If you are unable to view html within your email program please use the following link to view Chuck Muth's latest News and Views: http://chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.chuckmuth.com/remove X-ListMember: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
******************************************** HOW YOU CAN HELP ME TRAIN THOUSANDS OF CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATES THIS YEAR. As y'all aren't garden variety political activists who just fell off a turnip truck last night, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on WHY candidate training is so important to our cause. I'll just make a few quick observations...and then ask for your help, OK? 1.) You can't change public policy without changing public officials. 2.) You can't beat somebody with nobody. 3.) You can't govern if you can't win. 4.) More races are lost because of lousy campaigns, not lousy candidates. Campaigns are increasingly complicated and technical. You wouldn't try building a house without some training, but all too many rookie candidates - with nothing but the best of intentions - try to get themselves elected without knowing spit from spam when it comes to running a campaign. I have NO training for being a lawyer or a surgeon and I can GUARANTEE you don't want me defending you in court or cracking open your skull for brain surgery. Candidates need to think about running a political campaign the same way. They NEED training. They WANT training. And with just a little bit of help, a large number of "almost" winners can become ACTUAL winners. Now here's the problem. Or I should say...problems. Thanks to the McCain/Feingold campaign finance reform law, the Republican National Committee can no longer take "soft" money contributions. Those were the large corporate donations which the RNC used to fund its extensive candidate training programs...which, at one time, were GREAT. No mas. ...And ever since Newt left Congress, GOPAC - which also once did GREAT candidate training seminars - has been but a shell of itself and no longer produces the workshops, tapes and books it once did. ...And the Leadership Institute, which used to conduct the best darn Grassroots Activist training program in this hemisphere, has dramatically scaled back its efforts for some reason. As of today, they have ONLY TWO training schools scheduled between now and the November elections: One in Wilmington, DE, in March...and one in Arlington, VA, in June. Not much help to folks west of the Mississippi. ...And frankly, at the state and local level you often have people putting on training seminars who are either (a) political hacks whose expertise stops at which side of a stamp to lick, or (b) political consultants who are only looking for new clients and really have no ability (or desire) to teach under-funded candidates how to run a winning campaign without the candidate paying them major fungolas. Now, as you know I've been conducting training seminars around the country for the last eight years or so. And in all modesty, I'm pretty darn good at it. In fact, if I ever give up this political gig I'd probably want to become a teacher (much to the consternation of that "terrorist organization," the NEA!). But it is VERY expensive to put on a "live" seminar to train just a couple dozen candidates in person. Between the travel expenses and the cost to rent a hotel meeting room - not to mention some compensation for the trainer 's time - a good, quality training workshop can easily run a couple thousand dollars. And without some serious underwriting by some major donors, the only way to offset those costs is to charge an arm-and-a-leg for registration fees. But, heck, if the candidates had THAT kind of money they wouldn't NEED the seminars. They'd just go out and hire a professional campaign manager to run their race. Now add in the fact that, since most candidates still have jobs, you have to conduct these seminars on weekends. That means time factors alone limit the number of seminars you can do in the few months' time leading up to an election to a couple dozen. With those cost and time limitations in mind, that means seminars generally must be held ONLY in major cities. So what about those candidates who can't get away to attend the seminar for job, money or other reasons...not to mention those who live in small towns and cities such as Minot, North Dakota or Elko, Nevada? THEY have to travel themselves, stay overnight in a hotel, etc. Again, the cost keeps them from learning the sorts of things which could very well help put them in the winner's circle on election day. And finally, there's my own selfishness. I've never had a problem with traveling around the country and taking a couple days off to help these good, deserving candidates get off on the right foot with our "Campaign War College." But that was before I had kids. Frankly - and I KNOW this is selfish - but given a choice between taking a weekend to fly to St. Louis to do a training seminar...or take my 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters to the zoo, playground, circus, beach or camping...well, it's no contest. Sorry. But thankfully, technology now offers us a NEW option: Webcasting. The folks at World Profit - who have provided our listserve which distributes News & Views every day on the 'net for the last eight years - now offer a Webcast System...at an affordable price. With this system, I can conduct our campaign training programs ONLINE for a fraction of what it costs to do a live seminar. And that means any candidate with access to the Internet would be able to participate anywhere in the WORLD. It also provides for live interactive "chat," so participants will be able to ask questions during the presentations. Plus, I'll be able to conduct "Campaign War College" workshops in the mornings or in the evenings. On weekdays or weekends. East Coast time or West Coast time. Or both. As often as we like. And the full system provides enough bandwidth to handle up to 100 participants at a time. All at a fraction of what I'd need to charge for a "live" seminar and...best of all...from the comfort of my own home office. The only down side is that occasionally the kids might run in and interrupt a webcast with some fight over a cookie or the ol' "read me a story." But that's a manageable risk we 'll just have to take! :) And once the system is in operation, it can be used for all kinds of seminars, conferences, workshops, forums and meetings for any kind of group of grassroots activists, organizations, party leaders, etc. We'll also be able to do live, online briefings when important votes or issues pop up for activists on the front lines...nationally or locally. The possibilities are endless. All thanks to this thingy Al Gore invented...the Internet! If you want to take a look at the system and how it works, just go to http://webcast.worldprofit.com/showroom/video_closing_room.cfm?id=0 and click on the "Launch Demo Video" link. Anyway, it costs $2,500 to rent the system for a FULL YEAR with UNLIMITED use. That's about the cost of doing just ONE "live" in-person seminar in Los Angeles. With this system, I'll be able to help THOUSANDS of conservative candidates instead of dozens. I'm ready to go today. November is coming awfully fast and we have candidates out there who need help NOW. And in the immortal words of John Wayne from his classic "McClintock" movie: "All it takes is money." So I'm asking you to consider kicking in a few shillings to help us purchase this system right away and develop the online training programs we need as soon as possible. $10, $20, $50, $100 . . . whatever you can spare for the cause. As soon as we have the money needed to obtain the system, we'll "launch and learn." I've created a special link to our secure online PayPal account so you can make a donation via credit card strictly for this special project. Just click on the link below (if the link is broken, make sure you paste the WHOLE link into your browser, including the characters which dropped to the second line)... https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=donations%40citizenoutreach.com&item_name=Webcast+System&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD Or if you prefer, send a check made payable to Citizen Outreach via "snail mail" to: Citizen Outreach "Webcast System" 611 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, #439 Washington, DC 20003 As always, I thank you in advance for your ongoing and generous support...but I also want to thank you on behalf of all the candidates who are going to benefit from this technological opportunity. This will mean more of THEM will get into office...which in turn means FEWER of the "bad guys" will be in office! Prof. Chuck Muth Doctor of Psephology (home-schooled) P.S. By the way, if you have a business or an organization of your own, this webcasting program might be something YOU'D be interested in. If so, just email Sandi Hunter at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and ask for additional information. And feel free to tell her I sent you. She's GREAT to work with.
