The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
It appears as though Senator Ben Nelson needs to find a pizzeria that delivers from now until he retires.
A patron of an Omaha pizzeria says U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson was booed over his vote on health care reform as he was leaving the restaurant.
Tom Lewis says the Nebraska Democrat was on his way out of Dante Pizzeria Napoletana on Friday when someone mentioned his vote. Then, he told the Associated Press, a couple booed and the woman yelled “Get him the hell out of here.”
Yesterday, Instapundit said of Coakley’s campaign: “They’re just flailing now, hoping that something will work.”
He’s so very right. Yesterday afternoon I missed a call on my cell phone, but I didn’t recognize the number anyway. When I googled it since there was no message left, various forums indicate that it was a robocall for Martha Coakley – possibly even a push poll.
Yes, I have a Massachusetts phone number. But keep in mind that I have not been on the voter rolls since early 2005. I went from voting in every election there to not voting at all. I have never ever received another Massachusetts political call since leaving the state. She must be really reaching far back to try and dig up every potentially sympathetic voter she could find – even if they live outside of Philly. (I was registered as Unenrolled, though I voted in the Democratic primaries.)
Today brings news that the fishing & boating industry group is taking another big step in their outreach to recruit young anglers as part of the Take Me Fishing campaign. They have worked with the Boy Scouts to offer up new merit badges for taking lessons in boating and fishing.
About the Scouting Patch Program –
* Passport Patch – Cub Scouts and Scouts aged 6 to 11 earn this patch by completing an introductory six-step program that teaches various skills to be knowledgeable, safe and confident while boating and fishing. The Passport to Fishing and Boating Program has been recognized by the Boy Scouts of America for excellence in aquatic education.
* First Catch Patch – Cub Scouts and Scouts aged 6 to 11 earn this patch by organizing a real-life fishing trip using the resources found on TakeMeFishing.org.
* Mentor Patch – Scouts aged 12 to 17 earn this patch by organizing a fishing trip for newcomers to the sport. The Mentor Patch develops leadership qualities and introduces someone new to boating and fishing.
These are obviously branded patches, but I have to admit that it will be interesting to see what comes of it – particularly the Mentor Patch. At that point, you go far beyond the basic fishing patch into actually encouraging kids to organize fishing trips for others.
I find this interesting because of how many shooters I know who cite the Boy Scouts as their first foray into the gun culture. It’s not surprising since there are two different badge categories for shooting (rifle & shotgun). It is interesting though that there is no hunting badge or anything that going to a range that only allows handguns would earn.
RBFF research reveals “90 percent of adult outdoor enthusiasts were introduced to nature-based activities between the ages of five and 18.” In that spirit, as part of a year-end donation, we called up the NRA Foundation and made a donation to youth programs. A few people come to shooting as an adult (I did in college), but an overwhelming number of people I’ve met who not only shoot, but actively do something to advance our movement (political or sporting) have been shooters since they were children.
Democrats are probably crying in their coffee this morning with reports that a legit poll has Brown up by 4. That is within the margin of error, so it’s no assured victory. However, Geraghty notes that the numbers look right for a reasonable sample. At this point, it’s purely turnout.
Granted, lack of turnout by Republicans helped turn a red seat blue this week in Virginia – for gun owners, sent an A+ rated seat into the hands of an F rated candidate. The direct result of the election appears to be a shakeup on a key committee that may mean pro-gun reforms are stalled until the next election. No one can afford to be cocky.
In other news, it looks like the Massachusetts race has Charlie Cook re-examining a lot of other Democratic races perceived to be safe in 2010. Our own, PA-8, was just flipped from “Safe Democratic” to “Likely Democratic.” We’ve got until November to swing that to “Toss Up” and the Massachusetts Senate seat made the transition from “Solid Democratic” to “Toss Up” in just 8 days.
I’ve been critical of NRA’s marketing before, but I’ve also offered suggestions. Today, it’s time for another suggestion.
We all know that periodically NRA offers discounted life memberships and life member upgrades. However, the portion of the membership to receive the offers often seems quite random. I’m sure there’s some equation they do to come up with their lists, but, regardless, not every one gets the offer. In addition, when some do get the offer, they just don’t see the benefit over annual membership. The discount is great if you actually plan on buying a life membership anyway. For those who never thought about it, the conversion rate is going to be greatly reduced.
So, how do you market to a) people who are more likely to take advantage of the buy-in, b) people who could find a “use” in being a life member, and c) get other NRA to do your pressure sales for you?
Taking a look at Sebastian’s gun club newsletter this morning, I see that roughly 10% of their club members have expiring NRA memberships coming due in the next few months. Since the club is a 100% club, there’s a vested interest by the members in keeping up their NRA memberships. Since the club checks everyone’s NRA membership, there’s a vested interest in leaders to minimize work. Haha, we’ve now found a group that meets all three needs above.
So for those of you in Fairfax reading, perhaps it’s time to update the Clubs & Associations databases, plead with membership to open their minds to new ideas, and offer clubs who recruit life members at discounted prices the chance to minimize their own paperwork. Frame it in terms of incentives. Crazy enough, it works as a pitch to most people. In fact, make the minimization of paperwork a theme and offer to create a special co-branded flyer for the clubs to send to their members either via email or snail mail. Bringing on even one new life member, even at a discounted rate, would more than cover the costs.
Now, if we really want to get crazy and look at the incentives for NRA to take a chance with a new marketing idea, they could look at doing this now so that they have more people on their lists for the 2010 elections. I know, it’s nuts!
Oh yeah, and I’ll use this post to put in a pitch that NRA should offer the life member discount their give to their own staff to the staff members of official state associations. They usually make far less than those in Fairfax do, have far fewer benefits (if any), and don’t get much in return. It would the decent thing to do to recognize the contributions those folks (however few right now) make to the cause.
It would seem that someone in Tennessee finally figured out something important about the culture of the Second Amendment:
Legislators are often scorned for being afraid of the National Rifle Association and passing gun bills, quaking in fear of the special interest group. Most Tennessee legislators are not afraid of the NRA, they are the NRA. Most rural Democrats and most of the Republicans have been members of the NRA for decades. They feel exactly like the NRA lobbyists on most gun issues.
It’s amazing that it took this long for them to notice. How many candidates use their membership in stump speeches and materials? It’s fairly common and yet the press just now noticed? Observant ones, they are.
The easiest lobbying job in Nashville is the gun lobby. The only controversy on gun issues is an argument over who gets to sponsor which gun bill.
Somehow I doubt that. If it was really that easy, there would never be debate.
It is also argued that the last session of the Legislature was only about guns and gun bills. The last session of the Legislature passed more bills than any other in modern history. The gun bills got coverage, as they should have, but it doesn’t mean the regular work of the General Assembly did not proceed as usual. There are always one or two big issues that suck up the coverage and the vast majority of legislation passes unnoticed. That’s how we get blindsided with bills like the workman’s comp bill, which turned out to be such a disaster it will have to be dealt with in a special session.
This is not the fault of the people who cover the Legislature. They get limited minutes and inches to report on the doings of the day, and gun bills are going to get more play than workman’s comp.
You mean the press purposely sensationalizes coverage and ignores major legislative concerns? Shocking, I tell you.
Yes, it is true that it’s not actually the fault of people who cover legislative news that Tennessee’s lawmakers screwed something up. However, perhaps if those covering the legislature were more interested in the overall work of the legislature instead of only the sensational stories, more of these problems would be caught. There is no excuse for poor work on the matter, especially when the coverage of gun-related bills is often terrible to begin with.
So now that it’s finally official, I think Comcast can expect our cancellation shortly after this goes live. Or sooner. Mix it in with a bundle that Verizon is willing to offer so that we get discounts on the phone & basic tv service, and there’s absolutely no justification for Comcast’s high prices.
Since my last Netflix-related post was unexpectedly popular, here are more topics for discussion:
My own answers will start the comments.
It would appear that NRA is subtlety jumping into the Massachusetts Senate race based on their current PVF front page. (I’d screen shot it, but it’s been changing as I even link it.)
They don’t list an official endorsement, but they do remind gun owners that Sen. Scott Brown has an A rating and Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley has a solid F rating. They also put a shot of Sen. Brown up just as a friendly welcome to the page. Brown has previously been endorsed by NRA & the state affiliate in Massachusetts.
Rasmussen has Coakley up by only 2 points in the latest poll. In her desperation, she flew down to DC last night to beg lobbyists for more money. According to sources at the event, the Democrats are saying in close circles that if Scott Brown wins, health care stands a very real chance of dying where it is. Cap and trade will be more toast than it appears to be now, along with several other Democratic bills that they would try and pull out during the election year to pull their base out to the polls. In fact, Coakley herself was trying to scare fellow Democrats by saying that if she loses, no Democrat is safe in November. As Geraghty points out, the fact that she’s not safe in Massachusetts is a sign that few Democrats are really safe in 2010.
I’m kind of surprised that NRA is doing anything public for this race, even if it is just an infographic on their PVF site. Statewide, being pro-gun doesn’t help. Being anti-gun doesn’t help either. It’s just better to leave guns off the table for a large percentage of voters in Massachusetts. BUT, a robocall this weekend reminding members to vote for Scott Brown would be nice. A little GOTV effort is always useful at the last second.
UPDATE: Yeah, think this was a worthless reminder? How about this: Don’t be Virginia. There is no done deal for Republicans, conservatives, or pro-gun politicians in 2010.
It looks like Pennsylvanians are losing the NRA-PVF A+ rated Speaker of the House with Rep. Keith McCall’s anticipated retirement.
This makes the state elections much more important this year.
Last night, we gave up a couple of hours to civic duty in the name of being educated voters. The local Tea Party organization, Kitchen Table Patriots, did an absolutely swell job at pulling together a great event that served as a fantastic way to weed out the serious candidates from the not-so-serious candidates. Just about everyone in attendance – and they filled a large school auditorium – could walk away feeling like they had a choice of key candidates.
But that’s not very fun to report, so in comes the snark. And some interesting observations about Patrick Murphy via his sleazy staffers who kept violating the rules to disrupt those around them.
General Observations
These kinds of events are very hard on candidates, especially if they don’t have any formal public speaking experience or haven’t been trained to really rally an audience. While my criticism will mostly be snark, it also pales in comparison to what Patrick Murphy’s deceitful little followers will say. Not to mention, if some of the candidates had more confidence, they could have better sold their most controversial plans. I have two very specific examples of this winning over audience members with one candidate and costing support to another.
The moderator, Steve Highsmith, did a fantastic job at keeping the event running smoothly. He was friendly and engaging without getting boring and monotonous with the same questions for each candidate. Since there were 9 candidates each getting 12 minutes, that was serious work.
There were some crappy questions. Like the “Yes or No: We should weaken Roe v. Wade.” What does that even mean? You’re talking about one of the most hotly debated legal questions of our time, it’s hardly a yes or no answer. They also asked candidates to take an ATR-esque pledge on taxes that all save one agreed to. I will say now that there were no questions or remarks about the Second Amendment.
One big surprise of the evening was a question about medical marijuana. They asked it in the context of 10th amendment, and whether or not candidates agreed with President Obama’s executive order to not go after those growing & distributing medical marijuana in states that have legalized it. Half of the candidates agreed! Holy cow! The old woman in front of me was in great distress every time someone agreed, so I took extra joy in each answer. It was wrong, but I laughed inside each time she shook her head disapprovingly. I was tempted to say something controversial involving drugs, alcohol, and sex in front of her for kicks, but I figured after the crazy controversy of medical marijuana, her heart could probably only stand so much… Continue reading “The 8th District Circus Candidate Forum”