<html>
<head>
<style><!--
.hmmessage P
{
margin:0px;
padding:0px
}
body.hmmessage
{
font-size: 10pt;
font-family:Verdana
}
--></style>
</head>
<body class='hmmessage'>
<br>Tian, your account of your Sacramento campaigns was probably the funniest thing <br>that day, and definitely did not put me to sleep. I wish I had a picture to show you <br>of the eyes that Libertarian hottie was making at you.<br><br><br><br><br><br>> Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 20:11:59 -0800<br>> From: tnharter@aceweb.com<br>> To: sosfbay-discuss@cagreens.org<br>> Subject: Re: [Sosfbay-discuss] How Did Party in Berkeley Go?<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> Ray Tobey wrote:<br>> > Brian Good wrote:<br>> >> Ray said that continuing to run campaigns where we get 5% of the<br>> >> vote was just guaranteeing that we'll continue to be ineffective. It<br>> >> seemed that few people wanted to hear that. It was nice to see a<br>> >> reunion amongst the old timers, people chattering excitedly. But it<br>> >> reminded me of 9/11 Truth conventions where people go to have their<br>> >> dissenting beliefs reinforced by like-minded people. I wonder if<br>> >> there's something cultish about continuing to convince each other that<br>> >> it's enough just to pull in a few thousand votes. If we are to<br>> >> convince the mainstream that we are a viable alternative instead of a<br>> >> perennial protest vote, we need to convince ourselves of that first.<br>> > <br>> > Thank you Brian. I thought that no one had heard me say that.<br>> > <br>> > I think it was a relatively pleasant social event and that everyone had<br>> > a good time. Our candidate for Lt. Governor is Jim Castillo, a Native<br>> > American. I enjoyed the blessing ceremony that he started the event<br>> > with. It was also very nice to hear his associate Bill play Native<br>> > American flutes. I enjoyed conversing with Bill and his wife Jane, both<br>> > of whom will be helping Jimmy.<br>> <br>> I was impressed by Jim Castillo. If somebody gave me a page to gather<br>> signatures for him on I would. Anybody want to mail me a couple?<br>> > <br>> > There was literature for a bunch of past candidates on several tables.<br>> > Quite a few founders and past candidates attended. The event was a<br>> > celebration of these accomplishments and how important the Party is and<br>> > how the world needs these candidates.<br>> <br>> I met at least one green incumbent I'd not met before, Silverdale or<br>> something like that. I also took a bunch of pictures of one of a kind<br>> people like the first guy to lose against none of the above.<br>> > <br>> > However, as Brian alluded to, I find all these Green events very<br>> > frustrating. We gather a couple times a year and do internal structure<br>> > admin. We have social functions like this one.<br>> <br>> I got two chances to stand up. The first time I talked about running,<br>> the second time I talked about change. Then I spent all the break time<br>> showing everybody I could that there is now a buck with "PEACE" on it.<br>> I'd tell them "now that there is peace in the change, for only a buck<br>> you can have peace in your change." Moved quite a few of the things.<br>> Now there is a more distributed sprinkling of PEACE in peoples change.<br>> > <br>> > However, it seems such a waste to gather all these activists together<br>> > without working to improve our effectiveness. Hardly a word was spoken<br>> > about how you actually run a campaign. We did not talk about how you<br>> > accomplish any tasks within a campaign, like a mailing. We did not talk<br>> > about how to plan and execute the different phases of a campaign, like<br>> > base building, fundraising, persuasion or GOTV. We did not talk about<br>> > how one campaign affects allied campaigns or subsequent campaigns.<br>> > <br>> > I counted 73 people at one point. (I'll bet 100 attended, but not all at<br>> > the same time). Everyone sat quietly while we listened to Charlene<br>> > Spretnak and someone else talk about the old days on the phone. She<br>> > mentioned that about 15 years ago, they determined that the Green Party<br>> > needed to teach people how to run campaigns.<br>> > <br>> > It strikes me that we all know of this need. We've known it for a long<br>> > time. I just do not see us doing very much about it.<br>> > <br>> I enjoyed what happened. I got lots of pictures for my website.<br>> I should be trimming those instead of yammering. Excuse me...<br>> -- <br>> Tian<br>> http://tian.greens.org<br>> Latest change: added pictures from a peace center awards ceremony.<br>> _______________________________________________<br>> sosfbay-discuss mailing list<br>> sosfbay-discuss@cagreens.org<br>> http://lists.cagreens.org/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss<br> <br /><hr />Your E-mail and More On-the-Go. Get Windows Live Hotmail Free. <a href='http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/201469229/direct/01/' target='_new'>Sign up now.</a></body>
</html>