I,
Drew Kopf, am Running for President; and here is how much I intend to spend
to do it.
Some time
in February of 2004, as John Dean was ending his run for the nomination from
his party, it was announced that he had spend over $40,000,000.00, that is
forty million dollars, in his failed effort. The newspapers were also mentioning
that George Bush had amassed a campaign war chest in excess of $200,000,000.00,
that is two hundred million dollars, which he would begin spending as soon
as the Democrat survivor emerged. If the other Democrats spent just another
$10,000,000.00 among them that would make it a cool quarter of a billion dollars
that is billion with a “B”, that would have been spent before
any of the conventions were held. To me it is shameful to think just how small
minded those of us are who allow ourselves to get caught up in this ridiculousness.
Most everyone
we speak with about this phenomenon agrees that campaign spending is out of
hand, make that way out of hand, but no body does anything about it and it
is just getting worse and worse.
In our campaign
for the Office of President of the United States we are planning to take the
extreme opposite approach to campaign funding and campaign spending. We will
not apply for any public monies to fund this campaign. Nor will we seek private
monies to fund it. We do not plan on spending any money on this campaign;
that is to say no more than we would spend on any of our hobbies or interests.
So, for example,
to date, as this piece is being drafted, March 4, 2004, the web site for this
campaign is not on its own domain; that is it is not found at www.drewkopf4president.com
or www.votedrewkopf.com nor is it www.drewkopfforpresident2004.com but, rather,
it is contained on a few pages on one of the web site used for marketing products
from companies that prefer not to run their own web sites and where we experiment
with web site development tools and techniques.
By the way,
if you are either impressed or unimpressed with the simplicity of our web
site development techniques, we appreciate both judgments of our efforts.
However, we owe our approach to web site development to the way we have been
selling and marketing in the business world and in the not-for-profit world
for years. There are those who call it the KISS method. Keep it simple student.
We had that
approach confirmed as valid when we read the book "Don't
Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability" by
Steve Krug. We commend the book to your attention whether or not you are involved
in web site design or not. It is not a long book, but it is a very interesting
one.
Will we be
flying around the country? We doubt it. But, we will say, to the extent that
we can take time away from our regular business, we will make ourselves available
for speaking engagements and the like with the proviso that our travel and
lodging expenses be provided for by those who are inviting us to speak. The
accommodations need not be fancy either and we will assume the cost of our
own meals as we would be paying for them in any case no matter home or away.
Do we need
Bumper Stickers? We do not believe we do. We do believe that all we need today
is a few weeks for people to get their arms around the belief that what they
do to help me get elected can really count because, as ridiculous as it may
seem, by doing what needs to be done to make this happen can actually do just
that; it can happen.
Would Drew
Kopf be the best President since the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson,
Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt? We don't know. These were special
men who lead our country in trying times. The times we are in are also trying.
It is our believe that we need a special person to not just be President,
but to help us all focus on what needs to be done, and more importantly to
make sure we get it done. It is clear to us, as we are sure it is clear to
even the most staunch supporters of the main stream candidates, if not to
the candidates of the big political machines themselves, that neither of them
can do what needs to be done. Talented and intelligent, they are. But, the
cumbersome mutually antagonistic approach they both bring to the tasks at
hand need to be replaced by a straight talking mature and honest way of working
that involves those of us who will labor for the common good of all our people
without the deal-making power brokering that makes folks rich and keeps our
nation stuck and vulnerable. We need a real change. Not just from the inside
the beltway crowd, but a change also from the political party insiders crowd.
It can happen.
The word of mouth about our campaign can move across the land quickly once
our initial supporters begin to share their feelings with friends. Then the
voter registration will begin to throw the pollsters into a panic because
they will not have expected it and none of their past predictions will have
accounted for it. What needs to be done, such as the designation of Presidential
Electors, the gathering submission of necessary signatures in certain states
and the dissemination of instructions on how to use absentee ballots and election
booth write-in procedures to new and experienced voters, will get done. The
use of expensive video training films will not be necessary either. People
will help each other and, sure as the word was spread to and among the soldiers
of the United States Revolutionary Army about the progress of the British
and what needed to be done to defeat them, so too can our current day citizen
soldiers pass the word and gather the necessary strength to take our country
back from the game playing manipulators who have been allowed to hold us,
their fellow citizens, and our country and its government hostage in our own
land for so long.
The election
rules of each state, territory and protectorates have to be observed so that
a Presidential Elector is designated to vote for Drew Kopf for each of the
538 electoral votes. There are also requirements that will allow for the name
Drew Kopf to be written in on Election Day or counted when written in on absentee
ballots. Getting this preparatory work accomplished will take time and effort
of many people. There are even states that require thousands of signatures
to be gathered just to allow votes for write in candidates to be counted.
It doesn’t seem fair does it? It almost seems un-American. But, those
are the rules. And we will need time to get that done for this election before
we can get such rules replaced by rules that make sense and are fair.
Can it happen?
Doubtful you may say. Okay. We agree with you. But it can happen. It can be
done. And if you are reading this now, you are a perfect candidate to help
make it happen. Who will join our efforts to end the chaos that is our country's
electoral process? We have no idea. Friends of mine, who have heard me speak
about this campaign of course feel it is in jest and they say, “You’ve
got my vote.” Well, it need not be in jest.
We too often
stand around waiting for others to prepare the table for us to sit down and
eat. What seems like a jest can be made into a reality. We can make truth
stranger than any fiction. There are fifty states. Who are the fifty people
who will step forward and begin an impossible journey by saying, “I’ll
help,” and then leading their state to delivering its precious electoral
votes for Drew Kopf instead of just letting the madness of our current politically
paralyzed condition continue?
But there
is more. Who will realize that this independent campaign needs more? Who will
follow our lead and launch their own independent candidacies for the 34
senate seats, the 435
congressional seats, the 11
governorships, the 398
mayoralties as well as the many state legislative offices and local
offices that are up for election in 2004? [As of December 16, 2005, there
is 1 Indpendent Senator, 1 Idependent Representative, no Independent Govenors].
There will be 33 Senate Seats, 435 House Seats and 36 Govenor's Chairs up
for Election in 2006. Don’t send money. Send us your name and a signed
commitment that you will vote for Drew Kopf and that you will speak to others
and appeal to them to do the same. Think it over and have a meeting with yourself
and see if you can not see yourself as town clerk, or city mayor, or state
assemblyperson, or state senator, or congressperson, and then find out what
will be open, learn what needs to be done and then start doing it. And, if
you need help, call us. Send us your commitment to and intention to run for
office and write out your stance on the issues pertinent to that position
so we can get behind you in any way we can.
Time moves
so quickly. Do we need to raise tons of money to get this accomplished? If
the American people start talking to each other about this, billboards, bumper
stickers, signs and TV commercials may actually be viewed as a liability.
They may appear as arrogant fat cat hubristic statements. But, we do need
to talk to each other. We need to know who is taking care of what. So, start
to talk to me. Once the election is over, we will need to appoint some 700
or more people to various positions in the government. Remember, there is
no monolithic party behind me. We will need your help to select the truly
best and the brightest in our nation for a true change to take place. To put
the "in crowd" out and make ours again a government of, by and for
the people, we require the greatest fire brigade ever assembled.
