[statecom] II. Congress

[Mike Heichman]

mikeheichman at verizon.net wrote:

>II. The Campaign for Congress, 208
>Proposal to the April State Comm. Meeting
>
>Mike Heichman
>mikeheichman at verizon.net
>617-265-8143
>
>A. The Campaign for the US Senate
>
>There are 3 ways for the GRP to maintain our party status after the
>November, 2008 election. One way is to 
>dramatically increase our membership to over 40,000 (which I believe would
>be especially challenging in a 
>presidential election year). The other way is for our presidential
>candidate or US Senate candidate to get over 3% of 
>the vote. I believe that our best chance is with the race for the US Senate.
>
>While it will be very simple for us to get our presidential candidate on
>the ballot, it will be a major undertaking to get 
>the necessary signatures for our US Senate candidate. In 2002, we had
>ballot status and it was a major task to get 
>our 3 candidates on the ballot, even though 2 of them were running as a
>team (Jill for Governor and Tony for Lt. 
>Gov). That year, like 2008, we were a recognized party and we could only
>get signatures from members of our party, 
>those who belonged to other political designations and unenrolled voters.
>In the recently completed statewide race, 
>we had the enormous advantage of running 4 candidates on the same petition,
>being able to received signatures 
>from any registered voter, and having extra time to get the signatures.
>
>We will need 10,000 valid signatures (beginning on February 12 and
>delivering our signatures to 351 separate 
>municipalities by May 6). Getting enough signatures for our US Senate
>candidate will be the most challenging 
>signature-gathering test for our party since the 2002 elections. While a
>major challenge, we know that we can do it 
>because we have done it before. However, this time let’s begin much
>earlier. I believe that it is essential that we find 
>our candidate and organize our campaign early (I would say no later than
>the end of 2007 and preferably much 
>earlier.). It would be best if we would find an “attractive” candidate who
>will at least have the potential of raising 
>additional resources beyond the base of our active GRP members.
>
>One enormous advantage for this race is that John Kerry has decided not to
>run for President again and will focus his 
>energies in the US Senate and for his re-election for another six-year
>term. If he had decided to run for President, 
>there would have been a wide-open scramble by both the Democrats and
>Republicans, and there would have been 
>less space for our candidate. Instead, I believe that there is an excellent
>chance that the Republicans will probably 
>decide not to run a major candidate for this office and will focus instead
>on building their base by running 
>candidates for the state legislature. 
>
>I’m hoping that we will be able to run a presidential and US Senate
>candidate in active collaboration with each other. 
>There will be opportunities for these two statewide (for us) campaigns to
>support each other. Recently, our national 
>party has established a separate committee to encourage and support
>candidates to run for the US Senate across the 
>country. (“The Green Senatorial Campaign Committee (GSCC) was granted
>national Senate campaign committee 
>status by the Federal Election Commission on Thursday, February 8, giving
>the committee the ability to raise and 
>spend money under rules similar to those for the Democrat and Republican
>House and Senate national campaign 
>committees.  The GSCC assists Green Party candidates running for the U.S.
>Senate. “) We should take advantage of 
>the additional resources that this committee could produce. We should also
>keep in touch with the other Green Party 
>US Senate candidates’ websites to “borrow” ideas for our campaign.
>
>What if we will be unable to organize early (this year) and find an
>“attractive” candidate with the potential of running 
>a “serious’ statewide campaign? Then, I think that we should skip this race
>and acknowledge that we will probably 
>loose our ballot status after November 2008.
>
>If we want our party to become engaged in this race, it is essential that
>we recruit a candidate and develop an initial 
>campaign plan before the end of this year. 
>
>Draft Proposal for the 
>State Comm.-Request Feedback
>
>“I very much favor seeking a candidate to run for U. S. Senate in our GRP
>primary next year. And I am convinced that 
>the search does have to begin now, if we are to do it properly.  Sooner or
>later, but perhaps only in the somewhat 
>distant future, we will have matured ideologically to the point where
>within our own dedicated membership we will 
>have many people, of whom we could ask, or demand, that they take the time
>from their lives as citizens in a 
>commonwealth to serve the public good by serving in electoral office.  Who
>would be honored to be asked?  At the 
>moment, however, we are still operating under the dominant ideological
>assumptions of personal ambition, 
>paraphrased more than a century ago as "I want office!  I deserve office
>because I want office!  Choose me!  Vote for 
>me!"  So far, no GRP member has proposed herself or himself as a candidate
>for this office.  And thus if we, CDLC, 
>and others say, "We want you!" we will begin the "paradigm shift" to where
>the party runs the campaign -- not for its 
>benefit (like a duopoly player) but for the benefit of all concerned with
>the outcome -- and not the candidate for 
>office, for the benefit of the candidate's political career.” –Elie Yarden 
>
>
>
>The State Committee will establish a diverse committee that will recruit
>one or more potential candidates to become 
>the GRP candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2008. (“Expcom US Senate 2008
>Committee”)
>
>I.	This Committee, which will be appointed by the co-chairs of our party,
>will be diverse. Non-white, professional, 
>heterosexual males will be encouraged to join the committee.
>II.	The Committee will be authorized by the State Committee to recruit one
>or more candidates. 
>III.	The decision to nominate our candidate will either be made by the GRP
>2007 convention or by a special 
>meeting. Either way, the state party will do its best to publicize this
>meeting to our membership.
>IV.	If we do not nominate a candidate by the end of 2007, the State Party
>will automatically be deciding that this 
>race will not be a major priority for 2008.
>V.	The Expcom will coordinate the work of other GRP Committees to
>accomplish the following:
>
>A.	The CDLC will provide overall campaign support for the Expcom. It will
>make sure that the party and potential 
>candidates will know about the legal requirements, will provide the
>potential candidates with a campaign manual, 
>etc. The CDLC will support the candidate who has been nominated until the
>September Primary and the winner of the 
>September Primary until the November election.
>
>B.	The Platform Committee will coordinate the initial issue support for the
>campaign. It will provide research and 
>develop 2-4 (?) issue papers for the campaign before the end of 2007. It
>will do the same kind of work in 
>coordination with our candidate after her/his nomination.
>
>C.	ComCom will provide a “public relations” manual for potential candidates
>in 2007. It will work with the 
>campaign of our nominated candidate.
>
>D.	The Finance Committee will provide information and assistance to
>potential candidates and continue to work 
>with our nominated candidate after the convention.  It will seek support
>from the Green Senatorial Campaign 
>Committee (GSCC) for our endorsed candidate.
>
>E.	The Tech Committee will provide space on our website for potential
>candidates, and continue to work with our 
>nominated candidate after the convention.
>
>VI.	The Expcom will also do the following after coordinating with our 2006
>Slate of Candidates:
>
>A.	Create a questionnaire for potential candidates to make sure that they
>have the legal qualifications to run for 
>the US Senate, that they are in agreement with our “10 Key Values”, and are
>in general agreement with our platform.
>
>B.	With the assistance of the 2006 slate of candidates, it will create a
>“contract” between the party and the 
>candidates which would spell out the …
>
>1.	expectations the party will have from our candidates.
>2.	expectations that our candidates will have from our party.
>
>C.	In collaboration with the other GRP Committees, Expcom will come up with
>an initial campaign timetable and 
>campaign for our nominated candidates.
>
>
>B. The Campaign for Congress, 2008
>
>Should we run one or more candidates for the House of Representatives in
>2008?
>
>John Kerry’s decision not to run for President probably broke the hearts of
>many members of the MA congressional 
>delegation. However, they are so happy to be the majority party in the
>House and so hopeful, as of now, of 
>increasing their control of the House in 2008 that I doubt that any of them
>will decide not to run for re-election.
>
>The advantage is that a congressional district is a much smaller race (10%
>of the population and much smaller in 
>size) than running statewide. There may not be a significant Republican
>challenger, who would need to run a major 
>campaign against an incumbent Democrat, because the Republican are very
>weak right now in this state. 
>
>However, if we decide to focus our major resources on the presidential and
>US Senate campaigns, I do not believe 
>that we will have the resources to run anyone for the US House in 2008.
>
>On the other hand, if we decide that we do not have the resources for a
>major effort for the presidential race and if 
>we decide that this is not the year to run for the US Senate, then one or
>more Congressional races might me an 
>excellent idea.
>
>The more immediate focus of our attention should be to explore the
>feasibility of running a candidate for the US 
>Senate. If we decide to investigate this race, we can also ask potential
>candidates if they would be interested in 
>running for Congress instead.
>
>While a race for Congress is much smaller than a statewide run for the US
>Senate, it still would require major 
>resources from our party. Therefore, I believe that just like the US Senate
>race, we should only become involved in a 
>contest for the US House if we find and endorse a candidate in 2007.
>
>
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