Friends,

I want to take some time today to talk about something very important. By doing so I hope to get important information out to everyone, to initiate some conversation, and to elicit responses in the form of action.

First, I will tell you what prompted this article. Two days ago I volunteered to be a Precinct Leader here in Precinct 5 in Collinsville, IL. Due in part to a bit of work I did with one of the local MeetUp groups and the efforts I’ve put forth here at The Paulunteer I have also been granted the privilege of being the Madison County Coordinator, and I am very excited about that. This will help me gain the experience necessary to coordinate local elections of Ron Paul Republicans in the future.

I am sharing this with you because despite our astonishing number of MeetUp members nation-wide and the incredible variety and multitude of grassroots projects happening around the country, there is still a severe need for Precinct Leaders in virtually every state.

Most importantly, there is still a severe need in states that have primary elections on ‘Super Tuesday’, February 5th.

As you can see, this is a problem. We only have four weeks left to get out the vote for Ron Paul. If we don’t get out the vote- if we don’t each take personal responsibility to help with this- it is an absolute certain fact that we will lose the nomination.

What does it mean for each of us to take personal responsibility for this? For some of us who are very busy with work and family, it might mean simply talking to friends, family, and co-workers.

Most importantly, for all of us, it means not assuming that others will do this for us.

For those who have more time, taking responsibility means stepping up to be a Precinct Leader.

It took me a while to decide to do this myself. I thought that I had my hands full running this website (and I do spend many hours each day working on it). I figured I could just continue working hard on this and then help out with some phone calling at our new official campaign office here in Edwardsville, IL and that would be sufficient.

I changed my mind, though, after reading about how a tremendous group of supporters rallied their neighbors and won Jefferson County, Iowa for Ron Paul.

I thought, “How would I feel if I continued doing what I’m doing now and we lost Madison County, in my own backyard?”

I would feel pretty lousy, that’s how… especially if I knew I hadn’t done everything I could to help us win here.

So that leads me to where I am today. I just took some time out from watching the Precinct Leader training videos to write this to all of you.

What I would like to do is set up an unofficial support network here at The Paulunteer for all of us who decide to work on this.

What’s more, I would like to encourage as many of you as possible to join the effort!

The official campaign has set up an ingenious method of motivation to this end which I hope to take advantage of. The campaign is keeping track of how many Precinct Leaders each Precinct Leader refers to the program. There are absolutely no incentives except for the knowledge that you are helping to get Ron Paul elected (and perhaps a few bragging rights).

A fine patriot by the name of Jesse Lipich currently holds the record with 96 Precinct Leaders recruited! I’m not sure how he’s done this, but I for one am mightily impressed.

However, I think we can challenge that record.

Here’s how it works:

1. Register with the campaign as a supporter! Click here
2. Read about being a Precinct Leader.
   1. Learn about the responsibilities from RonPaul2008.com. Click here
   2. Hear more about it from supporters here at The Paulunteer. Click here & here
3. Decide you want to be a Precinct Leader.
4. E-mail The Paulunteer by using the contact form below and tell me that you want to be a Precinct Leader. I will send you an invitation via e-mail.
5. That’s it! You can start helping us win the election in your state.

There’s more:

I will be adding a new Precinct Leader category which can be reached from the Categories list in the right sidebar of The Paulunteer. I will post new articles from all of you discussing your experiences and then we can have conversations about the items in the comments sections.

I will also be sharing some of my experiences and other articles and videos from around the web.

I will also find a place on the front page to display a running tally of the Precinct Leaders we all gather. Remember to refer your friends to The Paulunteer and have them contact me so that I can invite them to the program.

Here are some great thoughts on the subject from supporters who have been there and done that:

What was done to Win Jefferson Co, IA

Supporter: “What I learned as RP precinct captain in Iowa.”