Many many voters who regularly do their civic duty at the polls act on that “gut feeling” rather than nitty-gritty details of the day-to day campaigning by strangers.

IF I ever re-locate the fascinating study that discovered how astoundingly ccurate that strategy was for low-information voters, I’ll be thrilled witless. I have dear neighbors who basically go by that sort of formula, and I wouldn’t trade them for all the voters from Rover’s secret list. They and we have frequent contact. At this point, she admitted with a grin, they voted for a fella they never heard about, simply because we had his sign out by our driveway. They also, on their own, have spread their growingly progressive message to formerly recalcitrant relatives and beyond – and these dear friends are shy, not given to “preaching”.

Long story made short, low-key and working with contacts one-on-one, on their terms, DOES spread good information in spite of the MSM saturation.

Please don’t give up, no matter what your stage in the process.

AND, don’t feel the need to press people who don’t want to hear what you had planned to say. If they back off. Suggest you back off, unless you’re on some sort of crusade different from mine and able to handle total rejection really really well. People these days are sick to death of being told what to do. But they will listen. Most will listen. Just try and don’t treat farther than you should. Try sharing an e’mail address, or a favorite blog, etc. . . .

It’s not clear what he’s up to on this admittedly divisive issue.

WARNING: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, WITH CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL, the National Security Agency may have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President, 69 members of the Senate and 293 members of the House of Representatives.

Slight tweaking of the idea: everyone ought to feel free to work within their own capabilities. E.g., I have an awful time making good phone calls, or talking face-to-face on a regular basis – easily get into stammer-sputter mode, so I usually only do e-mail pestering and encouraging. I also have a powerful aversion to mob-crowd demonstrating, but have great respect for those who can put up with it’s demands and risks.

Others have their own style, and I suggest they follow what suits them best. Besides, the last thing we want is to look like we’re mindlessly marching in lockstep. I suspect it’s more effective to have individual efforts working right along with the mass efforts like big ads, petitions, demonstrations of all sorts, etc.

Imo, smash-mouth abusive & demeaning demonstrations only hurt our cause and make it that much harder for us to accomplish our real aims. That sort of stuff will always trigger a tougher negative reaction by the people we’re trying to reach and influence, if only by spooking them. I like some of Ghandi’s handy rules of thumb, and Molly’s amazing mix of very effective tricks of the trade.

I’m not flying blind. My masters was in behavior, all the more useful because it was animal behavior (ethology). My major prof. was truly gifted at reading people as well as other critters. I had the honor of meeting the great Konrad Lorenz back in the dark ages of my grad student days. I did a lot of animal training, and that would include a number of unwary people. lol.

P. E. A. C. E.

unfortunately Ross-Lehnteinen is up by 27 points – although there were signs a month back of possible vulnerability – she issued a mailer emphatically stating she was no “rubber-stamp republican”

link