June 28, 2004
Badnarik: 10 ways to get into the Race
Last week, I wrote the article covering the Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik and how the libertarians have been failing to get much needed media attention in the feature article “Libertarians: Whispering from the Rafters”. This week, I wanted to try my hand at giving advice on how to get some of that wanted media attention in a (somewhat) simple fashion. So, I present “10 ways for Badnarik to get into the Race.” It’s not too late, and these will surely help to bring visibility to the struggling libertarian campaign, or not:
- Right now, stop insinuating that your campaign is a spoiler. Either you want to win or you are wasting everyone's time playing games. Nader torpedoed his campaign because he urged supporters to vote Kerry in swing states. Stop shooting for the 10% of disgruntled fiscal conservatives and aim for the larger slice of the pie of those who are upset with both Democrats and Republicans.
- Use your blog as a pulpit as well as a press release venue. More people will read it if they know that opinions will be given there that they can't get anywhere else. Want to rebut something that Kerry or Bush said on TV and give your side of it? This is the venue.
- Meetup. It worked for Howard Dean's fledgling candidacy, and there's a good chance libertarians will want to build local contacts and introduce RINOs and DINOs to what your campaign is about. Twice a month would be optimal.
- Bush has two Achilles's heels: Ashcroft and tax-cut and spend. To attack him from the right and left at the same time, you hammer on the absurdities that Ashcroft spews ("calico cats are signs of the devil") while calling for more tax cuts and sweeping cuts of government bloat. Radio advertising with these messages would be highly beneficial.
- Get ready to snag the National Rifle Association endorsement from Bush when the assault weapon ban is extended in October. This is a tricky road because you'll need to have the word out early enough that you'll be visible, but won't be "the gun rights candidate."
- Want to get some geek vote? Talk to Slashdot and offer to answer some questions, you're a shoe in (being a computer consultant and a libertarian) -- Slashdot is a highly libertarian-minded site, weird but true. You'll get more Internet notice from this than any other web strategy.
- Call MTV and get on one of the "Rock the Vote" shows. They're so out of the political loop that they'll probably want to start a show based on your campaign. Stay away from TRL though, that show is crap. Actually, this one is probably not good advice.
- Get on the Daily Show. I'm sure they'd love to have a presidential candidate on the show that they can actually take serious and not be snarky with. Be quick on your feet around Jon Stewart, he's incredibly witty and quick but he's fair to people who display common sense and humor.
- Another political humor show to hop on is Real Time with Bill Maher. Sure, Maher is a smarmy liberal, but he won't turn down a libertarian presidential candidate who's willing to skewer Bush on fiscal policy.
- Go seek advice from Hunter S. Thompson. This is the only man who is going to be brutally honest with you about your campaign and can give you much needed guidance on what to do in order to heighten your profile.
Bonus suggestion: Get an endorsement from Ross Perot. I hear he's working on a book that he wants to launch right before the election that should be a bombshell for George Bush. See the August 8, 2003 Salon article -- Perot gears up -- for more info on this revelation. I've talked about this on my own site with the subject: Ross Perot Could Breathe Life Into Libertarians.
Have ideas of your own? Leave them in the comments.
Posted by Stephen VanDyke at June 28, 2004 11:27 AMTwo prequels to the MTV angle. Before you even START to call MTV, get on Fuse (something like their IMX show), and BET (any of the talk shows or a narrated hip-hop show). The Libertarian message should play well in hip-hop culture if it’s articulated well as to how it can directly affect such things as racial profiling, drug laws, and taxation (on what’s known as “bling”). When Fuse and BET are airing these shows, MTV will want to follow suit so as not to be left out of the “next new cool political party”. On MTV, articulate that unlike Nader, the Libertarian message can be a true election-winner because it truly DOES peel votes away from each of the two mainstream parties.
Downplay the gun rights thing on the music channels while up-playing the proposals to reform drug laws and reel back social regulation (and Ashcroftian censorship). Gun owners already know the Libertarian party is more solidly in favor of the 2nd Amendment than the mainstreamers, but hip/cool/trendy crowd might take that the wrong way.
Downplay the drug reform ideas in any venue OUTSIDE the hip/trendy music channel shows. Irrational soccer moms and knuckle-dragging rednecks tend to take drug rhetoric the wrong way, and by the time you’ve put it all in context for them, you’ve lost their attention span as they rush off to their soccer-momish activities.
Posted by: Ciggy at June 28, 2004 02:29 PMGreat list… a few comments:
9. Use your blog as a pulpit…
We’re working on that one (speaking as a blog team member)
8. Meetup. Twice a month would be optimal.
Also being worked on. We need people to bug Meetup about a second meetup, they’ve refused so far. More people asking for it would help.
We’ll have someone dedicated to Meetup soon.
5. Want to get some geek vote? Talk to Slashdot
I’ve submitted them this twice now, and still waiting for them to say yes. Again, the more people who bug them about it, the more likely it’ll be. Go ask them for one…. the more people who ask, the more likely they will do it.
Seth
Badnarik Blog Team
Did you hear we (the Libertarians) may be the only people on the ballot in Illinois other the Kerry?
That’s right, Bush might not get on, they’re going to miss the deadline and have to sue their way in.
We have an article about it on http://blog.badnarik.org/
Posted by: Tom Swift at June 28, 2004 10:41 PMExcellent, Tom! Now, with a hard-charging campaign, we can actually carry a state! What shall we call it? Green State? Purple State? ;)
I say “we” because I traditionally vote Libertarian, in spite of tweaks and exceptions that I have to the core “doctrine”. It’s the closest anything comes to “me”.
Don’t know if anyone is still lurking here,
but for what it is worth, point# 10,
“run to win” is definitely worth
framing and hanging on the wall.
This moment in history is ripe.
I would add, advertising acceptance at the debate,
the Citizens’ Debate Commission debates,
and highlighting that the opposition fears you,
would ratchet up the heat considerably.
The poll numbers are starting to climb.
Hammering away on the difference between voting
for “Status Quo that just keeps getting worse”
candidates and voting for change would help.
But, by all means,
the biggest point to hammer home is to
‘get our military out of other people’s business’.
Chasing OBL & company is necessary.
Settling family feuds with American lives stinks.
cheers to anyone who sees this…
Posted by: Paul Anderson at July 19, 2004 01:04 PMRegarding Ross Perot, I’m sending him a long, well written letter asking him to publically endorse Michael Badnarik as presidential candidate. If anyone else is interested, I found two addresses:
Ross Perot
12377 Merit Drive
1700 Lakeside Square
Dallas, TX 75251
I just reviewed this article, and it looks like the Badnarik team is hitting points 7, 8, 9, and 10. He has stopped the weak, defeatist talk about “one million votes”, and has started to say he is running to win. The blog is going strong, Meetups are under way, and his TV ads are hitting Bush and Kerry.
As for the rest of the list, it’s ridiculously hard to get on national TV shows. There was a semi-organized attempt to get on Letterman, and lots of other ideas, but so far, no takers. An early invite to O’Reilly was pulled (for a boring update on some murder trial in California), and now O’Reilly wants nothing to do with Badnarik after the Patriot Act debate challenge fizzled.
The campaign is about to hook up with a PR firm, to try to get into the national spotlight. Hopefully, it will work. The grassroots campaign has been going great.
Posted by: Lex at August 17, 2004 02:09 PM
