Nader threads? You want Nader threads? Fine! I need someone to take a walk for me in TN.

[genwah]

Last edited Fri Jul 4, 2014, 09:26 AM - Edit history (1)

Hear me out.

Back in the day, when I was driving from SF to Reno to walk for Gore, trying like Hell itself was after me, there was an idea. An idea by a guy named Jamin Raskin. I'm not sure if he was the first, but it was a simple idea.

But wait! There is a way for Gore voters trapped in Republican states to liberate Nader supporters in the tossup states to vote for Gore without actually abandoning their support for Nader and a strong Green Party in the future. The key is a variation on a voting device used in the Senate called "pairing," whereby senators on opposite sides of issues match up their votes if they are going to be away from Washington. (This arrangement is so formal that when the Congressional Record reports the ayes and nays on a vote, it reflects the pairs by name.)

The Gore/Nader vote-swapping plan could use a Web site to pair individual Gore Democrats in Republican states with individual Nader supporters in swing states. Democrats from Texas and other states in the definite Bush column could register at the site by name under a brief text stating that, as Gore supporters in a Republican state, they have concluded that their best hope for contributing to a Gore victory is to vote for Nader in the explicit hope that Nader voters in swing states will correspondingly cast their ballots for Gore. Nader supporters in the swing states could add their names to a similar list under a brief text stating that, as Nader supporters in a tossup state, they have decided to vote for Gore but do so in the explicit hope that Gore voters in Republican states will correspondingly cast their ballots for Nader. Using sorting software, the Web site could then match individual Gore voters to individual Nader voters. If just 100,000 Gore supporters and 100,000 Nader supporters in the key states registered and kept their words, both a Gore victory and federal funding for the Greens could be accomplished.

Legal? Probably. But November 2014 isn't vote dependent, it's GOTV dependent. And the pisser is that I'm in safe, safe, safe CA, with no senate seat for me to worry about, and Nevada is quiet. Merkley in Oregon is okay, and too far for me to drive on weekends. But there's the CA-10.
Michael Eggman is down in $$$, and polling CA CDs is not worth polling on at this point. (Yeah, it's a month after the primaries, but...)

Here's my point; I will drive and volunteer for someone to do the same in Tennessee. If you are a Tennessee Volunteer, then volunteer. If you live in a gerrymandered house district, and will walk for Alison Lundegren Grimes, I will do what I can to replace a sitting R with a freshman D. And make no mistake; you will get your "moneys" worth. I have been walking precincts since 1974. For general elections, I prep a "cheat sheet" with all of the local races, the county propositions, the state ballot initiatives...I go out loaded for bear.

What I'm asking of you is that you volunteer. Maybe not walk, although that's what gives us the most band for the buck.And when you do it, it may seem pointless to knock on four hours worth of doors to talk to one registered voter, but that's where the rubber meets the road. I used to say, "no one ever died from asking people to vote" but then one did. Reno, 2012, heart attack. Not one of my teams, by then, I was in data entry. (Also a job that sucks, but if we don't know who to call or who needs a ride on election day...)

Let me restate: I live in a state that is safely blue, my rep doesn't have to campaign. But I will DRIVE to a kinda-sorta neighboring district to see if we can get a Democratic House representative vote to offset your gerrymandered rethug's vote. Swap walks with me.

Anybody?

Beueler?

[freshwest]

1. Awesome OP. Kicking and Rec'ing for visibility. Thank you. n/t

[genwah]

2. Thank you! Yesterday's gone, GOTV is our only hope, 'cause this congress sucks.