January 1998
From the Chair: A look at what we accomplished in '97
Steve Dasbach
LP National Chair
As the Libertarian Party heads into a new year, I want to take a moment to look back at what we accomplished in 1997 -- and compare our progress to the previous year. Here's a quick overview of the LP's vital statistics:
* LP Membership: Up by 6.3% since 1996, to approximately 23,000 (projected year-end figure). Traditionally, party membership falls in the year following a presidential campaign. It happened to us in 1989 and 1993 -- but in 1997, we broke that trend, and kept heading upwards. This was one of our most significant achievements of the year.
* Libertarian office-holders: Another new record: 234 -- a 36.8% increase from the 171 Libertarians in office last year. We also ran a record number of candidates for an off-year election (158), and Murray Sabrin became the first LP candidate to raise more than a quarter-million dollars for a state-wide race.
* Political action: In June, the LP joined a national coalition to (unsuccessfully) fight the Congressional pay raise. In July, we launched a campaign to abolish the government's "official" racial classifications from Census forms -- earning a number of significant endorsements. And in October, we helped host a third-party summit in Washington, DC, to rally support for new ballot access legislation.
* Media: In 1997, media increased from the non-presidential months of 1996 -- despite being in the "low ebb" of the political cycle. (We're factoring out the four months of the '96 presidential campaign, since that's a once-every-four-years phenomenon.) Overall, LP media contacts are up 11.9%, to 66.5 per month at our national headquarters. Interviews are up 26.7%, to 23.7 per month, with LP spokespeople appearing on an average of 420 radio or TV stations per month.
* Ballot Access: In 1997, we gained ballot status in three more states: North Carolina, Kentucky, and Alaska. This brings our total ballot status for the 2000 elections to 25 states.
* Fundraising: Declined only slightly since 1996 -- which is another significant "first" for the LP. Traditionally, party revenue drops considerably during the post-presidential year. But not this year! Overall party revenues slipped by only 6.9%, to just over $2 million (projected year-end figure).
* Outreach: In 1997, we took our first steps towards a full-time advertising campaign. In June and July, we ran 60-second commercials on 195 radio stations all across America. In October, we launched the largest direct-mail membership recruitment drive in LP history (more than 317,000 letters, including 120,280 pieces for our Project Archimedes tests.) In November, we created a personal membership recruitment package called Operation Rolodex. And in December we launched Operation Toehold, our plan to run displays ads in national magazines, starting with Wired.
* Party-building: For the first time in LP history, the national party paid to bring State Chairs from all over the country to Washington, DC, for a weekend training seminar. This training was so popular that we expanded it into a series of Success '97 seminars conducted all across the country.
To sum it up: By almost every measurable factor, 1997 was a landmark year for the Libertarian Party! But we couldn't have done it without the support of every LP member, activist, and candidate. You made it happen, and I thank you for that.
-- STEVE DASBACH
National Chair, Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
