Reacting to something that’s not out there only undercuts the grassroots’ influence.

Grassroots MAY have gotten Perdue elected. I still think Roy Barnes is what got Sonny elected more than anything else.

We don’t even know if this is going to be proposed or not. It could just be a rumor .

According to the rules, they have to send out a written notice of any proposed rule change at least twelve days before the meeting. For a rule change to pass at a State Committee Meeting, it has to be passed by a 3/4 majority.

And as for Mike J – while I respect your right to your opinion, calling John Watson a “tool” shows you have little experience with John or state government. It is impossible to be COS and make everyone happy, and Watson’s contributions are deep and lasting if not always seen for public consumption.

Still best for everyone to step back and relax until something concrete comes forward.

I strongly doubt that it was Grassroots that won the primary for Bush but his values (nee: Social Conservatism).

Most of those take place without a very strong grassroots. Very few of those genuinely move voters in significant numbers. As for the small donor fund raising, ask Howard Dean if that worked out too well for him.

I said, when Grassroots will matter is in very close elections, a la, 2002 (although, I am willing to say that Roy Barnes won the election for Sonny, not Sonny’s Grassroots). Even then, it will give you only a few percentage points on incredibly good years.

The Republican Party rank and file is made of Grassroots in Georgia, but that was not the reason they took over.

As for this year, had the base for the GOP turned out, the GOP still would have lost. This year was not a year for the base of either party.

(1) Republicans have a long tradition up and down the line of supporting those who have paid their dues and dutifully waiting their turn for a position of power/prestige. Witness the nomination of Bob Dole for President in 1996 as the most recent example of this on a national stage. Sue Everhart has worked incredibly hard for Republican causes for years. She has served well in the State GOP as First Vice Chair and anyone who remembers the 2004 or 2005 conventions can recall her superb organizational effort and campaign for Vice Chair, respectively. I suggest that the 2007 State Convention will largely be a replay of 2005, in that she will run a great campaign and be elected. If the Governor insists on putting his man in the running, he will be defeated.

(2) Grassroots are important. I lived in South Carolina in 2000. I remember receiving a phone call the night of February 1, 2000 from Austin, Texas about the results of the New Hampshire primary, which appeared to put John McCain in the driver’s seat for the GOP Presidential nomination. Those of us in the SC Bush organization had been calling for months to identify “Bush” voters. Lists had been developed in the case of my county, the most populous GOP County in the state, down to the precinct level. On election day, we had volunteers working phone banks moving those people to the polls, we had poll watchers who went to polling stations to review the voter list and compare the list of those who had voted to our known list of “Bush” voters. We had drivers giving rides to the polls and enthusiastic young people waving signs at major traffic intersections and near polling places. Bush of course rolled to victory on the night of February 19 and that essentially sealed his nomination. Grassroots moves people to polls and makes the difference. I don’t know if its 3% or 30%, but I know it is often the difference between winning and losing. I heard former Senator Fred Thompson say recently about political campaigns that they are “90% wasted effort, trouble is you just don’t know what 10% is working.” I would humbly submit a large portion of that 10% is grassroots politics.

Pretty much agree with your comment, although I feel confident the proposed by-law will have a contigency plan if the Gov is not a Repub.

I would agree with you on Bush, but disagree on Perdue. Although his gubernatorial term is up in 2011, he still has one further step up the ladder he could go.

You never know my friend, he wouldn’t be the first Georgia governor to win the White House as a dark horse candidate.

However, as Republicans, our top priority must be to hold on to these offices.

We should listen closely to the Governor and who he endorses for Chair, but I don’t think he should have carte blanche power to appoint.

Grassroots is not merely putting up signs or going to breakfasts; it is about organizing your community, your civic groups, your churches. It is about telling your neighbors, your friends and people in your community about your cause or candidate. If you truly beleive that grassroots does not matter, think of the cost of the alternative… or ask the GAGOP how much they had to pay people to do in 2006 what was volunteered in 2002.

I second Shep. Rugby, grassroots is what built our majority in Georgia, it is also what has killed it in Congress. Stray from those who brought you, and be left when they decide to go elsewhere.

A grassroots political movement is one driven by the constituents of a community. The term implies that the genesis of the described political movement is natural yet spontaneous and imposes a dichotomy between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures.

Grassroots organize and lobby through procedure including:

* door-to-door, also known as canvassing
* phone banking
* house parties
* meetings
* putting up posters
* talking with pedestrians on the street (often involving informational clipboards)
* gathering signatures for petitions
* setting up information tables
* raising money from many small donors for political advertising or campaigns
* organizing large demonstrations
* asking individuals to submit opinions to media outlets and government officials
* get out the vote activities which includes the practices of reminding people to vote and/or transporting them to polling places.

Yard signs don’t move voters. OK, they’ve moved this voter. BUT it is because I saw a “Rambo for Sheriff” yard sign. If there were no yard signs, campaigns would have much larger coffers.

The D-2-D depends partly on the campaign for putting that together, and is not wholly dependent on very strong grassroots, and can be best utilized when augmenting a well rounded campaign. Meaning, D-2-D will give you maybe one or two more percentage points, and will only make a difference–some of the time–in close elections.

A lack of grassroots had very little to do with the Democrats demise. That was part of an over all political shift in Georgia.

For the GOP to stay in power 135 years, another New Deal and Reconstruction would have to happen and the GOP would have to support both. Grassroots will have nothing to do with either.

As I said before, people do not support a party or candidate based on how well their supporters are organised. The new GOP supporters will come from where people move, their jobs, etc. Not on quality monthly breakfasts.

if the grassroots fall apart, there will be no one to put up the yard signs, no one to go door-to-door, no one to come up through the ranks to become the bench. This is what the Democrats are learning. They thought money could carry the whole day. Now they are far into the minority and have very little bench. It is the arrogance of power. Being flush with cash buys only laziness in politics. The GOP has been successful because we had volunteers working in the trenches while the Dems had to pay for their help. Our majority will not last 136 years, and it won’t last 1/10 of that with the changing demographics in Georgia unless we have a lot of grass roots individuals committed to reaching out to bring new people into the GOP.