How McCain Can Win Pennsylvania

One important thing all admirers of John McCain can do is to contribute to his campaign. If you can donate $250, please do so. Or, if you can contribute $25, please do it. The Democrat's presumptive nominee, Obama, has been raising huge amounts of money from Moveon.org types, and it's essential that we help put John McCain on a more level financial footing. You can contribute by clicking on the Contribute to John McCain link to your right (at the top) or by going to the McCain web site and clicking on the "contribute" button. Thanks for your generous help.


Winning elections: it's not rocket science.

Note: If you're from Pennsylvania, you're in the right place.

If you're from Ohio or New Jersey, please click on those links to find blogs dedicated to the McCain effort in those states. If you're from Oklahoma or New Mexico, click on those sites. In time, there will be blogs from each of the 50 states (listed as http://[statename]forjohnmccain.blogspot.com. There's a need for volunteers to manage state blogs that are "waiting" for someone to take over. If you do assume that responsibility, you will receive all the help you need.

As a rough guess, there are about 1.75 million voters out there who are (or soon will be) strongly for John McCain. If each Pennsylvanian who solidly backs McCain "teaches one," the Senator would get 3.5 million votes in the state, which would make him a solid winner.

Frankly, everyone has a family member, or friend, or neighbor who can be brought into the McCain camp. It's that simple. If people know you strongly support the Senator, then they're more likely to follow your lead.

(More to come Thursday afternoon. Please read the columns below about John McCain and this probable opponent, Barack Obama, in the general election.)

On The NYT's Smear Campaign Against McCain

From: [Political Analyst] Aaron Rizzio Subject: Gloves off at NYT

[Reporter] Jim Rutenberg had been shopping this story around furiously to the New Republic and Drudge Report since late last year after the NYT initially refused to run with it. Drudge, apparently on the Romney payroll at the time, ran a teaser item on it on 12-20. What precisely has been developed since [NYT editor] Keller spiked the apparent dead-end story last year is a question he should be prepared to answer. What we have are 2 apparently disgruntled anonymous former McCain staffers (who are they? were they terminated? who are they working for now?). This could end up being a good thing for several reasons 1.) if it ultimately goes nowhere and Keller takes institutional flak for running such a smarmy and sloppy hit piece on McCain he is effectively immunized against such weakly sourced rumor and innuendo going forward. 2.) It wakes team McCain up to the reality that indeed the NYT is not their friend and they cannot rely on the institutional "msm" to carry water for them here on out for the duration of the campaign. 3.) The NYT has really, really, lowered the bar for future hit pieces on Obama in this campaign cycle (from what promises to be a cornucopia of potential source material); although I wouldn't count on the NYT running any anonymously sourced hearsay accusations of Barack Obama smoking crack behind garbage dumpsters anytime soon. I like this line "even the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee". You mean like Tom Daschle former Senate Maj Leader (and Obama backer) who's wife lobbyed against secured airline cockpit bulkheads prior to 9/11? That kind of thing?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2001/0201.mencimer.html

Sharon, Political Star, Oklahoma Blog

THE ONE-MILLION VOTE PROJECT

Up and running now are New Mexico for John McCain and Pennsylvania for John McCain (this site). Also, Sharon from Norman, OK ("Go Sooners!") has agreed to manage Oklahoma for John McCain, and it will be running hard soon. Sharon is a political version of The Energizer Bunny, and she's extremely skilled in organizational and GOTV (Get Out the Vote) activities. We "ordinary mortals" will never be quite at Sharon's, but many of the things she does are learnable and doable. In the first few weeks this site is alive, I'm going to post material from Sharon and others who are very skilled in making sure their candidates get elected -- and, in this case, that means John McCain.

The woman who heads the New Mexico site blogs usually at The Pink Flamingo. Her initial experience was with political guru Lee Atwater in South Carolina. She also worked on the campaigns of Senator Lindsay Graham. She set up on blogspot 49 of the state sites. I did a grand total of one, Pennsylvania. But I did find the great picture of the Amish kids!

We very much need volunteers to take over the other state sites. I believe we have one for Texas, but a state like that one (huge in geography and populaton) could probably use more than one blog manager.

In my exchanges with Sharon, she gives me a lot of information about her political background. Invariably, what she says is applicable to others -- although perhaps not quite at her level of commitment. In her most recent e-mail, she told me the following about the "Air Force life."

She says, "OK is in the bag for McCain for the general election. I can easily help out with Texas. We lived there for eight years before moving to OK when Kelly AFB ended up on the BRAC list to be shut. We were some of the first people from that area to transfer to Tinker AFB. If you cannot find a Texas person, I will see if Brad who comes from Houston will take it over (he helped me out on the Bush yahoo groups) if I promise to help him out. I know several states better then OK - Ohio where I grew up, CA where we used to live, TX where we used to live, and FL where I work with my good friend on elections -- he went to McCain a week before the FL primary and ended up escorted Sen McCain and his wife to events for the final week. In 2000 I knew much more about FL then OK including giving directions to people for Bush rallies. My brother lives in Orlando."

What if a state like Oklahoma is, as Sharon says, "in the bag" for McCain (as I agree it is)? In that case, activists from Oklahoma can contact family and friends in other more hotly contested states.

The two columns below discuss what the 50 state blogs for McCain are designed to do. Each blog will look alike, but the approaches will all be different. There will be no "orders from the top," because there will be no top.

In each case, however, they're designed to bring together activists to work TOGETHER toward the election of John McCain.

Soon, you'll see blogrolls with the 50 states for John McCain. Within a month, there will be on this site a blogroll for Pennsylvania. People who don't have blogs -- and that's the vast majorityof people online -- are very much invited to participate. They can receive e-mail alerts about political developments of interest in PA. Anyway, welcome aboard all.

JOIN STATE BLOGS FOR MCCAIN!

IF YOU'RE FROM PA AND SUPPORT JOHN MCCAIN, PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NAME, BLOG url (IF YOU HAVE ONE), AND YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS. IT WON'T GO ANYWHERE TO ANYONE WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. THE GOAL IS TO HAVE A BIG GROUP THAT WILL WORK TOGETHER TO ELECT JOHN MCCAIN. My e-mail address is: TalkTop65@aol.com.

Information about the state blogs for McCain follows.

There will be 20 state blogs for John McCain. New Mexico for John McCain and Pennsylvania for John McCain (this one) are up now, and all 50 should be Sunday evening. It's necessary to have 50 people to run the state blogs -- and in some cases more than one person will do so. We've got PA, OK, and NM now, and we hope to have all 50-plus volunteers by the end of February (one of whom can be YOU. If you live overseas, we can also use your help.

The following is the post I made on my primary blog: http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com. I write regularly (an average of more than once-a-day) on that blog and will from time to time repost on this site. Cindy Reidhead of The Pink Flamingo is assisting in this effort, as is Sharon Caliendo of Rudy Supporters for McCain (a group that switched over to McCain on the same day Rudy Giuliani endorsed him). http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RudySupportersforMcCain/

The state blogs will be independent sites. They are not in competition with any other sites for McCain. In fact, we all encourage every blog to join the main campaign site for volunteers, which is: http://mccainvictory08.com. The state sites will be "state-specific." The main purpose will be grassroots efforts to generate volunteers, handle logistics (at the county and state levels), and to raise funds.

If you can send $200, that's great. If you can send $25, that's great also. You can contribute by going here -- and use either a bank card or credit card. If you want to send a check by mail, you can do so at:

You will need to list your address and your employer (unless you're retired or not otherwise employed).

The point is this: If activists who back McCain wait for "instructions from headquarters, they -- and that means "us" -- will wait in vain. Activists act -- on their own, in behalf of their candidate. They disseminate information and seek out support. That's what we're asking you to do. McCain will need 3,000,000 active volunteers to win this election. There is no way that number of individuals can be guided from above. We need vast numbers of people to function as leaders.

Obama, the presumptive nominee of the Democrats, generates funds at a truly amazing rate, and a lot of the money comes from the farthest-Left segment of American society, including multi-billionaire GOP-hater George Soros. If you have any extra cash this week, please donate it at John McCain's home site. You can do through through a credit or bank card.

Right now, we need volunteers from every state. If you have the time (not that much required) and the inclination (a lot required), please volunteer to host your state blog. It will already have been set up -- each in the same general format. If you have questions, please send them to me at: TalkTop65@aol.com or to Cindy at: SJReidhead@mac.com You can also ask by leaving comments at my main site: http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com.

John McCain needs your help. God bless you for providing it.

The following is a repost of my column on http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com.

This is an INDEPENDENT effort focused on bringing together you and other bloggers in your state to work together to ensure the election of John McCain. I hope you and others like you throughout the country will join, either as managers of each state blog or as participants to be listed on the blogroll.

The “AM” Blogroll (a.m. for McCain's "morning in America") on the state blogs is designed to be a networking tool for the supporters of John McCain It is not to supplant any other group. Indeed, the AM Blogroll will also concentrate on grass-roots logistics, fund-raising, and eventually will become a ‘get out the vote’ tool for local communities.It's early, but there are now two model blogs up (and will be more soon). Please visit them at: (1) http://newmexicoforjohnmccain.blogspot.com/ -- and(2) http://americanforjohnmccain.blogspot.com/.

http://pennsylvaniaforjohnmccain.blogspot.com/ is up now and has information that you will find useful.

The blogs will enable people in each state to communicate with each other. The blog manager's role will be to make it easier for people to share ideas and to communicate what's going on in each state. The blogs can help ensure that McCain is competitive in every state, one of his stated goals.

Of course, no one but Senator McCain and his paid staff (a very small group compared to Obama's huge staff) can speak FOR the Senator. However, it is our first amendment right to speak ABOUT the Senator and his opponent.We very much need volunteers to manage state blogs.

Such people should be committed to the election of John McCain and willing to devote perhaps one hour per day to their particular state blog. (As the election nears, particularly in September and October of this year, the blogs will take on a tremendous importance in getting out the vote for Senator McCain.)

If you might not have the individual time to spend on the blog, please consider being a co-manager. There's reason why 2-3-4 people can't be co-managers. Such people won't be receiving instruction from anyone else, since each blog will be an individual enterprise.

That said, the state blogs should look alike (see the examples) and be as user-friendly as possible. That's why Blogger (blogspot.com) will be used. It's simple to set up and attract participants.The goal would be for each state blog to have representatives from all (or nearly all) counties. Bloggers then can share information and suggestions in order to make certain each state is as well-organized as possible for the election. Also, we can learn from each other about successful tactics at winning supporters and getting out the vote.

The state blogs should play a critical role. However, you're encouraged to join other organizations devoted to Senator McCain. You can find out how to do so by going to: http://mccainvictory2008.com/. MV08 will always be an important element in the McCain effort.

If you'd like more information, please direct your questions either to me (TalkTop65@aol.com) or to SJReidhead@mac.com. You can also leave comments at our blogs.Every state is going to be critical, but some may be more critical than others. They include: New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Virginia, and Florida. Your efforts can be crucial in such battleground states -- and others. If John McCain wins most of those states (esp. Florida, Pennsylvania, and Ohio), he will be the next President of the U.S. With enough effort, each state is winnable.

PLEASE VOLUNTEER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. At the Pennsylvania for McCain site (http://pennsylvaniaforjohnmccain/ (up and running on Saturday), I'll be sharing information provided by political superstar Sharon Caliendo of Oklahoma. She's an expert on individuals leveraging their efforts to elect candidates.Also, don't forget to visit the models from New Mexico and America generally.Your suggestions are always welcome.

NOTE: THIS BLOG RECEIVES MANY VISITORS FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S. -- BRAZIL, CANADA, MEXICO, FRANCE, AUSTRALIA, AND ELSEWHERE. IF YOU'RE NOT A U.S. CITIZEN, YOU CAN'T CONTRIBUTE FINANCIALLY TO THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN. HOWEVER, YOU CAN HELP GREATLY BY COMMUNICATING YOUR SUPPORT FOR MCCAIN TO FRIENDS AND RELATIVES IN THE U.S. PLEASE START DOING SO TODAY! IF YOU ARE A U.S. CITIZEN OVERSEAS, THIS BLOG (AND OTHERS) WILL PROVIDE INFORMATION ON HOW YOU CAN GET AN ABSENTEE BALLOT TO VOTE IN THE PRIMARY AND GENERAL ELECTION.