Coatesville Dems: THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS NO GROUND GAME. TRUMP HAS OUTSOURCED THE REPUBLICAN PARTY GROUND GAME.“Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is relying on a cluster of loosely coordinated outside groups to run turnout operations traditionally performed by the campaign itself, an approach that takes advantage of new leniencies in campaign finance rules but comes with the risk of untested outfits duplicating efforts or working at cross purposes. With fewer than 100 days before the election, local GOP officials in battleground states have raised alarms about the scant presence of Trump campaign field staff. For the large armies of paid and volunteer door-knockers and canvassers who typically drive turnout in presidential elections, the campaign is largely relying on outside groups such as America First Works, America PAC and Turning Point Action… In March, the Federal Election Commission issued new guidance that opened the door for campaigns and outside groups to collaborate on turnout efforts. In the past, campaigns and official party committees, which are subject to contribution limits, generally observed a firewall that blocked information-sharing with super PACs and nonprofits that accept unlimited contributions. Now, campaigns and outside groups are free to share messaging and exchange data. That new opportunity has allowed the Trump campaign to supplement a bare-bones in-house field program with allied programs fueled by megadonors. “These folks have been pre-dividing themselves based on their own focuses,” said a Trump campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly. “My goal isn’t to rearrange them, it’s to maximize.” Before the Trump campaign’s RNC takeover, the committee had detailed plans in certain states — internal documents include hundreds of pages about how an extensive get-out-the-vote effort could win a close election by a small margin. The documents show a Trump operation that was once prepared to spend extensively across the country, targeting particular communities and attempting to reach more than 1 million voters. In many of the states, the plans included certain towns, small subsections of the population or demographics where the campaign had underperformed in the past. “While the Trump Victory Team on the ground did an excellent job getting out the vote in 2020 on Election Day, we did not turn out enough of low propensity voters to compete with the Democrats in early voting or persuade enough voters to hit the number of votes we needed to win,” the Pennsylvania plan said. “We need to learn from the lessons of 2020,” it added. “They were totally discarded,” said a person familiar with the plans who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private matters… The Trump campaign declined to disclose how many volunteers it has recruited. “The Trump Force 47 program prioritizes many volunteers doing a few high-impact tasks each instead of old models which devolved to few volunteers trying to do many low-impact tasks each,” political director James Blair said. By contrast, the Harris campaign and allied outside groups said they are not changing their approach in response to the FEC decision. The campaign said it has 1,300 staff members (including party payrolls) and 250 offices in battleground states organizing events, trainings, door-knocking, phone calls and online peer messaging. It recruited 170,000 new volunteers who signed up since President Biden withdrew in July and held 2,300 events in swing states last weekend to mark 100 days to the election. “Our campaign will make millions of voter contacts after having millions of conversations with voters in battleground states with thousands of staff, tens of thousands of volunteers, and hundreds of thousands of events,” said the Harris campaign’s battleground state director, Dan Kanninen. “The Trump campaign is talking about a handful of organizers and volunteers doing events ad hoc, in a way that makes it look like there’s organizing going on when there isn’t any.”… “I truly don’t believe that most on our side know what we’re up against,” Bowyer said. “It’s like we’re rolling up to the house that’s on fire,” he added. “Are we going to save the Republican Party? Are we going to save the candidate? Are we just going to sit by and just let the house burn down?” At a Turning Point Action office in Waukesha, Wis., in June, about three dozen newly hired full-time community organizers got together with poster boards and scented markers to brainstorm techniques to meet their targeted neighbors. They were each assigned a few hundred registered Republicans who didn’t vote in recent presidential elections, aiming to turn them out for Trump. Bowyer instructed the organizers not to come on too strong by showing up with MAGA hats and fliers. Instead, they should research their marks and start reaching out through Facebook groups, community events, or neighborly gestures such as recommending plumbers or harp teachers. They could even arrange seemingly chance encounters on coffee runs or dog walks. “Some of these things sound like stalking,” one staffer whispered. “Professional stalkers,” his colleague joked back. As one slide from the training implored: “BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL.”… Other conservative groups are also engaged in ground efforts. The Faith and Freedom Coalition will focus on evangelical voters and expects to spend $62 million to send 10,000 staffers and volunteers to knock on 10 million doors in presidential and Senate battleground states and 42 House districts, said the Christian conservative group’s chairman, Ralph Reed. The Trump campaign official said more outside groups would emerge to participate in various facets of Trump’s ground game. One new super PAC that has already spent more than $15.8 million is America PAC, funded by billionaire X owner Elon Musk, the tech-investor Winklevoss twins and others. Musk denied a Wall Street Journal report that he would be providing $45 million a month, but people familiar with the matter said he is both raising money for the initiative and expected to contribute himself. The outfit is focused on the seven core battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The program is being run by former Republican Governors Association director David Rexrode, as well as Generra Peck and Phil Cox, alumni of DeSantis’s presidential primary bid, according to a person with direct knowledge. The Musk-backed program is in flux, a person familiar with the operation said, after it cut ties with a firm that had been hired to handle much of the operation. It is unclear what the group will do next. One person familiar with Trump’s operation joked that it was funny his campaign was now partially relying on some of the operatives it fiercely mocked when they worked for DeSantis. In Pennsylvania, a former teacher and onetime Ron Paul supporter is assembling a door-knocking program called Pennsylvania Chase with the sole purpose of getting Trump supporters to request mail ballots and return them. Cliff Maloney said his plan is inspired by the fact that in 2020, roughly 140,000 Republicans requested mail ballots and never turned them in, and Biden won the state by about 80,000 votes. (It was not clear how many of those Republicans voted in person.) “No one went to their door and said: ‘Hey, Bob, you got that little ballot sitting there? Let’s get that thing in!’” Maloney told activists at a Turning Point Action conference in Detroit. Maloney wants to change that with plans to set up as many as 10 regions around the state with 120 paid workers based in group housing from Sept. 1 through Election Day with the goal of knocking on 500,000 doors.” MORE AT: The Washington Post Trump team gambles on new ground game capitalizing on loosened rules Josh Dawsey August 3, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Welcome to the Coatesville Dems Blog

Public Corruption in Chester County, PA

I believe an unlikely mix of alleged drug trafficking related politicos and alleged white nationalist related politicos united to elect the infamous “Bloc of Four” in the abysmal voter turnout election of 2005. During their four year term the drug business was good again and white nationalists used Coatesville as an example on white supremacist websites like “Stormfront”. Strong community organization and support from law enforcement, in particular Chester County District Attorney Joseph W. Carroll has begun to turn our community around. The Chester County drug trafficking that I believe centers on Coatesville continues and I believe we still have public officials in place that profit from the drug sales. But the people here are amazing and continue to work against the odds to make Coatesville a good place to live.

Friday, August 9, 2024

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS NO GROUND GAME. TRUMP HAS OUTSOURCED THE REPUBLICAN PARTY GROUND GAME.“Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is relying on a cluster of loosely coordinated outside groups to run turnout operations traditionally performed by the campaign itself, an approach that takes advantage of new leniencies in campaign finance rules but comes with the risk of untested outfits duplicating efforts or working at cross purposes. With fewer than 100 days before the election, local GOP officials in battleground states have raised alarms about the scant presence of Trump campaign field staff. For the large armies of paid and volunteer door-knockers and canvassers who typically drive turnout in presidential elections, the campaign is largely relying on outside groups such as America First Works, America PAC and Turning Point Action… In March, the Federal Election Commission issued new guidance that opened the door for campaigns and outside groups to collaborate on turnout efforts. In the past, campaigns and official party committees, which are subject to contribution limits, generally observed a firewall that blocked information-sharing with super PACs and nonprofits that accept unlimited contributions. Now, campaigns and outside groups are free to share messaging and exchange data. That new opportunity has allowed the Trump campaign to supplement a bare-bones in-house field program with allied programs fueled by megadonors. “These folks have been pre-dividing themselves based on their own focuses,” said a Trump campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly. “My goal isn’t to rearrange them, it’s to maximize.” Before the Trump campaign’s RNC takeover, the committee had detailed plans in certain states — internal documents include hundreds of pages about how an extensive get-out-the-vote effort could win a close election by a small margin. The documents show a Trump operation that was once prepared to spend extensively across the country, targeting particular communities and attempting to reach more than 1 million voters. In many of the states, the plans included certain towns, small subsections of the population or demographics where the campaign had underperformed in the past. “While the Trump Victory Team on the ground did an excellent job getting out the vote in 2020 on Election Day, we did not turn out enough of low propensity voters to compete with the Democrats in early voting or persuade enough voters to hit the number of votes we needed to win,” the Pennsylvania plan said. “We need to learn from the lessons of 2020,” it added. “They were totally discarded,” said a person familiar with the plans who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private matters… The Trump campaign declined to disclose how many volunteers it has recruited. “The Trump Force 47 program prioritizes many volunteers doing a few high-impact tasks each instead of old models which devolved to few volunteers trying to do many low-impact tasks each,” political director James Blair said. By contrast, the Harris campaign and allied outside groups said they are not changing their approach in response to the FEC decision. The campaign said it has 1,300 staff members (including party payrolls) and 250 offices in battleground states organizing events, trainings, door-knocking, phone calls and online peer messaging. It recruited 170,000 new volunteers who signed up since President Biden withdrew in July and held 2,300 events in swing states last weekend to mark 100 days to the election. “Our campaign will make millions of voter contacts after having millions of conversations with voters in battleground states with thousands of staff, tens of thousands of volunteers, and hundreds of thousands of events,” said the Harris campaign’s battleground state director, Dan Kanninen. “The Trump campaign is talking about a handful of organizers and volunteers doing events ad hoc, in a way that makes it look like there’s organizing going on when there isn’t any.”… “I truly don’t believe that most on our side know what we’re up against,” Bowyer said. “It’s like we’re rolling up to the house that’s on fire,” he added. “Are we going to save the Republican Party? Are we going to save the candidate? Are we just going to sit by and just let the house burn down?” At a Turning Point Action office in Waukesha, Wis., in June, about three dozen newly hired full-time community organizers got together with poster boards and scented markers to brainstorm techniques to meet their targeted neighbors. They were each assigned a few hundred registered Republicans who didn’t vote in recent presidential elections, aiming to turn them out for Trump. Bowyer instructed the organizers not to come on too strong by showing up with MAGA hats and fliers. Instead, they should research their marks and start reaching out through Facebook groups, community events, or neighborly gestures such as recommending plumbers or harp teachers. They could even arrange seemingly chance encounters on coffee runs or dog walks. “Some of these things sound like stalking,” one staffer whispered. “Professional stalkers,” his colleague joked back. As one slide from the training implored: “BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL. BE NORMAL.”… Other conservative groups are also engaged in ground efforts. The Faith and Freedom Coalition will focus on evangelical voters and expects to spend $62 million to send 10,000 staffers and volunteers to knock on 10 million doors in presidential and Senate battleground states and 42 House districts, said the Christian conservative group’s chairman, Ralph Reed. The Trump campaign official said more outside groups would emerge to participate in various facets of Trump’s ground game. One new super PAC that has already spent more than $15.8 million is America PAC, funded by billionaire X owner Elon Musk, the tech-investor Winklevoss twins and others. Musk denied a Wall Street Journal report that he would be providing $45 million a month, but people familiar with the matter said he is both raising money for the initiative and expected to contribute himself. The outfit is focused on the seven core battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The program is being run by former Republican Governors Association director David Rexrode, as well as Generra Peck and Phil Cox, alumni of DeSantis’s presidential primary bid, according to a person with direct knowledge. The Musk-backed program is in flux, a person familiar with the operation said, after it cut ties with a firm that had been hired to handle much of the operation. It is unclear what the group will do next. One person familiar with Trump’s operation joked that it was funny his campaign was now partially relying on some of the operatives it fiercely mocked when they worked for DeSantis. In Pennsylvania, a former teacher and onetime Ron Paul supporter is assembling a door-knocking program called Pennsylvania Chase with the sole purpose of getting Trump supporters to request mail ballots and return them. Cliff Maloney said his plan is inspired by the fact that in 2020, roughly 140,000 Republicans requested mail ballots and never turned them in, and Biden won the state by about 80,000 votes. (It was not clear how many of those Republicans voted in person.) “No one went to their door and said: ‘Hey, Bob, you got that little ballot sitting there? Let’s get that thing in!’” Maloney told activists at a Turning Point Action conference in Detroit. Maloney wants to change that with plans to set up as many as 10 regions around the state with 120 paid workers based in group housing from Sept. 1 through Election Day with the goal of knocking on 500,000 doors.” MORE AT: The Washington Post Trump team gambles on new ground game capitalizing on loosened rules Josh Dawsey August 3, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

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The Washington Post

Trump team gambles on new ground game capitalizing on loosened rules

Josh Dawsey

August 3, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

PENNSYLVANIA CHASE:

"(Harrisburg, PA) – Cliff Maloney, CEO of Citizens Alliance and Justin Greiss, COO of Citizens Alliance will address the 2024 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference on The Pennsylvania Chase. The “PA Chase” is an effort led by Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (CAP) to knock on 500,000 doors and raise the GOP mail-in ballot statewide total from 20% to 33%.

Maloney and Greiss have won 310 elections by knocking on 6 million doors across America. Now they are bringing their door knocking expertise back to their home state of PA to hire 100 paid door knockers to chase ballots in the run up to the 2024 election.

The 2024 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference will be held April 4-6, 2024 at the Penn Harris Hotel & Convention Center in Camp Hill (Harrisburg), PA.

Judge Jeanine Pirro of The Five on Fox News will be the conference’s featured dinner speaker on Friday, April 5, 2024. John Gizzi of Newsmax will be the conference breakfast speaker and will then be joined by Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring USA, Dr. Paul Kengor, editor-in-chief of the American Spectator, and Jeff Lord a Newsmax and American Spectator contributor for the annual State of the Conservative Movement panel.

Additional speakers include Thomas D. Homan who was Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Trump Administration, state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, Heritage Foundation President Kevin D. Roberts, Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, and Congressman Scott Perry. Additional speakers will be announced over the coming weeks.

The 2024 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference to be held April 4-6, 2024 at the Penn Harris Hoten & Convention Center in Camp Hill (Harrisburg), Pennsylvania will include four policy panel presentations including: A Legislature Divided, moderated by Greg Moreland from the National Federation of Independent Business-PA; Securing Pennsylvania’s Energy Future, moderated by Carl Marrara of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association; Data Driven Approach to Mobilizing Millions, moderated by Emily Greene from Americans for Prosperity-PA; and Pregnancy Centers: Protecting Pregnancy Help Statewide moderated by Cheryl Allen from the Pennsylvania Family Institute.

The Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is the premiere gathering of public policy conservatives each year in the Keystone State. It is the largest and longest-running of the state-based conservative conferences regularly attracting a long list of conservative elected officials, scholars, journalists, and activists for three days of speeches, panel presentations, workshops, and networking.

Registration for the 2024 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is NOW OPEN at www.paleadershipconference.org. The Early Bird discount rate is built into the registration so there is no need to enter a discount code as it will be automatically applied. (The PLC web site also includes a brief video tutorial to help you navigate Cvent.)

Cliff Maloney is a United States political strategist and commentator from Delaware County, PA and who currently serves as the CEO of Citizens Alliance. He has been named the “door knocking guru” after winning 310 legislative races by deploying teams to knock on over 6 million doors. Cliff has now returned to his home state of PA to launch The Pennsylvania Chase, a 2024 effort to knock on 500,000 doors across PA chasing GOP ballots. The aim of the PA Chase is to bring the total number of GOP mail-in ballots up from 20% to 33%.

Justin Greiss is a PA native and Texas based political strategist. A graduate of Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, Justin served as Political Director for Senator Rand Paul. In 2018, Justin launched “Operation Win at the Door” a national political movement with the goal of electing 250 citizen legislators across the country. To date, Justin has overseen the deployment of 3,500+ activists to mobilize for liberty minded candidates, knocking 6,000,000+ doors. Justin has scored electoral victories in 40 states and is now focused on holding legislators accountable through Citizens Alliance."

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