That's the slightly adjusted headline of an article in today's New York Times: G.O.P. Campaign Outreach Tool: Gun Sweepstakes. Seems the NRA invented this tactic of fattening their mailing lists after seeing how the Publisher's Clearing House did things in the early 1980s. In 2014, some Republicans have decided to do the same thing.
Below the Great Orange gunrest, please.
Jeremy Peters writes:
The method may be new, but the concept is actually a durable campaign devise. Take a group of possible supporters who are highly motivated around an issue, in this case gun ownership and Second Amendment Rights, and pique their interest with good marketing. Then, once you have their attention, solicit their personal attention and follow up to ask for support and money.
Easy way to cut through the noise, Peters suggests.
Who's doing this? Greg Brophy, state senator who ran against three other Republicans (and failed to make the ballot at the state convention) to represent the Republican party in this year's gubernatorial election in Colorado. Lee Bright, who is primarying Lindsay Graham from the right in South Carolina (he's given away TWO gins this year already). Of course, there are hurdles: the winner has to undergo a background check, the gun itself has to be bought through the proper channels. The article indicates that the guy primarying Lamar Alexander from the right in Tennessee, Joe Carr, hired an attorney to oversee the whole thing, saying
You don't actually receive the gun from us.
Carr's sweepstakes got him 45,000 email addresses, and that's not call change for a statewide campaign. Tom Tancredo is doing this too, via an email pitch from his supporter Ted Nugent, as is Paul Broun in Georgia.
Of course, this occasionally backfired, like when the Pima County Republican party (Arizona) announced a raffle for a Glock, apparently failing to remember what it was that shot Gabrielle Gifford. And there's irony:
Second Amendment-rights groups have fiercely resisted any laws that document the names of gun owners.
IOKIYAR, correct?
Marketing is all about getting people's attention. Interesting that some Republicans have seized upon guns as a means for doing that.
I have a class to teach in 30 minutes, then a faculty meeting, and then I'm going home. Sorry to post and run, but this really said "Diary Me."