Reminder: It only takes one or two people to do that kind of damage. It's a mistake to blame an entire group or community. (I certainly wouldn't like to be judged by some of the embarrassing things members of my party did.)

I think it's important to complain about the actions of "a few," and avoid verbally tar-and-feathering people who are innocent of the charges and might otherwise be sympathetic.

Oh, and congratulations! Smither is a threat.

This happened directly in front of Republican headquarters. The Republican party chairman refused to do anything about it.

Hopefully vandalism will damage the Republican's reputation.

Also possible that Dems are doing it because they fear that would lead to Smither's victory.

Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-32) has been known to do this for decades. He's my representative, and nobody ever seems to bring this up against him - probably because his Democratic opponent is equally as bad. (His Libertarian opponent is fairly weak, though at least he shows up for his Dallas Morning News interviews.)

Folks, this is news. LP headquarters, are you awake? TV stations are always on the lookout for this kind of stuff. Have they been contacted? Do something! Geez! I am getting soooo tired of LP inaction!

RustyZ:

What would you suggest we do other than what we've already done (which includes contacting the media)?

And no, we are not awake. I was asleep when I wrote this blog entry.

Cheers,

Gordon, you're awesome.

Cut Gordon some slack. He's one of only four full-time people at headquarters.

If you want to talk about LP inaction, how about the LP (now card-carrying) members that sit in front of their computer all day?

I was a card-carrying member of the LP for over 20 years. I've donated, campaigned and done my best to get the word out. Hopefully the media was contacted over lunch paid for by the LP. That's how my press releases make it into the media.

I'd be happy to be a full time staffer. Awareness is a huge issue with our party. I'd be happy to spend all day calling the media outlets, writing editorials, submitting positions to every website known to man. I just don't have time with my low-paying job. If I was a low-paying staffer working from my home in Upstate NY I'd spend all day doing what I enjoy (hint, hint).

Hire Nick.

This is really getting frustrating. Looking at the positive messages from Smither and Maymin and seeing the poor results is discouraging. With the country so dismayed with attack ads and the same old rhetoric, I would have thought Libertarians would have faired much better, if not winning, at least getting greater percentages, swinging a few races, etc. I saw that our budget for next year is 2.1 million. Where are those celebrities that we champion on the advocates site? Are they being utilized by the party? Have we even asked for their public endorsements? It would be free publicity. The media would be all over Clint Eastwood, Drew Carey, and Trey Parker if they spoke out in favor of the LP. Or are they just small l libertarians and why have we not been able to make them big L libertarians. We have a public image problem. It's that the public has no image of us. The internet is under utilized by us in getting young people to vote and show them we have a message they can respect and support. I'm not giving up. I hope none of you do either. Spread the word. When a cashier asks if there's anything else they can do for you, just smile and say Vote Libertarian.

Yeah, hire Nick!

You know, perhaps we could find some ballot initiatives we like in future local races and throw our name behind them? Maybe even get our candidates to offer to endorse some for/against positions for commercials or anything that could end up on the news. Proponents (or detractors, since most initiatives stink) of the initiatives would probably welcome the endorsements, and it's a very inexpensive way to get "Libertarian" into the minds of people who already have a sense of how they feel about the issues.

I think people care less about celebs than they do issues, but it's undeniable that the media cares more about the celebs. And let's face it, we need the media to help get our positions out there. The question of celebrity endorsements is a good one.

There are a lot of R's and D's out there who don't even know they're actually L's.

The Repugnancy Party has hopefully learnt a lesson from Los Tejanos Libertarios: About 25% of the seats they lost to Dumbocrats, nationally, were lost in Texas, in races where the Libertarian vote exceeded the margin of victory. Curiously, Juanita's observation about the sign vandalism reveals that Repugnicans are more than willing to speak with forked tongue, by bashing illegal immigration, and proposing to legalize it through a "guest worker" program, without acknowledging the inherent contradiction between their two positions. Mr. Bush, as of Monday last, seemed to have only two political liabilities: His face. The same appears to hold true for his party.