This weekend I went out with Steve Young to walk in the Tustin Tiller Days parade. We did the same parade last year and it was a fantastic
experience. I'll diary that on it's own in the next few days.
In a conversation I had with Steve while we were waiting for the parade to start Steve shared with me a lot of details of his campaign that I didn't know about.
I know Steve as a great guy and a tireless campaigner. Last Jan I spent a month walking every night putting out door hangers on apartments until 1am to 3am every night. It was cold and rained a few times; at least we didn't have to do it in the snow and sub-freezing temperatures.
Follow me below the fold for a list of what Steve has done to build an organization from scratch with no big money.
All this time I'd known Steve I thought of him as a good person with a personality that draws you in and makes you feel as though he's known you all his life. I'd met and had conversations with famous people in my life -
Princess Di,
Richard Branson,
Chuck Yeager and a few others. (I had to drop those names; can you blame me?)
Aside from Princess Di who was the most magical person I've ever met Steve is the type of person who will get to you. But aside from that he has more energy than anyone I've ever met famous or not.
Steve's been out there campaigning virtually non-stop 7 days a week for 1 1/2 years with support from only the grassroots. Here's an idea of what Steve and his Campaign Manager Marion Pack who deserves a diary just for her have done.
The following list gives you an idea of what Steve and his campaign have been doing when no one was looking.
* City captains for every city in the district - see the list here.
* 175 Precinct captains
* GOTV training every wed night
* Marion Pack has 30 years as an issue activist
* A house party every night until Nov. 1st
* Steve has personally knocked on 4500 doors
* Sending out 9000 mailers to likely Republican men exposing them to Steve's message. They are going to vote no matter what. If we turn their vote then it's a 2-vote swing.
* Last Nov & Dec every single night Steve and I walked the district hanging material on 8,000-10,000 door knobs and talking to the few people who were out at 1am.
* Extensive voter registration drives that have driven Republican registration to 49.8% in what was once a heavily Republican district. I don't know the exact details but the last time this happened was surely more than 30 years ago. I'll do the research and report back on this.
* Sent out 7000 Absentee ballots and are receiving at least 10 a day returns. Dems now stand at around 27%.
* No political consultants
* Media consultant is a non political, commercial advertising specialist.
* Read Crashing The Gates and is implementing the ideas.
I think Steve has shown that he can build the grassroots support based on his ideas and what kind of person he is.
Now, we've extended the grassroots to the netroots with this blog.
If you live in the 48th (there's a map link on the site) give us a visit and volunteer. If you're so inclined contribute here.
