As recently as three weeks ago, Will Deschamps told us local committee people that he didn’t know who he’d be running against for state GOP chair. And then - boom! - on June 4, Rick Breckinridge of Lake County burst forth with a blog, blog-based e-mail and Twitter campaign opposing him. At least it seemed sudden to me.
Now realize one school of thought in Montana’s hapless GOP believes the way to win the hearts of those fickle and elusive younger voters is through those Internets and Twitter thingies, if we could just hire some bright web-savvy Young People to do all that for us.
So, along comes a stealth state chair candidate who has brought that very Internet mojo to bear on the members assembling today in Helena to elect a new leader. The blog looks good and professional, with daily posts and sidebar links to Red State, Hot Air, and the Paulite Campaign for Liberty blog. And yesterday the PickRickJune12 blog breathlessly announced that Denny Rehberg was following his campaign on Twitter!
Breckinridge promises to bring that same up-to-the-minute technology to the rescue of the state GOP. From his web site:
As Chairman of our Party, I will communicate with you all year, through direct mail, phone calls, personal visits and other means.
We’ll develop cutting edge online communications and donor development databases that will make “Voter Vault” look as archaic as IBM punch cards
Ouch!
These databases will give you the tools to not only help raise funds for the Party and local candidates in your area, but to also go out and make personal contact with voters and encourage them to join the Montana Republican Party and support our candidates.
But that’s not all, he’s also proposing a 3-Prong Win Strategy for fundraising (more money, always a good thing). Only, his premises are a bit flawed:
…how many of you have been contacted, encouraged to participate locally, or even asked for money since the election? There’s a good chance that many of you have not.
Uh, if they’re like me they’ve probably been hit up a lot, but whatever…if he’s promising to bring that awesome Paul-style Internet cash-hustling to the Montana GOP, that would be a good thing, yes?
He is also taking a principled stand against rules changes - proposed by the committee Deschamps happens to chair - that would create a smaller state Executive Board and a new State Operating Board consisting of the current state Republican leadership - House and Senate leaders, Congressmen, and State Land Board members (which would be exactly zero now). I saw this as a bit of Politburo-style power grabbing myself. But an e-mail sent to the voting members and linking his blog post elicited this response from former AG candidate Tim Fox, who is on the Rules committee:
While I certainly understand your need to create some contrast between your candidacy and Will’s, I believe you’ve unfairly maligned Will on this issue. You are correct that Will was aware of the proposed Rule changes, but not until we submitted them to the Rules Committee. Will was not a part of the effort to propose these Rules, and he was not advised that we were working on proposed Rule changes.
Fair enough, but what about those rules changes? It seems that the E-board is seen as “too big” but there is no practical way to cut it down without hacking someone off. So, you build something on top of it. Brilliant.
Breckinridge is a relative newcomer to local central committee politics. From yesterday’s Lee papers:
Breckenridge said he was “appalled” at the condition of local organizing committees in recent election cycles. The former Army officer said they need to be improved so they can effectively help candidates.
“It really lit a fire under me, and got my battle blood up,” he said. “I just said ‘We have to do something about it.’ ”
I.e., he joined central committee in the last election cycle, and found it wanting - of course. I suspect our own new members found the local cencom wanting, too, as so many of them disappeared quickly after the caucus. Central committee business tends to run more to rules, continuity, rifle raffles, fair booths, and boring stuff like that, than meetups, Tea Parties and earnest policy talk.
He said he wants to focus on improving the local organizations, raising money and better competing with Democrats at the volunteer level.
“There are people out there and they want to participate. They just need to be guided and directed and given a job,” Breckenridge said. “What we have done in the past, in my opinion, has not been successful as a strategy.”
Breckenridge is also touting the enthusiasm created by the Ron Paul supporters who got involved last year in an effort to carry the Montana primary for the former presidential candidate. He also will make a point to emphasize the anti-abortion portion of the party platform, alongside the key message of limited government.
“I think there is some fear of the enthusiasm that Dr. Paul has energized,” he said. “But once we get everything working, I think the finger pointing will stop.”
Aha! And there you have it. But for all the sound and fury of his Internet army, Ron Paul did not get a lot of votes. And in my precinct, where I had to perform the unspeakable acts of calling voters and going door to door, Paul was not exactly the buzz on the street.
Pauls’ supporters instead benefited from a flawed approach to 2008’s early primary season. It was Erik Iverson’s (one) big idea to have closed caucuses that year, which empowered the Paulites to begin with. Ironically, Deschamps wholeheartedly jumped on and supported the caucus idea and welcomed the new members into the local party. They won the local caucus but only by two votes.
Deschamps told central committee here one of the reasons he is running was because he felt that western Montana and especially Missoula County were being shortchanged the state GOP. Yet he finds himself as the establishment candidate.
The voting members at the convention will be what is for now the Old Guard of the party - primarily the state committee men and committee women, which are typically longtime members emeriti from each local cencom.
Will the Old Guard be impressed by the late Internet onslaught of Mr. Breckinridge? Does it reflect a true groundswell of grassroots sentiment? Is it real or is it Twitter?
Missoulapolis predicts: Twitter, schmitter. Deschamps doesn’t have the Internet fu but he has been on the phone, on the road and will win the votes of the actual voting members of the state GOP.
on Jun 11th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
From your keyboard to God’s ears (eyes?!)!! The RPers took over the LCCRCC and are firmly convinced they have the keys to the kingdom. I hope they’ve figured out a way to win with less than 20% of the vote, because it seems to me that they’re so enamored with their successes within their own voting bloc that they haven’t noticed that there are more voters who aren’t voting with them than are.
on Jun 11th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
That was Greek to me. But it might explain why Kellogg reduced the sugar in Frosted Flakes by 25 percent.
on Jun 11th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
The way the Tea Partyers treated a local business woman who didn’t want her business shut down on the 4th and exercised her free speech to say that, they’re not going to attract many people in business. Nor did the extremes of the legislature score any points when they submarined setting aside some tiny part of the millions of the Obama gravy to help Bozeman businesses clean up…they’ve cost Republicans some contributors right there.
Broke “off the gridders” distrustful of bank accounts and social security cards aren’t going to carry the day for Republicans.
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Too much Inside Baseball for ya Max? LOL
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Update: Will was successful in his bid to be elected Chair. Wahoo!!!
Morals of the story: 1.) Elections are not won by websites, facebook, twitter, or social networking sites. Elections are won by having the most votes for your candidate. 2.) A loud, passionate, overbearing minority with an in-your-face, holier-than-thou candidate is still a minority. Minorities with unpleasant candidates don’t win.
Verbum sapientes: Learn from the lessons above. There are more of us than there are of you. Threatening to “take over the party” isn’t working real well for you - especially on the PR (Party Relations) front, so you might want to re-think your strategy.
on Jun 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Yes my spy texted me from the convention floor.
I do think the party is stressing a little too much about the tech. I think we have a worse problem than that: the social con/libertarian split.
on Jun 13th, 2009 at 7:15 am
Carol - wish you were here!!! I totally agree about the tech - that’s not the problem. I think the more critical split is between the purists who are under the delusion that there was a time when all republicans thought alike and think they can force that again and the rest of us who understand that we have unifying principles - but a wide range of specific outlooks on issues. Are you going to Gregg’s meet-up on July 18??????
on Jun 13th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Nope, I’m booked. I’m all about making money rather than spending it right now.
Lib what was the vote breakdown? Was it close or no contest? Where was eastern MT in all this?
on Jun 13th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I don’t know what the count was on the elections, but based on the votes today on the rules, I’d bet that it was probably no contest - maybe 65 - 35, even 70 - 30 or better for Will. I’ll let you know if I hear more.
on Jun 13th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Those who were in the know were informed that Breckenridge lost by about 30-35 votes, most of those suspiciously came in on Friday morning. Champion, who was by far the better candidate for chairman if the conservatives really wanted to win, lost by three. It became apparent on Tuesday that Breckenridge was a public relations disaster and if the conservatives really want to have a leader, they need someone who is by far more open to reaching out to the moderates. The debate today seemed to be a fruitless waste of time and energy as there was no way that they could see beyond their noses. There was no compromise, even after spending several late night hours and explaining why the changes were necessary. It was the my way or the highway which will just ruin the party. It is my belief that the man behind the demise of the party was Christian LeFer, the Right to Work lobbying who runs 12 other PACS whose actions border on illegal and unethical at best. For those RPers to associate with him will be the demise of their little empire. He has a track record dating back 15 years of this behavior. It is in my humble opinion that he be ousted and never allowed back into advising this group. I for one hope that Deschamps keeps his campaign promises to reach out to the more conservative fraction of the Republican party instead of ignoring and marginalizing them. Only if we are united will we begin to win legislative and statewide victories.
on Jun 13th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I’ve heard about that guy with Right to Work. He approaches every legislative candidate to sign on with RTW but the word has long been out to ignore him no matter how sympathetic you might be to that cause.
As for the public relations disaster, when I first looked over his blog I could have sworn I saw some passages about “abortion and the homosexual agenda” but when I went back the next day it was gone. I see it surfaced again in his speech though. Obviously irrepressable!
on Jun 13th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
The main problem with the rules votes today was the basic political naivete of the RPers. They’re new to the party and have very limited understanding of what the “inside baseball” issues are. Combine that with an almost paranoid confrontational attitude, it’s virtually impossible to reason with them. Then they wonder why the majority of the party members aren’t all warm and fuzzy towards them. Frustrating at best.
on Jun 16th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Gee sounds like this Right to Work guy (which one is it this year?) holds a lot of power. A Svengali-like power over all those delegates? Demise of the party? Dozens of PACs? 15 years? Sounds like the experience we constitutional types in the GOP could use. I’ll bet these folks will side with someone with experience over any “RP-lite” party sellout like some we saw on Saturday, shilling for the rules.
Sounds like sour grapes. We are great at eating our own, maybe we should look in your own backyard instead of blaming some boogeyman. And last time I checked, firing workers for not paying dues is banned under the Republican platform. So you must be anti-platform and want Democrats to keep getting millions in union dues if you oppose RTW. As an organization they have a spotty history in Montana, here today, nowhere to be found the next, the jury is still out on their program if you asked me. But the idea is correct.
Looks like the commenter above wants to keep the “liberty wing” in the minority of a permanent minority party - the very thing they purport to care about. Must be a RP RINO. That’s why I still voted NO on the rules.
on Jun 16th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Goof,
You’re so keen on actually believing what the media says about the Tea Partiers in Bozeman, it begs the question, who’s side are you on? Are you not concerned with the massive government over-spending that will bankrupt and destroy our country? Are you not concerned with government take-over of private industries?
In no way did any of us intimidate or threaten that one business owner who spoke out against the Tea Party. In fact, we met with her after the City Commission and heard her concerns and addressed them at our next planning meeting.
Our Tea Party is good for business. Just ask the 40 plus Main Street business owners who signed a petition to close down Main Street. Do you know of any July 4 where there was any traffic, vehicular or pedestrian, on Main Street. No, it’s usually a ghost town. We’re going to bring over 1,000 people downtown.
You’re badly mistaken to put down the Tea Party movement and if others in the GOP try to do that, they do so at the party’s peril.
Also, whether you like the tactics or strategy or not, Campaign for Liberty people are a part of the GOP and they are here to stay. Database marketing and social networking sites are great tools.
In the end, you the need votes to win. The GOP will need the votes of this new grassroots movement that coalesced around Ron Paul, Glenn Beck’s 912 Project and the Tea Party Movement. If they get disgruntled you may lose them. Try winning statewide elections then.
on Jun 18th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
We can only wish Will the same luck at the state level that he has had running legislative races in Missoula County.