hard to ensure that Kim beat an incumbent by a 2-1 margin in 2009.

Lately, I’m frequently asked by Republican campaigns, party executives, consultants and think-tank leaders about how to connect better with Tea Party or libertarian voters.

Partying with Tea Party partiers

It’s for good reason that Republican operatives want to connect with Tea Partiers.  After all, Rasmussen suggests that a generic Tea Party candidate is more popular than more traditional Republican candidates.

“Republican leaders should be embarrassed,” notes conservative icon Richard Viguerie. “Instead, the Republican establishment disdains this populist uprising. Rather than embracing this genuine movement, establishment politicians and consultants are calculating how to co-opt, sideline, or even defeat the newest phenomenon in politics: tea partiers.”

GOP leaders are now observing what conservative movement people have known for some time.

“The media are paying attention now,” observes conservative movement writer Robert Stacy McCain. “They have no choice. Over the past nine months, hundreds of thousands of citizens have answered the Tea Party movement’s call to direct involvement in politics. Their activism has ignited the spark that now threatens to incinerate the agenda of Hope and Change that once seemed impervious to conservative opposition.”

The recent NY CD-23 race showed two things.  The Tea Party movement doesn’t seem quite organized enough (yet) to actually win a major race, but we are clearly organized enough to knock out an establishment Republican candidate.

The Crist-Rubio senatorial primary in Florida will probably serve as the major test between these two factions.  Alternately, one could look at the Alabama gubernatorial race to see how the chips will fall when a much broader range of GOP candidates jump into the fray.

This Tea Party veteran would like to offer some quick advice to those trying to obtain the support of the Tea Party crowd:

• Republicans are poised to make some electoral gains in 2010.  “The prevalence of the Tea Party movement does hold a cautionary note for the GOP — if they win,” blogged Pat Ruffini. “The danger is that Republicans will interpret a victory as a sign that all is well in the party, and that they can go back to their old ways pre-2008. In other words, they’ll confuse a Teapublican victory for an old-school Republican mandate.” I wholeheartedly concur.
• A candidate, organization or political party has to earn the support of the Tea Party folks.  Mouthing recently rediscovered words of fiscal conservatism isn’t enough.  Those who want Tea Party support will have to become a Tea Party personality or organization.
• Michelle Malkin’s sage advice: “Memo to GOP candidates: Do not call yourself the ‘Tea Party backed candidate’ if, in fact, Tea Party groups aren’t backing you.”
• Candidates with bad voting records (especially on issues like stimulus spending, Medicare Part D, etc.) can’t simply make these records disappear.  For those guilty of expanding the size or indebtedness of government, a fresh bold idea might be to sincerely apologize for these votes and demonstrate some sort of plausible plan to change one’s fiscal direction.
• Don’t (and I see this time and time again) offer the same old worn-out GOP platitudes about cutting taxes. Deficit spending is a big issue to Tea Party people and these folks are an understandably distrustful lot. Folks who promise tax cuts but either don’t deliver or provide only minor tax relief while continuing to vote for deficit-busting legislation won’t earn the support of the Tea Party crowd.

The verdict may still be out regarding whether the Tea Party movement has the organizational and leadership skills to consistently win elections.  However, one thing is already certain: We already know how to make a lot of noise.  Considering that a considerable portion of Tea Party organizers have ties to the Ron Paul movement, this should come as no surprise.

“The Tea Party Movement is determined to save America,” wrote Vigeurie. “Republican Party leaders would be unwise to try to co-opt, sideline, or defeat it. Perhaps they should welcome the new leadership into the party as their single most promising survival tactic”

Those darned Whole Foods, South Park and Starbucks Republicans

Although the GOP ignored them (to their misfortune) in 2006 and 2008, there is a large and growing bloc of voters who are fiscally conservative but are turned off by some of the more extreme social conservatism (Internet gambling bans, Terri Schiavo case, etc.) associated with the Republican Party.  Like the Tea Party movement, there are a lot of Ron Paul supporters in this demographic group.

The Tea Party movement is, to a great degree, a populist one. This other group of potential Republican voters is more somewhat more elitist and certainly less socially conservative than many Tea Party folks. This younger and upwardly mobile crowd tends to be somewhat libertarian — not to say that there aren’t plenty of Tea Party libertarians.  The common tie between these two groups is one often ignored by the Republican establishment: consistent fiscal conservatism.

“Let the Democrats have the Starbucks set, goes the thinking [of some GOP leaders], and we’ll grab working-class families,” wrote Michael Petrilli in the Wall Street Journal while dubbing this second group of fiscally-conservative potential GOP voters “Whole Foods Republicans.”

This Starbucks-drinking, South Park-watching and Whole Foods-shopping libertarian does not buy into this line of thinking.  Nor does Starbucks, as they’ve taken some not-so-sugary lumps from Jon Stewart over their decision to cobrand with self-described “conservative with libertarian leanings” Joe Scarborough.

The South Park Republicans of 2001 and 2002 became “South Park refugees” by 2006.  As these folks graduated from college, joined the work force, became married and started raising children, many of them have morphed into Whole Foods Republicans.

Here is Petrilli’s suggestion:

What’s needed is a full-fledged effort to cultivate “Whole Foods Republicans”—independent-minded voters who embrace a progressive lifestyle but not progressive politics. These highly-educated individuals appreciate diversity and would never tell racist or homophobic jokes; they like living in walkable urban environments; they believe in environmental stewardship, community service and a spirit of inclusion. And yes, many shop at Whole Foods, which has become a symbol of progressive affluence but is also a good example of the free enterprise system at work. (Not to mention that its founder is a well-known libertarian who took to these pages to excoriate ObamaCare as inimical to market principles.)

What makes these voters potential Republicans is that, lifestyle choices aside, they view big government with great suspicion. There’s no law that someone who enjoys organic food, rides his bike to work, or wants a diverse school for his kids must also believe that the federal government should take over the health-care system or waste money on thousands of social programs with no evidence of effectiveness. Nor do highly educated people have to agree that a strong national defense is harmful to the cause of peace and international cooperation.

Petrilli expands his view a bit more:

Even more important is the party’s message on divisive social issues. When some Republicans use homophobic language, express thinly disguised contempt toward immigrants, or ridicule heartfelt concerns for the environment, they affront the values of the educated class. And they lose votes they otherwise ought to win.

This sounds very similar to words Senator Jim DeMint’s penned in the same newspaper:

To win back the trust of the American people, we must be a “big tent” party. But big tents need strong poles, and the strongest pole of our party — the organizing principle and the crucial alternative to the Democrats — must be freedom. The federal government is too big, takes too much of our money, and makes too many of our decisions. If Republicans can’t agree on that, elections are the least of our problems. [...]

[...] Freedom will mean different things to different Republicans, but it can tether a diverse coalition to inalienable principles. Republicans can welcome a vigorous debate about legalized abortion or same-sex marriage; but we should be able to agree that social policies should be set through a democratic process, not by unelected judges. Our party benefits from national-security debates; but Republicans can start from the premise that the U.S. is an exceptional nation and force for good in history. We can argue about how to rein in the federal Leviathan; but we should agree that centralized government infringes on individual liberty and that problems are best solved by the people or the government closest to them.

“The races in Virginia and New Jersey show what can happen when the GOP sticks to its core economic message instead of playing wedge politics,” noted Pertilli, reflecting my own observations. “Both Republican candidates won majorities of college-educated voters. Their approach attracted Sam’s Club Republicans and Whole Foods Republicans alike.”

The GOP could be eating Whole Foods cake at populist Tea Parties

Candidates who run on Ruffini’s “old-school Republican mandate” may win in 2010, but their base will certainly be strengthened by adding one or both of the aforementioned demographic groups.  A candidate who can appeal to more traditional Republicans, the Tea Party crowd and Whole Foods Republicans could create a mandate not seen since 2004 or the Reagan years.

Smart leadership at the helm of the USS Republican would be steering the ship with the current in the direction of Wholefoods Republicans and Tea Party conservatives.  The ship wouldn’t even have to be powered at full steam, as Obama, Reid and Pelosi seem to be determined to provide plenty of wind for both of these movements. By disregarding the rocks of big-government conservatism, fighting the libertarian current, or ignoring the wind provided by the Democratic overreach, Republican leaders could be poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

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2) If you want people to take you seriously, don’t use a Twitter background like this:

It’s not so much the busy nature of the graphic – it’s the name of it. If you click to download the graphic, you see the name that was used when it was uploaded:

internetcloningfinalshit.jpg

Not exactly a professional persona.

Read the rest here.

Forward Focus Media played an integral role with the media and managed internet operations during her campaign.

Free the Hops

Free the Hops is an organization behind a recently successful bill to allow beers with more than six percent alcohol (98 of the world’s 100 top gourmet beers contain over six percent alcohol) to be sold in Alabama. After a hard fought four year Internet-based campaign, the wildly popular bill finally passed in Alabama’s lower legislative chamber.

When the bill hit the state Senate, one senator decided to filibuster the legislation. Every time the bill came up on the floor, he’d irritate his colleagues by preaching about the evils of alcohol. After years of hard work by thousands of activists, it looked like the bill was going to die. That’s when we decided to take it to the Tweets.  Using this article as a base for our Twitter operations, we provided the following:

Right now, the only thing we can do is to contact Senator Erwin.  He’s been unresponsive to telephone calls and e-mails on the topic, but he’s recently started a Twitter account. One way beer enthusiasts and freedom lovers can make our voices heard is to raise awareness of the issue and engage in verbal battle with Senator Erwin through Twitter.As a matter of fact, Senator Erwin has bragged on his Twitter account about filibustering the bill.

If you don’t have a Twitter account, it’s very easy to use.  Simply sign up here and tweet away.

For those of you already tweeting (and the rest of you once you sign up), here are the necessary components your message should contain:

@SENATORERWIN #alpolitics #fth (insert your message here)

Here’s a sample of one possible message you can use:

@SENATORERWIN #alpolitics #fth Please let the Senate vote on Free the Hops

We ensured that the message hit the #fth (Free the Hops) and #alpolitics hashtags. Quite a few Alabama journalists, bloggers and politicians track #alpolitics. We also sent out messages designed to hit other obvious hashtags, such as #beer, #tcot (Top Conservatives on Twitter) and #tlot (Top Libertarians on Twitter).

Because we used the #alpolitics hashtag, our grassroots base had expanded from people in Alabama actively supporting the legislation to politically active people throughout the state. We spread the word on a lot of national channels, as well. As previously mentioned, we hit #TCOT and #TLOT. We also spread the message to Ron Paul supporters at #C4L and freedom-minded women at #SGP. We also ensured that people at #beer got the word several times, too.

All of a sudden, one state senator with a brand new Twitter account was being targeted by activists from around the country, and in the case of some beer enthusiasts, from around the world. Had Twitter been around in their times, Sun Tzu and Baron von Clausewitz would have certainly agreed with our tactics.

The Twitter campaign gained the attention of bloggers and journalists throughout the state. It was brought up at several state center-right coalition meetings. We’ve heard that Senator Erwin was receiving some grief from senior state Republicans because of his actions. We’ll probably never know whether it was political pressure or bladder pressure which caused Erwin to eventually leave the Senate floor, but he did. The bill was quickly brought up for a vote during his absence and it passed.

The next issue was whether Governor Bob Riley would sign the bill or not. Since he’d already sent out some mixed signals, we thought it was time to apply a bit more pressure. As with the first message, we used a new webpage for the basis of this phase of the Twitter campaign and spread the word about the page. Then we used Twitter to directly contact the governor. A few days later, he signed the bill.

One thing to keep in mind is that some politicians may not keep up with their Twitter accounts. They may use it as an automated feed for their articles or blog entries. They may have a staffer in charge of it.

Also, politicians are notoriously bad about not responding directly to constituents using Twitter. While I regularly “talk” with a wide variety of political personalities on Twitter, I’ve yet to have one senior elected official return a tweet.

In most cases, the politician will still get the message. In this case, we targeted a state legislator who seems to handle his own Twitter account and a Governor who shares the responsibility with a staffer.

The Audit the Fed Bill

This federal legislative example differs from the Alabama example I just offered because the two legislative targets covered don’t have Twitter accounts. The Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (HR 1207) currently enjoys 207 cosponsors.  It “directs the Comptroller General to complete, before the end of 2010, an audit of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and of the federal reserve banks, followed by a detailed report to Congress.”

As before, a web page was used as a starting point for operations. I’ll let my Twitter tag-team partner Shelly Roche lay the groundwork:

An impromptu HR 1207 Call-A-Thon kicked off last week on twitter after I saw my rep (Kratovil) STILL hadn’t co-sponsored the bill. Much to my delight, he co-sponsored first thing the next morning!! We’re keeping it going this week over on twitter, but I’m starting this post so you guys can add your non-compliant reps to the target list.

We’ll hit a few a day, and see if we can get the 28 11 we need for a majority! Thanks guys!!

It took 24 hours for this tweet:

My rep still won’t sponsor HR 1207: Frank Kratovil 202.225.5311 – anyone up for a call-a-thon? #tlot #c4l #endthefed

…to turn into this one:

STUNNING CALL-A-THON VICTORY!! RT @LibertyMaven Kratovil is now an HR1207 cosponsor! #endthefed #tlot #tcot // Who’s next target?

Using Twitter, I responded to Roche and asked her to let me know when Alabama congressmen were going to be targeted. She did, and I sprang into action.

The first order of business was a quick retweet of her message, but one which used the #alpolitics hashtag so I could inform local folks that we were attempting to persuade Alabama Congressman Jo Bonner to support HR 1207.

Next, we quickly posted an action alert for people in Alabama on the Internet:

On Friday, we asked Congressman Jo Bonner whether he’ll be siding with the rest of Alabama’s Republican congressional delegation or siding with the Democrats on HR 1207, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009.

Today, we have some national assistance in trying to persuade Congressman Bonner to become the 191st cosponsor of the bill. Right now, folks are getting the word out on Twitter to give Congressman Bonner a call.

I’d like to ask you to do two things:

1. If you have a Twitter account, help us get out the word.  It just takes a few seconds. If you don’t have a Twitter account, it just takes a few seconds to sign up and help us out. Once you get there, please retweet the following message: Today’s HR 1207 Call-A-Thon Target: Jo Bonner 202-225-4931 Details: http://bit.ly/LtSuF #tlot #tcot #alpolitics
2. Give Congressman Bonner a call at 202-225-4931 and ask him to co-sponsor HR 1207.

These calls are already making a difference and we only need 28 more co-sponsors for a solid majority.

After this posted (which automatically generated another tweet, of course), I called Bonner’s office and made my pitch. Then I called a couple of local friends to ask them to help put out the word. By the time I had completed the second call, I received the message (via Twitter, of course) that Congressman Bonner had just signed onto the bill.

After calling off the dogs, we moved on to our next congressional target.

Lessons Learned

1. Twitter limits your call to action to 140 characters. It’s important to have a web page or blog entry for people to reference which provides the necessary details and reasons for people to use Twitter to help your political cause.
2. Hashtags work. They enable you to expand your base from just your personal followers to large groups of people who share similar interests.
3. One NY Times headline can win, or lose, a political war. Only under the most extreme of circumstances will a tweet  have the same impact. Concentrating a whole lot of tweets on a vulnerable target can work wonders, though.
4. It’s nice to have a lot of followers, but not critical. If even a small handful of people start tweeting about the same thing in an organized manner (and use hashtags), it will look like a movement and others will quickly jump on board.
5. Just because a politician doesn’t seem to be paying attention, he or she probably is. They are very sensitive to how people perceive them in public. And if they aren’t paying attention, folks around them are and they’ll get the word anyway.

Twitter is a great tool to keep in your online political tool chest. It’s not going to win most of your political battles, but it certainly can come in handy from time to time.

Originally published at The Next Right.