So far I've convinced three people who voted for Bush last time to

[gollygee]

vote for Kerry this time.

How? I brought one to see Kerry with me in Grand Rapids. I loaned them my copy of Richard Clarke's book. I loaned them my Outfoxed dvd (and got one to stop using FOX as his main news soruce.) I wear the t-shirts and have the bumper sticker on my car, so when something comes up (ie swift boat vets) and they have a question about it, guess who they call?

Two of the voters are here in Michigan and one is in Florida. YAY

If we could each bring a few people over to vote for Kerry, that would be a HUGE accomplishment.

[Sticky]

1. This Freeper thread looks very encouraging

It's entitled
How many people do you personally know who are voting for Kerry?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1191300/posts

[otohara]

2. Applause

good work - keeping informed is the best offense/defense - people call me too.

[havocmom]

3. Fine work, Michigan Voter.

Welcome to the DU :hi:

Very, very good to have you here with us :toast:

Keep tossing those pebbles into ponds. We will keep the ripples coming until they are a tidal wave.

[checks-n-balances]

4. Welcome and WAY TO GO!

Do tell us how you even got started with them. Many people would not even agree to reading some of our great books out there.

Keep up the great work!

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

5. :)

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

6. Yay! This is the first time I've been able to post in about 3 days you

guys! I kept on getting this blasted error message! So glad I'm back; I was getting DU-withdrawal symptoms!? LOL!

[faithnotgreed]

13. 3 days! welcome back. dont think i could have handled it!

[gollygee]

8. I suppose I've mainly targeted people I think could be swayed

Some people aren't going to even think about it.

One person seemed to think that voting for Bush was the patriotic thing to do. I said that simply voting is the patriotic thing to do, and that the next patriotic thing to do is to be an informed voter and learn as much as possible. That was a good in for someone I didn't think could be swayed - the guy whose main news source was FOX.

[Neecy]

7. outstanding

The best thing we can do for the campaign is to bring people over from the dark side. There is so much unease right now in the country that it isn't all that difficult, unless it's a hard-core freeper.

[gratuitous]

9. Well, that's some pretty good work

But I know one guy who's convinced a lot more people to vote for Kerry this time: Simpleton W. Bush.

Keep your facts burnished and handy, know them backwards and forwards. Stupidhead is not the friend of the working class in this country, and be ready, always and everywhere, to ask your friends and acquaintances, "What has Bush actually DONE for you?" Forget the empty promises. Brush aside the "he's a good man" arguments. What are the actual RESULTS from his administration that make you think he has earned another four years?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

10. That's some nice police work, Michigan Voter.

Were these people you knew pretty well, friends?

What was your tone? Reaching out? Confrontational?

Was their emailing back and forth? Did they try to convince you with stuff, or were they more like, "show me" and you did?

If they sent you RW emails and stuff, how did you respond?

I'm just very very curious about these stories.

[gollygee]

12. Good questions

Family and friends. Most here in Michigan, but one who lives in Florida but comes up here in the summers.

My tone was reaching out. Not too confrontational. I think people dismiss those who believe differently when they are too confrontational. They do from time to time try to convince me of things - one is rabidly anti same-sex marriage and we've debated it over and over again. We debate and I debate hard but I try to maintain as non-confrontational a tone as possible.

These are people I know IRL but we do occasionally email back and forth as well. One - the guy who likes FOX - did once send me a Freeper-style email and I sent him the Snopes link that refutes it back, and asked him to research a bit more before he sends me stuff in the future. I don't think he actually goes to F.R. though. He was in the service and I think it was Kerry's speach at the convention that finally pushed him over the edge. I can't say I did it alone. :)

[footinmouth]

11. Good for you

I have written off most of my Republican friends & family as hopeless. The best I can do so far, is to convince the disgruntled ones to just stay home. I think my rw conservative brother may be voting for Nader, just because he cannot bring himself to vote for a Democrat. He's not so happy with Bush, so Nader will be his protest vote. As long as a vote is not cast for Bush, I guess I can consider that a small victory.