Visit with Governor Mitt Romney Staff
August 2, 2007
On August 2nd, Fred Plett, Sarah Jane Knoy, Ruth Heden, and a representative from the Center for Community Change met With Jim Merrill, State Director, and Jamie Burnett, Political Director of the Mitt Romney Campaign. Jim and Jamie seemed most receptive, and had the same concern that we’ve heard from other Presidential campaigns, Mitt Romney’s availability the week of the event. Presidential campaigns only have a 2-3 week lead time on their candidate availability, and even then the situation can be fluid. They said, as of August 2, nothing had been finalized for the month of August, even though they were already into the month. They thought that the health care question would be a natural for Mitt Romney, since he set up a Massachusetts plan. None of the other questions scared them, and they saw it as a good opportunity to answer them.
All in all, they were supportive of his attendance, but probably wouldn’t be able to commit to it until at least September 1st.
Respectfully submitted,
Fred Plett
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Visit with Governor Huckabee's Staff
Visit with Governor Mike Huckabee Staff
July 17th, 2007
On July 17th, Fred Plett, Sarah Jane Knoy, Ruth Heden, and Ken Galdston met With Debra Vanderbeek, state co-chair of the Huckabee for President Campaign. The meeting was set up by Fred Plett.
The GSOP Participants all thought the meeting went swimmingly. Debra was very interested in the Presidential Action on September 15th. She said that the major concern is where he would be that week, New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina or another state. Presidential campaigns only have a 2-3 week lead time on their candidate availability, and even then the situation can be fluid. The staff lines up events on a daily and weekly calendar where the candidate could possibly be, then the staff waits to find out if the candidate is actually available in state. If the candidate is, then the staff recommends where the candidate should be at, hopefully 2-3 locations in a day. This is weighed by size and nature of crowd, potential voters, and all sorts of other calculations.
Debra was interested in the makeup of GSOP and said that Governor Huckabee would take right to it, since he is a Baptist minister. She was impressed with the potential turnout at this one event. There aren’t too many opportunities with as many potential undecided voters. She told us that the questions were well formulated and of broad interest. She was impressed that the questions came from the bottom up, and that they were broad in nature. She did distinguish us from the single narrow issue pleas she gets all the time for Governor Huckabee’s time.
All in all, she was very supportive of Governor Huckabee’s attendance at the event. She couldn’t promise anything because she doesn’t know where he will be that week, but her statements and her body language suggested that she wanted him there.
Debra was Chief of Staff for Congressman Jeb Bradley before joining the Huckabee campaign.
Respectfuly submitted,
Fred Plett
July 17th, 2007
On July 17th, Fred Plett, Sarah Jane Knoy, Ruth Heden, and Ken Galdston met With Debra Vanderbeek, state co-chair of the Huckabee for President Campaign. The meeting was set up by Fred Plett.
The GSOP Participants all thought the meeting went swimmingly. Debra was very interested in the Presidential Action on September 15th. She said that the major concern is where he would be that week, New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina or another state. Presidential campaigns only have a 2-3 week lead time on their candidate availability, and even then the situation can be fluid. The staff lines up events on a daily and weekly calendar where the candidate could possibly be, then the staff waits to find out if the candidate is actually available in state. If the candidate is, then the staff recommends where the candidate should be at, hopefully 2-3 locations in a day. This is weighed by size and nature of crowd, potential voters, and all sorts of other calculations.
Debra was interested in the makeup of GSOP and said that Governor Huckabee would take right to it, since he is a Baptist minister. She was impressed with the potential turnout at this one event. There aren’t too many opportunities with as many potential undecided voters. She told us that the questions were well formulated and of broad interest. She was impressed that the questions came from the bottom up, and that they were broad in nature. She did distinguish us from the single narrow issue pleas she gets all the time for Governor Huckabee’s time.
All in all, she was very supportive of Governor Huckabee’s attendance at the event. She couldn’t promise anything because she doesn’t know where he will be that week, but her statements and her body language suggested that she wanted him there.
Debra was Chief of Staff for Congressman Jeb Bradley before joining the Huckabee campaign.
Respectfuly submitted,
Fred Plett
Monday, August 13, 2007
Meeting with Mayor Giuliani's Campaign
Giuliani Campaign Visit
We had set up a meeting for a committee of GSOP leaders and David Tille from Mayor Giuliani Staff for August 2 at 2 pm.
Attending the meeting were Tess George from Nashua, Fred Plett from Goffstown, Ruth Heden form Milford, Sarah Jane Knoy and Leticia Ortiz from Manchester , Ken Gladston from the IVP in Massachusetts and Kevin Borden from the Center for Community Change.
Sarah Jane received a call from David at about noon asking if the meeting could be rescheduled because his state director had just come to town and had scheduled another meeting for the office at 2 and he (David) would have to attend. Sarah Jane told David that it would be very difficult to reschedule as people were driving in from other parts of the state. David tried to see if his boss could attend our meeting in his place. That did not work out.
Sarah Jane suggested that David meet the GSOP group at Pappy Pizza at 1:30 as we would be there having lunch before the meeting. HE agreed. David joined us at Pappys. He apologized for the sudden change in schedule.
Leticia thanked him for joining us and kicked off the round of introductions. The groups described GSOP, described the event and answered questions David had about the event and the organization.
We told him we would like a commitment form the Mayor to attend and he promised to work on it. He thought the event would be a good venue for Mayor Giuliani as more than 1,000 voters (many of whom are undecided) will be in attendance. David said the candidates schedule is known a week or two in advance and promised to stay in touch.
We shared our appreciation for his work on the campaign as well as his work in his former position on Congressman Bradley’s staff. He apologized again for the schedule change.
We had set up a meeting for a committee of GSOP leaders and David Tille from Mayor Giuliani Staff for August 2 at 2 pm.
Attending the meeting were Tess George from Nashua, Fred Plett from Goffstown, Ruth Heden form Milford, Sarah Jane Knoy and Leticia Ortiz from Manchester , Ken Gladston from the IVP in Massachusetts and Kevin Borden from the Center for Community Change.
Sarah Jane received a call from David at about noon asking if the meeting could be rescheduled because his state director had just come to town and had scheduled another meeting for the office at 2 and he (David) would have to attend. Sarah Jane told David that it would be very difficult to reschedule as people were driving in from other parts of the state. David tried to see if his boss could attend our meeting in his place. That did not work out.
Sarah Jane suggested that David meet the GSOP group at Pappy Pizza at 1:30 as we would be there having lunch before the meeting. HE agreed. David joined us at Pappys. He apologized for the sudden change in schedule.
Leticia thanked him for joining us and kicked off the round of introductions. The groups described GSOP, described the event and answered questions David had about the event and the organization.
We told him we would like a commitment form the Mayor to attend and he promised to work on it. He thought the event would be a good venue for Mayor Giuliani as more than 1,000 voters (many of whom are undecided) will be in attendance. David said the candidates schedule is known a week or two in advance and promised to stay in touch.
We shared our appreciation for his work on the campaign as well as his work in his former position on Congressman Bradley’s staff. He apologized again for the schedule change.
Meeting with Sen. John McCain's Campaign Staff
Meeting at Senator John McCain’s Campaign Headquarters
On Friday, August 3, we met Sarah Crawford, NE Deputy Regional Political Director at John McCain’s Campaign Headquarters in Manchester. The GSOP delegation consisted of Ruth Heden, Barbara Carboneau, Sarah Jane Knoy and Nancy Schooley. The GSOP delegates introduced themselves and told the Institutions that they represent.
Barbara gave the history of GSOP and explained that we are the largest community organization in NH, a Grassroots organization. Barbara told of some of the organizations that are members of GSOP and left the booklet with the list of members.
Ruth told of our successful issues, our goals and our plan for the September 15 event.
There will be reality testimonies with approximately 1,200 people in attendance with 100 media expected.
Sarah Jane explained that this will not be a debate. There will be two or three questions asked each Candidate and they will each have a time frame alone on stage. The list of questions that will be asked was given to Sarah Crawford.
The purpose of the visit was to elaborate on our invitation to the September 15 event and to encourage Sen. McCain to attend. We felt that Sarah Crawford was very receptive, asked us some questions and although Senator McCain’s schedule is not set at this time, she will contact Sarah Jane when the schedule is set.
On Friday, August 3, we met Sarah Crawford, NE Deputy Regional Political Director at John McCain’s Campaign Headquarters in Manchester. The GSOP delegation consisted of Ruth Heden, Barbara Carboneau, Sarah Jane Knoy and Nancy Schooley. The GSOP delegates introduced themselves and told the Institutions that they represent.
Barbara gave the history of GSOP and explained that we are the largest community organization in NH, a Grassroots organization. Barbara told of some of the organizations that are members of GSOP and left the booklet with the list of members.
Ruth told of our successful issues, our goals and our plan for the September 15 event.
There will be reality testimonies with approximately 1,200 people in attendance with 100 media expected.
Sarah Jane explained that this will not be a debate. There will be two or three questions asked each Candidate and they will each have a time frame alone on stage. The list of questions that will be asked was given to Sarah Crawford.
The purpose of the visit was to elaborate on our invitation to the September 15 event and to encourage Sen. McCain to attend. We felt that Sarah Crawford was very receptive, asked us some questions and although Senator McCain’s schedule is not set at this time, she will contact Sarah Jane when the schedule is set.
Meeting with Hillary Clinton's Campaign
Meeting at Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Headquarters
On Monday, August 6 we met Katie List, NH Director of Scheduling and Colin Pio from the Clinton Campaign. The GSOP delegates attending were: Ruth Heden, Fred Platt, Laticia Ortiz, Sarah Jane Knoy and Nancy Schooley.
Laticia thanked Katie and Colin for the meeting and then we introduced ourselves and told the Institutes that we represent.. Fred gave the history of Granite State Organizing Project and explained that we are the largest community organization in NH, a Grassroot organization. Fred told of some of the organizations that are members of GSOP and left the booklet with the list of members.
Ruth explained that the September 15 meeting is not a debate. The Candidates wil be asked several questions. There will be reality testimonies with approximately 1,200 people in attendance with 100 media expected.
Sarah Jane explained the purpose of our visit is to invite and encourage Sen. Clinton to attend. The list of questions that will be asked was given to Katie. There will be two or three questions asked each Candidate and they will each have a time frame alone on stage.
Katie and Colin were both genuinely interested in the September 15 event although schedules are not made this early. Katie will keep in touch with Sarah Jane.
On Monday, August 6 we met Katie List, NH Director of Scheduling and Colin Pio from the Clinton Campaign. The GSOP delegates attending were: Ruth Heden, Fred Platt, Laticia Ortiz, Sarah Jane Knoy and Nancy Schooley.
Laticia thanked Katie and Colin for the meeting and then we introduced ourselves and told the Institutes that we represent.. Fred gave the history of Granite State Organizing Project and explained that we are the largest community organization in NH, a Grassroot organization. Fred told of some of the organizations that are members of GSOP and left the booklet with the list of members.
Ruth explained that the September 15 meeting is not a debate. The Candidates wil be asked several questions. There will be reality testimonies with approximately 1,200 people in attendance with 100 media expected.
Sarah Jane explained the purpose of our visit is to invite and encourage Sen. Clinton to attend. The list of questions that will be asked was given to Katie. There will be two or three questions asked each Candidate and they will each have a time frame alone on stage.
Katie and Colin were both genuinely interested in the September 15 event although schedules are not made this early. Katie will keep in touch with Sarah Jane.
Dr. Ron Paul Campaign Staff Meeting 8/10/07
Ruth Heden and Bro. Paul Crawford were able to meet with Jared Chicoine and Jordan of the Dr. Ron Paul Campaign at the Merrimack Restaurant on Friday. Jared is the State Director and Jordan is the State Political Director of the Dr. Ron Paul Campaign.
We shared about our interest in politics and the importance of this 2008 election cycle. As is the format we then spoke about GSOP's issues, and over the format of the Presidential Forum in September.
My impression was that there was a lot of energy and a strong commitment by both Jared and Jordon for Dr. Paul and would like to have Dr. Paul take part in the Forum.
Jared will be taking to the National Staff about that possibiliy Monday after the focus of the National Staff turns from the Ames Straw Poll.
We shared about our interest in politics and the importance of this 2008 election cycle. As is the format we then spoke about GSOP's issues, and over the format of the Presidential Forum in September.
My impression was that there was a lot of energy and a strong commitment by both Jared and Jordon for Dr. Paul and would like to have Dr. Paul take part in the Forum.
Jared will be taking to the National Staff about that possibiliy Monday after the focus of the National Staff turns from the Ames Straw Poll.
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