Grassroots Campaigning 9/9/2026
Section 5
Strategies
Our method was to knock doors 3 times a week for 2 hours every night. We went out on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday starting at 6:30 PM in the summertime. This allowed the people to finish dinner and gave them a chance to talk. We would send out our blast email in the morning to notify the volunteers where we were going to start making it simple for everybody involved. This allowed the candidates to join us if they were in the area so they could not only meet the voters but give the canvassers a chance to meet them and give them a couple of points to talk about. If they are able to give them a short personal story why they are running those go over well with the voter and paint word pictures in their minds. Before we started knocking doors we would have a group prayer to give us strength and guidance on our mission. This helped to settle us and brought the Lord into our effort. We hit every house although in a smaller local election you may only want to hit Republicans to assure those votes to swing the race. With our list we could pretty well guess whether they were going to be receptive but you have to knock all the doors since the lists are inaccurate so you may find Conservatives at “extreme” Democrat doors. Make sure you include having fun while you’re doing your door knocking. The candidates had pizza parties and we included Beaver/Duck competitions to lighten it up and keep the spirit in the tasks. We had a number of sign competitions to make it fun while getting a major job done. You can think of your own games to make this the heart of your campaign. Stay as close together as you can and ideally stay in eyesight of each other for safety sake. Bring phones and make sure you have each other’s numbers for when you get separated. When someone calls make sure to answer the call and say you are talking to Joan Smith and you will call back in a minute but make sure and answer so they can find you. Try to keep your conversations under 10 minutes since your 30 minute discussion may cause you to miss several houses and lose your group.
Section 6
Signs
One of the main goals of a successful door is to have them agree to put up a sign especially if it is a good corner lot with traffic. Getting them across the street from the opposing candidate is extremely petty, but a worthy goal. Make sure to note the address for future campaigns so we can put signs at that address again and again. Signs are very effective at not only increasing name recognition, but changing the mood of a community. Since Republicans in many neighborhoods often feel like the Red Headed stepchild having a neighborhood filled with Republican signs can give that neighborhood and town a Conservative atmosphere even if it is not. When you see the town covered with signs it makes the other neighbors more likely to put signs up themselves. It can also dishearten the opposition if they have to drive through or knock doors in those neighborhoods. We believe one of the reasons State Senate Leader Devlin wasted the million dollars on his race is we surrounded his house with Mary Kramer signs. He eventually gave up his leadership for not using the campaign funds efficiently. Signs literally change the attitude of a town so put them up liberally which is the only liberal thing you should do. Ideally those voters who don’t pay attention and are not sure who to vote for will remember the signs and vote those names.The best strategy for a town that has already been mapped is to get your signs out at the previous locations first to cover the town and then do your canvassing. You will knock doors from then on with lists that include your high rated Republicans to generate more sign locations and volunteers. Once you find someone who is passionate about their politics it is an easy transition to letting them know you are looking for sign locations and would they mind if we put one in their yard. You of course need to get their location, phone and email info to get them into the map. Your goal is to have a couple signs on each block to completely cover the town. When you go back through after the signs have been sitting for a couple weeks the resistance for new signs is nonexistent making for more signs and more volunteers and votes.
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