[Lnc-business] report on Oklahoma visit

Norm Olsen region1rep at doneDad.com
Mon Dec 14 13:55:45 EST 2015


>>> Beyond the issues, and moderate versus radical, I'm talking about giving
information to Libertarians about how the information given to Republicans
winning partisan races where they are running in districts that have a
baseline of support of 30 to 60% already, is different than the information
that Libertarians need to start from a baseline of 2% or 5%, to get to 51%.

 

May I point out an important aspect of this discussion.  With a few
exceptions, candidates do not win elections.  Political parties win
elections.  Consider:

1>     Approval ratings of our national legislature are in the teens, having
dipped to single digits for a while not too long ago.  Yet, incumbent
re-election is about 95%.

2>     Maybe, just maybe, one out of ten voters can tell you who their state
legislature representatives are.

3>     Maybe, just maybe, one out of a hundred voters can tell you who their
county commissioner is.

4>     For the lesser public offices (state legislature, county
commissioner, etc.) a huge percentage of all voters simply vote the party
label.

5>     My favorite: Joel Hefly (Colorado CD-5) was elected to Congress for
ten terms.  In later terms, he limited campaign expenses to less than $5,000
so he didn't have to do the financial reporting.  He still got elected in
landslides.  Was Mr. Hefly a genius? A celebrity?  Nope: he was nominated by
the Republican Party is a Republican district.

 

Parties win elections.  Having a good candidate helps out a lot, but it is
the political party that wins an election.  For the Libertarian Party is to
win partisan elections (even at the lower levels), a well established,
capable, political organization has be in place.  Expecting a candidate to
establish his/her own organization for a campaign is a loser for three major
reasons:

1>     They will likely not succeed

2>     Once the election is over, whatever has been accomplished
organizationally is typically disappear on an early November Wednesday
morning.

3>     Not only the candidate, but the members of the organization
constructed will be disgruntled; and we'll likely not see them ever again.

 

Again: A good candidate/cause helps, but with very rare exceptions:
Political organizations win elections.

 

Norm

--

Norman T Olsen

Regional Representative, Region 1

Libertarian National Committee

7931 South Broadway, PMB 102

Littleton, CO  80122-2710

303-263-4995

 

From: Lnc-business [mailto:lnc-business-bounces at hq.lp.org] On Behalf Of Wes
Benedict
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 3:26 PM
To: lnc-business at hq.lp.org
Subject: Re: [Lnc-business] report on Oklahoma visit

 

Attention Dr. Lieberman, Mr. Katz, and other strong proponents of getting
Libertarians elected:

What I think would be very helpful is a 20-page guide that has some of the
kind of factual information that a rational non-interested observer, might
provide, that shows what kinds of elections Libertarians have won in the
past, and are likely to win in the near future.

And I'm not just talking about rants from the Leadership Institute about how
your principles don't matter if you don't get elected. I understand the
point the man from Baton Rouge is making about putting importance on the
election mechanics required to get votes.

I'm also not talking about the kinds of messaging issues the crush-proof
tubing salesman suggests about focusing on local, moderate, economic issues.


Beyond the issues, and moderate versus radical, I'm talking about giving
information to Libertarians about how the information given to Republicans
winning partisan races where they are running in districts that have a
baseline of support of 30 to 60% already, is different than the information
that Libertarians need to start from a baseline of 2% or 5%, to get to 51%.

New York has fusion. That's different than Texas. Mr. Katz was elected in a
Republican seat in CT. That's different than getting elected as a
Libertairan in a Libertarian seat in Indiana. 

More info:
1. Here's a history of the size of the jurisdictions where Libertarians won
partisan offices, and the types of elections they were in:

2. Types of elections: 

*	P - normal partisan (one winner)
*	PMx - partisan with multiple winners ("vote for x")
*	PF - partisan with fusion
*	PO - partisan with open filing (multiple candidates can appear with
the same party label)
*	PT - partisan "top-two" primary
*	PTR - partisan "top-two" runoff
*	N - nonpartisan (one winner)
*	NMx - nonpartisan with multiple winners ("vote for x")


People get real mad at me personally if I say they aren't likely to win a
race for governor, so I don't say it much anymore. Instead, I say they are
running to win (if that's what they want to hear from me), but if they don't
win, they will help promote libertarian principles on public policy. 

An LNC Elected Libertarians Committee could get away with stating the cold
hard facts about what elections Libertarians are likely to win. And if done
so in a certain way, such a committee could also recognize the value of
running for President or Governor or Congress to advocate ending the war on
drugs and changing public policy regardless of winning those races.




Wes Benedict, Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
New address: 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314
(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.org
facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership

On 12/11/2015 1:26 PM, Joshua Katz wrote:

Sidenote:  This is why I have suggested, in the past, that training sessions
held by a political party might usefully include one or two elected
officials, who can presumably speak on two topics:  1.  how to win office as
a Libertarian (something outside professionals can't usually teach us,
although they can teach us much), and 2.  how to govern as a Libertarian -
how to effectively advance an agenda while in office and move other
office-holders (if serving in a non-executive capacity) to vote with you,
build a coalition, and get a freer society as a benefit.

 

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