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MakeAmericaSaneAgain. A 2016 political campaign.

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Publicola said:
I'm not sure that works. This primary race is unusual precisely because the presumptive Democratic opponent is Hillary -- who is so decidedly unlikable and disliked that even someone like Cruz has a decent shot of winning in a head-to-head match-up. Saying "Pataki is the better candidate because he can win" won't do much to sway a politically astute observer like Laxalt. Reuniting the Reagan coalition might fly, but that's what every political candidate promises. We have to show how we can deliver on that promise.
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Hillary might be unlikable and disliked but I think you're overestimating her disapproval ratings. Hillary's campaign was damaged a lot during the democratic primaries, particularly in regards to the DNC controversy. Then there were the email scandal which isn't really a thing until 2016(I think). At this point in time, she looked like a far stronger candidate than her current position would suggest.

In regards to Cruz, it's true that he has a chance at winning against Hillary, since Hillary does have a lot of baggage and there's a great deal of dissatisfaction with the establisment and the status quo. However, Cruz isn't going to win a lot of supporters based on his charisma or looks and his target demographic, the evangelicals, are largely based in already safe Republican territory. This weakens his prospects against Hillary who has a lot of support in swing states like Virginia and North Carolina. A comparison here between a guy like Reagan who was able to swing previously life-time democrats and Cruz here is apt. Who is Cruz going to convince to vote for him that isn't already a Republican or at least leaning Republican?

Pataki meanwhile has significant support amongst Latinos(our roll of 100 might come in handy here), which is very important in Florida, and he has the charisma to appeal to the working class in states like Ohio. This places him in a far better position than Cruz who has greater appeal to the base but less to to the general population. To say than "a politically astute observer like Laxalt" should not consider whether Cruz and Pataki has the same chance of winning against Hillary and factor that into his decision is simply wrong.
 
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For our response to other Laxalt, I'd say our best bet would be to focus on the People Over Politics message. Seems like it would really appeal to him. So something like:

[] Pataki's the only candidate I've ever worked for who actually gives a damn. He's not making up bullshit to boost his poll numbers because he wants a chance to put his name in the history books or because he's hungry for power. The guy genuinely feels like its his duty to serve the public and make the world a better place. At first I thought it was all a load of crap, but ... you know what? I believe in the son of a bitch. I think he can turn things around and move America back to the values it had before all the crazies on both sides of the aisle came out of the woodwork and started shitting up every election.

Seems to hit on the best theme we have to win other Laxalt over. Also, I enjoyed writing the Peter Laxalt-isms in the plan.

The Karvoka Man said:
Well, to quote Ben Fernandez (First Hispanic to run for President, and a Republican) Hispanics were "natural Republicans" because they had a "centuries-old suspicion of oppressive central governments" and "learned fiscal conservatism at the knees of their mothers, who assured them that if they didn't watch their nickels they wouldn't eat"
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Yeah, from what I've heard the biggest issue keeping the latin vote out of Republican Party is the Republicans' iffy history on immigration and race. Though that's been said a fair bit by Republicans when it comes to Black vote too. Being tarred with the brush of "Party that quietly tolerates and subtly panders to racists" is not good for winning over minority voters.

Hopefully Pataki can emulate Bush II (a phrase many people probably never expected to hear) by working to shake off a bit of that stigma.
 
Chengar Qordath said:
[] Pataki's the only candidate I've ever worked for who actually gives a damn. He's not making up bullshit to boost his poll numbers because he wants a chance to put his name in the history books or because he's hungry for power. The guy genuinely feels like its his duty to serve the public and make the world a better place. At first I thought it was all a load of crap, but ... you know what? I believe in the son of a bitch. I think he can turn things around and move America back to the values it had before all the crazies on both sides of the aisle came out of the woodwork and started shitting up every election.
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But... that was what the whole article that (our) Laxalt wrote was about. Don't you think we should try to say something else since we have the guy's attention? He read the article and was intriged but I doubt he'll be convinced if we just regurgitate the same talking points.
 
Versharl said:
But... that was what the whole article that (our) Laxalt wrote was about. Don't you think we should try to say something else since we have the guy's attention? He read the article and was intriged but I doubt he'll be convinced if we just regurgitate the same talking points.
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It's hardly that. More building upon the theme that caught the guy's interest in the first place. Not to mention it's an argument that will mean far more in-person that it would in the pages of an editorial. It gives other-Laxalt a chance to look us in the eye and see that we're not just a campaign manager spouting talking points, we actually believe what we're saying.

That said, it's a rough draft I'm planning on modifying as feedback comes in. Assuming none of the feedback involves someone (Publicola) posting an even better plan that uses a few elements of mine.
 
Chengar Qordath said:
For our response to other Laxalt, I'd say our best bet would be to focus on the People Over Politics message. Seems like it would really appeal to him. So something like:

[] Pataki's the only candidate I've ever worked for who actually gives a damn. He's not making up bullshit to boost his poll numbers because he wants a chance to put his name in the history books or because he's hungry for power. The guy genuinely feels like its his duty to serve the public and make the world a better place. At first I thought it was all a load of crap, but ... you know what? I believe in the son of a bitch. I think he can turn things around and move America back to the values it had before all the crazies on both sides of the aisle came out of the woodwork and started shitting up every election.

Seems to hit on the best theme we have to win other Laxalt over. Also, I enjoyed writing the Peter Laxalt-isms in the plan.



Yeah, from what I've heard the biggest issue keeping the latin vote out of Republican Party is the Republicans' iffy history on immigration and race. Though that's been said a fair bit by Republicans when it comes to Black vote too. Being tarred with the brush of "Party that quietly tolerates and subtly panders to racists" is not good for winning over minority voters.

Hopefully Pataki can emulate Bush II (a phrase many people probably never expected to hear) by working to shake off a bit of that stigma.
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I like this but we should add ALOT more to it,

some suggestions for me being

1. the huge difficulty other republican candidates will have to win the general election compared to pataki

2. pataki has kept his values and a republican through thick and thin

3.the republican party is not the part of the people it once was, now it's divided into endless other interests but above all we should be the party of the people, keeping the interests of the people while maintaining their god given rights and liberties even if we have to walk through hell and back.

4. pataki plans to end the mass corruption that has ensnared all forms of government from the very bottom to the very top, frankly everything revolves around money and the HUGE losses to the federal, state, or even city budgets across america is astronomical and can no longer be ignored.
 
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The Karvoka Man said:
Because until know your research team consisted of Harry Enten, and two interns who were using some old, crappy computers to do thier work.
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Cybandeath said:
I like this but we should add ALOT more to it,

some suggestions for me being

1. the huge difficulty other republican candidates will have to win the general election compared to pataki

2. pataki has kept his values and a republican through thick and thin

3.the republican party is not the part of the people it once was, now it's divided into endless other interests but above all we should be the party of the people, keeping the interests of the people while maintaining their god given rights and liberties even if we have to walk through hell and back.

4. pataki plans to end the mass corruption that has ensnared all forms of government from the very bottom to the very top, frankly everything revolves around money and the HUGE losses to the federal, state, or even city budgets across america is astronomical and can no longer be ignored.
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On the other hand we don't want to give him a longwinded rant. Especially since I get tye deeling there will be followup discussion that would allow elaboration
 
Chengar Qordath said:
[] Pataki's the only candidate I've ever worked for who actually gives a damn. He's not making up bullshit to boost his poll numbers because he wants a chance to put his name in the history books or because he's hungry for power. The guy genuinely feels like its his duty to serve the public and make the world a better place. At first I thought it was all a load of crap, but ... you know what? I believe in the son of a bitch. I think he can turn things around and move America back to the values it had before all the crazies on both sides of the aisle came out of the woodwork and started shitting up every election.
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Please avoid swearing at the 94 year old ex senator, he probably won't appreciate it :p
 
Chengar Qordath said:
[] Pataki's the only candidate I've ever worked for who actually gives a damn. He's not making up bullshit to boost his poll numbers because he wants a chance to put his name in the history books or because he's hungry for power. The guy genuinely feels like its his duty to serve the public and make the world a better place. At first I thought it was all a load of crap, but ... you know what? I believe in the son of a bitch. I think he can turn things around and move America back to the values it had before all the crazies on both sides of the aisle came out of the woodwork and started shitting up every election.
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[] Pataki's the only candidate I've ever worked for who actually gives a damn darn. He's not making up bullshit platitudes to boost his poll numbers because he wants a chance to put his name in the history books or because he's hungry for power. The guy genuinely feels like its his duty to serve the public and make the world a better place. At first I thought it was all a load of crap persona, but ... you know what? I believe in the son of a bitch gun. I think he can turn things around and move America back to the values it had before all the crazies on both sides of the aisle came out of the woodwork and started shitting messing up every election.

Cleaned it up. This is Nevada, after all: home to Las Vegas, legalized prostitution, and a whole bunch of Mormons. Yeah, the whole state is kinda bipolar like that.

Don't have much else to add. I feel like doing a reprise of what we wrote in our editorial should be fine, so long as there is a conversation that follows where we can talk about specifics. @The Karvoka Man, can you confirm? Is this an "elevator pitch", or just the opening salvo in a conversation?
 
Alright well we can't just say the same thing we put in the editorial. He already read that, and it's why we're here. This needs to be a follow-up on that article.
 
The Karvoka Man said:
It is an elevator pitch
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In that case, let's step up our game.

The Karvoka Man said:
"Now, Peter. I'm hearing.....interesting things, from your campaign. Very interesting. I read your editorial. Been a while since we've had a good man run for office." He folds the paper, tossing it to you. You catch it easily. "My grandson, Adam, smart kid, he's backing Cruz. I'm inclined to do so myself, though I wouldn't be able to help much, being as -" He is interrupted by an aggresive coughing fit "-as old as I am. That said, I figured, one Basque to another, I should let you come to make your case, especially given your clear....passionate supoort, of George."
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[X] Write-In (Publicola)

"Well, you saw what I wrote for the editorial, and I can tell you it's true. George was retired, he was out of the game, and then he came back -- because even if the odds were slim, the country deserved better. Setting aside questions of policy, the incontrovertible fact is that this slate of politicians have presided over the utter collapse of public trust. Congress has what, a 16% approval rating? No one trusts their own party, let alone the other guys', and no one trusts the media to keep them in check. No wonder Trump's found such success, when he's the guy telling America to just burn the whole place down and start over.

"No one's willing to stick their neck out, not with those neo-Birchers sharpening their knives on the sideline. You remember the Gang of 8 bill? Poor kid -- it might have started as a good idea, but Rubio was outplayed from Day 2, and look what they did to him! Rising star, one of the Tea Party's own, and now his name's mud. And they call themselves Reaganites! Sure, Reagan fought for principle, but you know better than I that it was always balanced with pragmatism.

"Now who's left to reach across the aisle, like he did with O'Neill? Where's the true Reaganite, willing to find common ground, to get stuff done? George avoids the label, because of how it's treated as an ideological shibboleth, but you'll never find a truer disciple. My guy is a conservative who governed as a moderate, as a sane centrist. He won New York three times as a Republican, because even Democrats knew he would fight for them regardless of party labels. You know I'm a cynic, you know there are very few people I like and even fewer I respect. George is the only guy I'd trust to sit behind that Resolute desk, and I don't trust nobody."

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Still not entirely pleased, but this'll suffice. So many possible points to include, so many different ways to phrase it, and I wanted to make it all sound like it was coming off the top of our head. Yeesh. Hope people like it.
 
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Publicola said:
In that case, let's step up our game.


WALL


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Still not entirely pleased, but this'll suffice. So many possible points to include, so many different ways to phrase it, and I wanted to make it all sound like it was coming off the top of our head. Yeesh. Hope people like it.
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Jesus, I just looked at it and refused to read. Can't we shorten that?
 
Megaolix said:
Jesus, I just looked at it and refused to read. Can't we shorten that?
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Added in line breaks for clarity, but I think this is about the right length. We don't have a chance to do follow-up, and this is a pretty high-level meeting. So we need more than the '30 second elevator pitch' but still keeping things concise. I was aiming for ~5 minutes to convey our basic message.
 
If that is too short I got a little something as well to add to it @Publicola

[X] Let's face it the way the GOP has been moving hard right while remaining socially conservative amidst these changing demographics will mean George Bush really would be the last Republican president. Pataki is the kind of conservative that truly cares about all people with the right amount of centrist tendencies to attract back the Republicans who've left to be Independents.

Pataki cares and plans to do right by all types of people unlike the current GOP which has been resorting to Voter ID laws to disenfranchise minorities and millienals instead of appealing to them and how long those laws last remaining unclear but the consistent general public outcry means it's going to be limited. The GOP needs a realignment back to sanity and that is George Pataki.
 
Hey all, quick question. Do you all support unleashing the beanslide? I've got an idea for writing that and could use a quick break from my other writing projects/work.
 
The Karvoka Man said:
Hey all, quick question. Do you all support unleashing the beanslide? I've got an idea for writing that and could use a quick break from my other writing projects/work.
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Yeah, unleash it. It probably won't be useful for much longer -- given Walker's free-falling poll numbers -- so now works.

Just make sure we aren't seen to be the ones pulling the trigger -- we want Walker's endorsement, or at least we want to stay on good terms with him, and that won't happen if we're the guys who murdered his presidential ambitions.
 
Publicola said:
Yeah, unleash it. It probably won't be useful for much longer -- given Walker's free-falling poll numbers -- so now works.

Just make sure we aren't seen to be the ones pulling the trigger -- we want Walker's endorsement, or at least we want to stay on good terms with him, and that won't happen if we're the guys who murdered his presidential ambitions.
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Don't be so negative! I'm sure you will like it.
 
The Karvoka Man said:
Don't be so negative! I'm sure you will like it.
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Is the 'Beanslide' purely a oppo-research dump against Walker? Or is there more to it than that?

If it's more than just "here's what we learned about how terrible Scott Walker is", then I'd really prefer "Harry" lets us see it before we have to make the call about when to unleash it. I get that, narratively, playing coy and keeping it close to your vest makes sense, but it's kinda unrealistic to give a researcher free reign in deciding how to use the information they gather.
 
Yeah, we've been sitting on the Beanslide for so long that we may as well unleash it.

Also I took the points Publicola made and tried my hand at rewriting it


[x] Because I wasn't lying in that article. George is one of the rare politicians out there who's not in it for himself. Some of these guys spend their whole time in office caring about nothing more than their damn national profile so they can go run for higher office halfway through their term. George only cared about doing his job, and actually making things better for the people of New York. I've been in the business for a while now, and I only know a handful of politicians still in office who aren't all about ambition, and most of them are in dead end careers anyhow. George doesn't care about ambition. If he did, then he would've run in '08 or '12 when everybody thought he would. He could've done it, and probably won too, and he knew that. But he put in three great terms as Governor and he was happy to be retired. He didn't think the country needed him.

Well, now it does, and here he is. Setting aside policy, the biggest problem in our government is that there's no public trust. We've got 50% of Americans who don't like one whole branch of government, and 80 who feel the same about another. Not even a third of Americans think we're on the right track. Everybody in office is too busy fighting each other to actually do their job, and so the rest of us are getting shafted. It's a failure on both sides here. So now everybody's ticked off, and I can't blame them. Hell, I'm right there with 'em. We've got all these radicals coming out from the left and right riling us up even more, and making us madder and madder at the system. And that's how we wound up with this bigot Trump. Trump is taking all that anger, and he's telling us that the only solution is to burn the whole system to the ground so he can replace it with this racist nationalist nonsense, but we both know that's only gonna cause more chaos.

But George, well George is about something else.

He's just as frustrated as the rest of us, because he's a sane human being, but he's gonna lead us to do something better with all that frustration. He's gonna use it to make us fix this damn country. He's a principled conservative, but he's also a practical one. He knows that dogma ain't worth the paper you write it down on if it doesn't solve the problem. He knows that the people always come before purity. And he knows that special interests mean nothing if they don't match up with the public interest. Everybody talks about how great Reagan was, but they don't talk about why he was so great. You know better than anyone that Reagan stood for the American people. He worked with Democrats, but he also upheld his conservative principles. Because that's what it took to make American Wants the American Reality. And that's what George Pataki does, and it's what nobody else in this race wants to remember.

Look, I'm a cynic. I worked with enough bad politicians to become as jaded with politics as the rest of the country, but this guy gets it. I'm not just saying this as his campaign manager, I'm saying it as a proud American: we've found another guy who remembers that public service is about serving the public. So we gotta do whatever we can to put him in office. That's how we make America great again.
 
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