(Get organized, animal lovers! - promoted by mooncat)
None of us have the money of Karl Rove or the Kochs, or even of the less sinister PACs on both sides -- but we have something else. Brains. Creativity. The ability to find issues that the 'big boys' and the pundits overlook. And the ability to work in 'small spaces' -- sometimes effectively enough that the action turns into a news story and gives us free publicity that we couldn't buy. Fir exanple, I've dreamed about seeing groups of about six LGBT constituents of homophobic Representatives showing up at Town Halls and saying, calmly and non-agressively, "We're gay, we're your constituents, and we were wondering if you had the guts to say what you've been saying about us to our faces -- and even giving us a chance to respond." Imagine that happening at abou ten town meetings, or imagine Muslim or Hispanic constituents of equally bigoted Representatives. (I'm not sure of his politics, but I'd waive the 'constituent' requirement if we could get Cesar Millan -- maybe America's best known 'illegal immigrant' -- to say the same thing.) We can do something Rove wouldn't think of, run off a ream of handbills on Republican positions on various groups -- and talk store owners who cater to those groups into letting us leave a hundred on the counter. They'd be seen by more voters -- and more convinceable voters -- than most Internet ads. (The advantage of 'print' is that it leaves you with a real 'thing' that you can hand to other people, wave in their faces, or carry with you to read at your leisure -- and it grabs attention the way tv ads make voters grab the remote.) And there are those special, small issues that get overlooked -- thus my suggestion for Alabama, a state that 'loves its dogs.' Recently Romney appeared and praised, and 'looked forward to working in partnership with' Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). Now King is crazy in uncountable ways -- when I joined the blogosphere, one question was whether the newcomer, Michelle Bachman, was as crazy as King had been for years. And some of his positions might not horrify Alabamans the way they would more liberal states. But King is also the leading supporter of dog-fighting and opponent of attempts to crack down on it, an opponent of stopping animal cruelty in 'factory farms' -- he even opposed an Amendment that would include pets in disaster planning. (Here's a PDF with the full King anti-animal record.) This plus the "Seamus" story would make a format for my "Bark and Ride Against Romney" -- simply a parade of cars driven by animal lovers, ideally with plenty of dogs hanging their heads out the window, with suitable signs on the side. (And enough publicity that a local reporter will be there -- and that people will know the King record on this and why he is causing the 'parade'-- they'll look further and many of them will find other repulsive things about "My New Partner in Washington.") The idea is not to get Republicans to vote for Obama -- that's pretty unlikely in Alabama, though if Romney handles the debates with the 'skill' he's handled the rest of the campaign, and if other attacks hit him on the '47%' and his taxes, and Bain, Alabama might just wind up being in play by the time November comes. But even if they just stay home, that will help put a scare -- and in some cases defeat -- down-ballot cabdidates. |
