Campaign update #10

Gary Shaul, Campaign co-ordinator

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Plan. Identify. Build. Target. Endorse. Focus. Keep planning and building. Deliver.

That is the Catch 22 Campaign's proposed formula for success. If I've learned anything in life, it's the importance of having a goal, a plan and most importantly, the resources and focus to carry it through. After fourteen months, I can tell you that our campaign team is motivated and focused.

News in brief

Catch 22 is now an approved Third Party. We're going to release our 5 week plan in a couple of days. Started a new online group for youth/students. We want to congratulate each and every one of you who are spreading the word because it's definitely working. WoW! We're now seeing over 1,000 visitors a day on this social network without ever having being mentioned by the mainstream media. Facebook and Twitter are also growing faster than ever. Fund-raising is always a challenge but we had our 50th donation this evening. We're starting to translate some materials in French. People are stepping up to volunteer. These are all great signs and we think that we are entering the election period well positioned to make a positive difference. We'll be issuing our first news release on Tuesday. We have to make the news if we want to be in the news and you've now brought us to where we are comfortable putting ourselves up for scrutiny (or being ignored).

Now to the endorsements

We are kicking off the endorsement process for vulnerable Con ridings on Monday night in Ottawa at a Catch 22 meeting. The campaign team will make endorsement recommendations for Ottawa-West Nepean (Baird) and Ottawa-Orléans (Galipeau). There will be a discussion period followed by a decision made by the group. Then the local planning begins. I will be Skype'd into part of the meeting (our second in Ottawa).

If you can organize a local meeting, we will try to be there - in person, teleconference, Skype, etc. Where public meetings are not possible at this time, we will use our online riding groups as a venue for making recommendations, discussion and decisions around who has the best chance for success. Many will be straight-forward endorsements but there will be some tough ones to work through. Everyone will get a say. If you're in a Catch 22 target riding or intend to help out in one, join the online group to take part.

We will begin rolling out the recommendations on Tuesday or Wednesday. If you belong to the online group, you will get a notification that the endorsement period has opened. The discussion will last 24 hours and then a decision will be made.

We are also working on a list of endorsements in vulnerable opposition-held ridings. Many of these are ridings that the Cons are also targeting. Once an opposition riding is added to the list, the endorsement will be automatic for the incumbent. If there is a vacancy, we will make a recommendation and have a 24 hour discussion period.

We started this list off with the only opposition MP in all of Alberta - Linda Duncan (NDP) in Edmonton-Strathcona.

In general, please don't assume that because a party ran second in 2008 that they will automatically be the party to succeed this time or the one that we are endorsing. There may also be ridings that are too close to call right now or where all the candidates have not been nominated. We'll be posting an endorsement list this week with the status of each riding.

No process is perfect. We're also learning as we go because we are trying something that's outside the box. We hope we can reach consensus on our endorsements because when it comes to getting rid of the Harper government, we all agree. The opposition parties say they agree but their actions say that they've got other priorities - i.e. improving their own position even if it means splitting the vote and electing Cons.It makes our job tougher but a real strategic voting plan is never easy.

Only voter-powered campaigns like Catch 22 can help anti-Con voters sort through all the "me, me, me" they're hearing from the leaders and focus on the "we, we, we" that we need so desperately to overcome vote splitting at the ballot box  That is our challenge.

Coming next

Prominent supporters endorsement list. Youtube videos?

You can also find Catch 22's fingerprints on these:

Facebook, Twitter, Blog - Why Stop Harper!, Stop the Gravy Plane