A letter from Evan Cutler – Girdwood, Alaska, District 32 Delegate for Ron Paul

Here in Alaska we grew a group of delegates after our primaries into the Alaska Ron Paul Delegates meetup. In that group we pulled together about 70 of our 110 or so Ron Paul delegates in order to work and communicate together for the seven weeks before the state convention.

We did one project that I think bears replication, both for states with pending State Conventions, but also, and most importantly, on a national level, before the St. Paul Convention. First, we realized that mainstream media had been almost completely ignoring Dr. Paul.

According to my own study, which I can provide to Nolan Chart, of the 2,188 mainstream media stories about presidential candidates between January 14th and February 10th, only 4 were about Dr. Ron Paul. Contrast that to:

756 stories about Hillary Clinton

760 stories about Barack Obama

674 stories about about John McCain

424 stories about Mitt Romney

281 stories about Mike Huckebee

While we set the world record for single day campaign contributions the month before, our candidate was virtually ignored just one month later!

So, what could we do? We decided to send our own media, in the form of a DVD, to every single registered delegate and alternate in Alaska before the state convention, on the grounds that at least they could have a chance to learn who Dr. Paul was. This would help counter that “fringe” candidate label the media was applying to Dr. Paul.

And it worked! Not as well as we might have liked, but very well indeed. We found a lot more support at the convention as most the delegates who watched it never before had the opportunity to learn about Dr. Paul before, and many found they were far more in agreement with Dr. Paul, than with John McCain.

I believe we could improve on what we did here in Alaska. We have five months. With the proper support, we could manage a campaign that sends a DVD each month for four months to the national delegates and alternates going to St. Paul. It is far less expensive to have a directed campaign toward 6,900 delegates and alternates, than it is to reach 150 million voters.

I'm willing to help, but not to run this project alone–or at least not run it alone without income; I organized our own project in my spare time, which became none existent for the two weeks it took to make it happen. You can view (and even get your own copy of) our effort here:

[link edited for length]

Replicating (and Improving) this DVD Project on a National Scale

I'm already finding there is interest among other organizers to help make this happen on a national scale! When I suggested the larger scale project to a national Ron Paul Organizers meetup, I was immediately contacted by organizers from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Colorado who also liked the idea. Two of these organizers are planning similar projects now in their states.

My model imagines a series of four DVD's, one sent each month, to each National Delegate and Alternate we can identify. As we get closer to September, more and more will be chosen and identified, so the mailings will get successively larger. This means the most important DVD will be the last one.

We will find a way to allow each state to know their prorated share of manufacturing cost, and use a chip in to pay for it together. This will allow very professional manufacturing at the lowest cost per unit. Then, we will drop ship each DVD as it is ready, to the Ron Paul organizers in each state, who will use their meetups to address and stuff the envelopes to the national delegates in their states. Handwritten addresses and colorful postage stamps of super heroes will get people to open these envelopes.

The DVD cover information will get people to place the DVDs in their players. The content will draw them in and make them thirst to learn more. What they learn will help make them our allies at the convention, so there is no such thing as “US versus Them.” Ron Paul Delegates and Activists in every state will call their respective non Ron Paul delegates and make sure they received their DVDs. We have an advantage in this campaign on a national level, as compared to what already worked in Alaska.

We have more time to prepare each video, and to allow people to watch and reflect upon each one. We did pretty well with just a couple weeks lead time on the Alaska Delegate DVD Project. Now we have more weeks of prep time just till the first mailing, then a month more for each successive mailing.

One of the challenges will be to invent that content. As a group, Alaskan delegates did a great job on choosing content for the Alaska DVD, and there is no time like the present to start brainstorming what will go in the series envisioned.

Would you please help me brainstorm a strategic outline of content for this video series?

Let's include the best of the best material we all know of. I will assemble and present brainstorms to the national Ron Paul Organizer and Activists communities for further feedback, and try to settle on a final syllabus all can appreciate.

The purpose here is to educate delegates to the national convention on the most important issues that need to be addressed by the Republican Party. Choosing Ron Paul is of course, our top priority, but there is so much more to share! Remember, we can use these DVD's to propose and explain and advocate for resolutions we will bring to the floor (or try to), so that even regardless of the presidential nominee, the party platform changes.

Some of us retain hope in our hearts and the will to prepare for success. Perhaps to others, we look like Rocky Balboa on the verge of passing out in his first heavy weight fight. But no one knows our real strength comes from the righteousness of our cause. What we seek is not only reasonable, but in every freedom loving American's interest.

The project lets us stop complaining about the media, because we are producing media instead. Think of this opportunity to educate the national leaders of the Republican Party. Already there is national support for this project.

I need all of you who are interested to join in.

If any more of you want to help, please let me know, share your ideas, and let's once again show America what happens when Ron Paul supporters band together to share a dream. This week, I will start a national website dedicated to organizing this project. Send me an email at EvanAlaska@aol.com with “Join National DVD Project” in the subject and I will be sure to invite you to collaborate with us. If you have content suggestions, links, permissions to use content, please type “DVD Content Suggestions” in the subject line.

Evan Cutler

EvanAlaska@aol.com

Girdwood, Alaska, District 32 Delegate for Ron Paul

Organizer Alaska Ron Paul Delegates Meetup

Organizer of the Alaska Ron Paul Delegates DVD for Delegates Project

Organizer of the National Ron Paul Delegates DVDs for Delegates Project