Posted by Alan Smith on 10/30/08 3:10 PM Last updated 10/30/08 3:16 PM [Newer: Letter to Republican Club of Austin] [Older: Poor Use of Time]

Door to door continues to be my most effective use of time (compared to attending party committee meetings, writing letters and blogs, making phone calls, etc). Any action is good. I'm just saying there are only a certain number of hours in each day, and door to door has proven to me to achieve the most bang for my time.

I have several thousand voters in my precinct. Too many to ring every doorbell. So a few CFL members in my district got together and exchanged strategy ideas. We requested access to "Voter Vault" which is the Republican Party voter database. Then we exported voter lists 4 different ways.

• #2 - Weak Republican - The '2' is how it is coded in the database. #1 is strong Republicans - we did not export '1'.
• #3 - Independent
• NMT Weak GOP -  This is in the attributes field. It's a National Micro-Targeting survey that was conducted by the RNC - the people that don't agree with the current direction of the Republican Party. As a guess, the Democrats and undecideds that are in here may be fiscal conservatives, but not necessarily social conservatives.
• Kinky supporters - Kinky Friedman ran for governor in Texas as an independent in 2006. His supporters likely were unhappy with both major parties. Consider if you have a similar major independent candidate in your state whose supporters you might want to target.

This cut down my walking list 85-95%. By targeting the most likely top 5-15%, I could greet each person with a warm handshake and a friendly smile. If I have extra time, I can always hit the other 85-95% of houses later if there is time (leave the flyer and skip the doorbell).

A CFL member printed up T-shirts with the CFL logo and state flag. I always wore it in hopes of clearly identifying my purpose for being on their doorstep.

I try to be pretty fast with each house. I practiced out-loud at home and refined my 'pitch' to 30 seconds. I have an additional 30 for the rare someone whose body language shows extra interest. 

The opening of my pitch is "Hi. I'm xxx. I'm your neighbor. I live (location) and I'm representing Campaign For Liberty, a new non-partisan political organization. I would like for you to have this handout as an introduction to our organization. It includes our mission statement and some short and long term goals."

My goal with this pitch was to answer their implied questions as quickly as possible: "Who are you and what do you want?" By using the word "introduction", I hope to imply that I'll be leaving soon, but I'll be back.

If I sense I have more time, I let them briefly know that the list is targeted -- "I'm glad to have spoken because surveys indicated our views might be very similar." I like saying this because it gives me a chance to say something about them instead of myself. I believe they are more likely to then be curious and read the material after I am gone.

I also put my name and phone number on each handout. This can by accomplished by customizing the image before printing, or by adding a sticker after printing. The close of my pitch is "I also included my cell phone if you have any questions." I do this for several reasons:

• Conviction - Just like ringing the doorbell, our willingness to put our names and phone numbers adds weight to the message. 
• Strength - It shows we intend to grow within the neighborhood and not go away soon.
• Polite - If I'm going to ask someone to engage in some kind of action, the least I can do is be open about who I am. 

(These are also the reasons my screen name and photo are real.) I hardly ever get a phone call. But I don't interpret that as meaning it didn't add lots of value. 

Door-to-door takes some courage. Even with practice, the first two houses I was nervous. That went away very fast. There is no better way to get over that than by starting. Discussing politics takes some getting used to. I learned that it was ok to come across nay-sayers. I don't need to feel less positive no matter what is said to me. I accept that not everyone will approve of our efforts. Getting knocked around toughened me up; and with practice, actually taught me how to become and stay more friendly.

Many will not answer the door. Most people who answer politely accept materials, and act respectfully. A few people are annoyed, argumentative, or frightened. I do not focus mental energy on that. Every once in awhile, someone recognizes the logo and is already a strong supporter.

When I was half-way through, I wished I had taken better notes: who answered, bumper stickers, anything! It only takes a few extra seconds. With good notes, it would be fun to later call and ask "Did you have a chance to read the... ". It creates another excuse for conversation. (Both Voter Vault and White Pages are sources for phone numbers.)

At no point do I assume there is a "best way". By listening to feedback and other's experiences, and by experimenting and trying different things, a good strategy can always be improved.

The most important thing I am learning is to remain confident and full of action. Like Ron Paul, I will put myself out there, and do it again and again and again. Since truth was on his side, overtime his ideas were proven correct and that's how his credibility took hold. So I shrug off the non-believers and continue to march on.

Posted 10/30/08 3:27 PM Matt Wolf Bloomington, IN

thank you for posting this!

Posted 10/30/08 4:29 PM JJR1985 Shelby Twp., MI

Great strategy, like the long-term psychological approach, patience, willing to listen (i.e. temperment), and pound the pavement strategy. Great work Alan!

Posted 11/02/08 10:53 AM EasyChair Kyle, TX

Smith for SREC!!!!

Posted 01/22/09 7:53 PM Matt Holdridge Arlington, VA

Great post! Thank you Alan!

Posted 01/22/09 9:47 PM Harold King Murfreesboro, TN

This is excellent!

Posted 01/23/09 04:10 AM Mike Roux Rock Hill, SC

Great job. "There is no better way to get over that than by starting." It's also good to remember that we will take our country back one voter at a time, so relax and be confident. Our strength lies in the truth of our message.

Posted 01/23/09 07:46 AM CharityAngel Valley City, UT

Thank you for the post. :) I am posting it to my district blog.

Posted 01/23/09 09:18 AM mflorman New Orleans, LA

Nice Pitch.

Posted 01/23/09 11:13 AM mjcholko Annandale, VA

I'll add to this post with a story that I think everyone should read. I am a Libertarian Party member in Northern VA. I targeted two precincts with a canvassing drive during the 2008 election season and experienced GREAT SUCCESS! Bob Barr actually received significantly fewer votes than the 2004 LP presidential candidate in all of the local precincts, except for those that we targeted with flyers and signs. In these precincts his vote totals were more than twice as high as the 2004 candidate's. We also saw slight spillover into neighboring precincts, presumably because the voters there were exposed to a very large number of signs that we posted. The LP's candidate for Senate did even better, presumably because Mark Warner was crushing Jim Gilmore in that race anyway. I hit every house in one precinct 2-3 times, and posted 300 signs between the two precincts. It should be noted that these precincts are in a densely populated suburb, and between the two of them cover only about 2 square miles. So, that number of signs is able to make quite an impact. I would say that we had about half as many as the major party candidates. In Fairfax County, VA it is quasi-legal to post campaign signs along roadways within 75 days of the election. Also, on election day I stood for 13 hours outside of the polling place where BOTH of these precincts vote. I handed out LP sample ballots and flyers with info about the LP candidates. I was able to get about 500 people to take the literature, and was greeted warmly by several people. In fact, even many people who openly said that they would not vote for the LP candidates still had encouraging words to say and complimented me on my efforts to promote a 3rd party. THE MORAL OF THIS STORY - GET OUT AND HIT THE PAVEMENT! It really does work. PS- One final piece of advice, if you want to find lots of "conservative" leaning people in one place, head to a local gun show. Putting flyers on windshields in the parking lot takes very little time (I was able to do 400-500 per hour) and you know that nearly everyone there will agree with you on atleast one issue. Getting a table inside will cost you a little more, but can be an excellent way to reach local voters.

Posted 01/23/09 12:37 PM GatorFan Dickinson, TX

Excellent example, Alan! Are you finding your Voter Vault info correct? I have used it for a few call projects down here in Galveston Co. and the info is not very good. The only numbers that are correct are the Strong Republican or Strong Democrat numbers and even then it's not completely accurate. Cleaning up and updating the Voter Vault info for Galveston Co. is one of our local GOP's goals for 2009 though.

Posted 01/25/09 11:34 AM Alan Smith Austin, TX

Thank you for all the positive comments! Any list is wrong because it is chasing a moving target. I still like to use them anyway. One idea is merge the county's voter registration database so you can omit those that have moved. And for programmers, WhitePages has a free developer API to update phone numbers by address! Good luck!

Posted 01/31/09 1:24 PM Gary Hardee NC Charlotte, NC

Great post Alan and thanks for all the hard work you are doing. Getting a two to three man team to go to each house together would build up the experience of all and if you rotate the roles every few houses and offer some constructive comments to each other it should breed trained canvassers that can duplicate your successful efforts to other precincts. Also, if one can take notes and another carry stickers, promo items, and position papers to give to the most interested while only one speaks to the voter, you can return home with some great info that would be useful on followup calls. Again, great work!