Below is the letter of thanks the LNCC received from Brett:

Mr. McMahon,

Last year, while running in a special election for the Marietta City School Board, I sought and received the endorsement of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee.

Despite a large number of other races throughout the country, your support led to a significant fundraising effort for that election. On July 31st, 2012, I was elected to represent Ward 1 on the school board for Marietta City Schools. Without your endorsement and the support of Libertarians across the country, that may not have happened. For your support, your endorsement and “call to action” from those who also advocate Libertarian principles, I thank you.

My first year in office has been a learning experience more than anything, and I have the LNCC to thank for that opportunity.

Earlier this year, the LNCC renewed their endorsement of my campaign. This time, the endorsement was for my RE-election bid. As part of your support, you once again asked your supporters to help. While last year’s support was tremendous, I am truly honored and humbled by the generosity of those who stand strong in their principles of liberty. I am completely floored by those contributors from Virginia, California, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania who found it important enough to support my campaign here in Marietta, Georgia with some of their hard-earned money to help keep an elected Libertarian in office.

I’m happy to report that your fundraising efforts helped me raise $4,000. Or in other words, 60% of fully funding the campaign budget and plan we discussed back in December, and the “buzz” about the fundraising efforts made its way around the politicos in Marietta.

More than the funds raised, I also appreciate the time and advice that you gave to my campaign. I was one of only two people facing an opponent…and I had two. By maintaining a highly active campaign of going door-to-door, attending nearly every school function and creating buzz in the local media I was able to avoid a runoff election. I was re-elected after receiving 56.52% of the total vote and 62.68% of the early/absentee vote.

Thanks again for your renewed endorsement, and please share my thanks with the supporters who won with me on Tuesday night.

Sincerely,

Brett C. Bittner

School Board Member – Ward 1 Marietta City Schools

If you want to see Libertarian Victories in 2014, like Brett’s, please support the Libertarian National Campaign Committee by making a donation, today. Click Here to help the LNCC financially prepare for 2014.

In Liberty,

Evan McMahon, Executive Director
Libertarian National Campaign Committee

The media, in typical fashion, had been mostly dismissive of the young looking Libertarian. But after the Democrat and Republican used their time to bash each other on stage, the media was reminded that there is a better option. Now, they are giving Sarvis equal footing and plenty of coverage. Sarvis has been doing interviews around the state everyday…all day.

The commercial and the media coverage have helped propel Sarvis to a head turning 12% in the polls. In some counties Sarvis is polling in the high 20′s! That’s in a race where the other two candidates are spending millions of dollars a week in radio and TV ads.

And we’re not talking about some half-baked internal polling. These numbers are coming from the big boys – CNN, Politico and others.

Click on the image above to read the full Politico story.

There will be one last debate in Virginia and the organizers will decide tomorrow if, in their opinion, Sarvis has met the threshold to be included in it. Sarvis has already met at least two of the requirements 1) Be on the ballot 2) get at least 10% in recognized polls. The third key area of focus is direct public support of the campaign.

To show they have the direct support of the public, and to fund a statewide airing of the “Open-Minds and open for business” ad, the Sarvis campaign has launched a $10,000 on 10/10 fundraiser. As this email is going out, the campaign fundraiser has already raised over $8,000! Let’s help push them far over the top – Donate Here Today!

You can also join Robert Sarvis for Governor online at www.RobertSarvis.com and on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

PS, the Libertarian National Campaign Committee has been a proud supporter of the Robert Sarvis for Governor campaign since day one. They have shown, throughout the campaign, that the team is serious and dedicated not only to achieving ballot access for the Virginia Libertarian Party, but also to building a positive image of the party in the hearts and minds of Virginia voters.

I encourage you to help support this groundbreaking campaign!

In Liberty,

Evan McMahon, Executive Director
Libertarian National Campaign Committee

For over 15 years Evan McMahon has been a sought after professional political strategist and campaign advisor.  His experience includes advising hundreds of up and down ticket races across the country, organizing ballot measures and issue advocacy campaigns, statewide voter registration drives, developing the first ever responsive streaming online townhall for a campaign, guest lecturing at universities and actually getting candidates elected to office.

In just a few short years, Evan has earned the respect of Libertarians throughout the “big tent” and gained a solid reputation for his dedication, seemingly limitless campaign knowledge and his 90+ hour work weeks.

Over the next two years, Evan will be working day and night to help recruit, train, advise, outfit and fund Libertarian candidates across the country. All with one single minded goal — restoring liberty through the ballot box.

We are here to turn the tide and change the course of America.  And our ability to accomplish this depends on you.  With your help we can make a dramatic impact on the liberty movement.

I ask you to stand with me and our mission by supporting the LNCC, donate online today.

Very truly yours,

Mark W. Rutherford, Chairman
Libertarian National Campaign Committee

Advice to Libertarians who wish to run for City Council:

You may or may not follow my path.  It’s a change of life and a lot of work.

Find a leadership area in your community that’s of interest to you.  Seek a volunteer or appointed position in a community organization such as PTA, charity, local committee, city board or commission.  Attend City Council and commission meetings regularly.  Know the agenda topics. Write and speak to the City Council. Write letters to the editor.  Establish name recognition.

After you have a community resume and some name recognition, start a city council campaign 6-12 months before the election.  Know approximately how many votes it takes to be elected and focus on getting those votes.  Votes are all that matter.

Form an organizing committee.  Recruit campaign committee members to coordinate volunteers, manage a bank account, file state forms, and prepare your printed material (brochure/door hanger, signs, newspaper ads, campaign mailer).  You the candidate must do fund raising (about $15,000 for my successful re-election campaign for the Nov 2012 election).  You also must develop your campaign priorities and platform to reach voters, answer questionnaires, attend press interviews, attend candidate forums and walk precincts to meet voters.

Those are the essentials.  As an elected official you do not need to preach everything that is contained in the Libertarian Party Platform. There are enough bad policies and squandered taxpayer dollars to reasonably argue against.   You must have complete command of the facts involving a wide range of Council agenda topics and just use common sense in policy making.

They had expected to be flush with cash pumped in by the online fundraising machine that helped Obama shatter fundraising records in 2008.

They had expected Mitt Romney to emerge from the Republican primaries irreparably damaged — defined in the minds of voters as an out-of-touch “vulture capitalist” who couldn’t relate to average voters.

Instead the Obama campaign was nearly broke, and most voters still hadn’t made up their mind just who Mitt Romney was.

Rather than wait, Obama and adviser David Axelrod went all in, gambling the campaign’s money on an early onslaught of attack ads that caught the Romney campaign by surprise.

Romney failed to react, eventually costing him the election as he was unable to shake the caricature the Obama campaign had painted of him.

You should do the same.

Don’t hesitate to attack your opponent.

In fact, relish it.

Voters may say they hate “negative advertising” but consultants keep doing it for one reason — it works.

And if your opponent has voted to raise taxes, explode spending, waste public funds, engage in unethical official behavior or other things that disqualify him in your mind, voters have a right it know that.

The earlier you bring it up, the better your odds will be of knocking him back on his heels.

That’s not to say you should call your opponent names, mock his or her physical appearance or bring up issues about his or her marriage or family.

Those are personal attacks.  And they often end up damaging you and helping your opponent.

Voters have a right to know why you are the best candidate, as well as why your opponent does not deserve to be in public office.

Attack your opponent early.

Attack your opponent often.

Attack your opponent with enthusiasm.

Most importantly, stick to the issues and make your attacks credible, believable and fully researched and documented.

My rule is “if Grandma would hate what I said more than what he did, don’t do it.”

Our freedom wasn’t won by people playing nice and sitting around a table “debating” each other.

Freedom must be fought for, and that’s how we will win it back.

But Obama coasted to a re-election victory last week.

How did he do it?

Simple.  As a former community organizer the Obama White House understands voter identification and mobilization like no other.

They understand you don’t need a majority of the people behind you to win — all you need is to get more people to the polls than the other guy.

That starts with identifying everyone who supports you.  The Obama campaign made that priority number one.

“Obama’s campaign probably spent $200 million to $250 million — a quarter of every dollar collected — to create a state-of-the-art voting profiling operation that allowed it to more accurately assess the electorate than standard polling,” POLITICO reports.

“Like generals with good intelligence, Obama campaign officials could move resources quickly around the battlefield — like the late deployment of volunteers to critical Cuyahoga County in Ohio.”

As he laid out in his 2005 book, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe took simple neighborhood-level political organizing and replicated it by an exponent of thousands to carry Obama to two historic election wins.

According to Obama adviser Jim Messina one Columbus, Ohio woman told him: “I know everybody in my neighborhood — the ones that will always vote, the ones who don’t — and what it takes to get them to vote,” the woman, a committed Obama volunteer since 2007, told him. She added, with a chuckle: “They just shipped in a Romney staffer a couple of weeks ago. … Who do you think is going to win around here?”

Do you know your neighborhood?

Can you walk down the street, point to each door and tell someone whether the residents are Libertarians, Republicans, Democrats, swing voters, inactive voters or not registered?

If not, you need to learn that.

1) Talk to your state or local Libertarian Party.

2) Make sure they have the voter registration database.

3) Use party registration or primary voting history to determine your Libertarians, Republicans and Democrats.

4) Use the party membership list to identify non-voting Libertarians.

5) Also take note of lawn signs or bumper stickers on cars in the driveway

In short, be like a beat cop.  Collect information.  Learn your neighbors.

That way, next November, you know which Libertarians and Libertarian-friendly voters you need to get to the polls to pad LP election numbers.

Email all of your supporters and remind them to vote.  Don’t just assume they know the election is Tuesday, or that they will even remember to vote for you.  Your supporters are intelligent, but they are also busy people with families, jobs and businesses.

Prepare your election night speech and press statement for three potential outcomes: a win, a loss and an inconclusive result.

Use your email, Twitter account and Facebook to post updates and tweets throughout the election day.

The minute the race is called, post a thank you note on your website, and any social media feeds, thanking your volunteers and donors.

Prepare list of people you must call after the results are announced.  The first should be your opponent to either congratulate (should he or she win) or thank (should you win.)   The next on the list should be your biggest donors.

BEFORE Election Day, contact an attorney experience in election law.  Let him know you may need his services should your voters or poll workers need assistance.

Speaking of which, if your race is called, and the margin is close enough to be in doubt, DO NOT CONCEDE!  Simply tell the press and your supporters very politely and professionally you will wait until all the votes are counted AND VERIFIED before declaring victory or defeat.  Immediately contact an attorney experienced in election law.

No matter the result, be gracious and professional.  Remind your supporters of the same.

“So how can a campaign with limited staff and financial resources get the voter data they need and radically increase the power of their field operations? Enter the Internet, and more specifically, affordable political software.”

Finding a good database program to manage the voter file could deliver tons of extra votes simply because you are better at identifying active, undecided voters than your opponent.

Having a good website that automatically loads content to social media networks could help you reach voters your opponent can’t.

Some programs available on iPad or iPhone allow you to update and automatically sync databases, allowing you to flag supporters and favorable voters for your Get Out The Vote from right there at their front door.

So talk to past candidates and political pros.  Ask what they use.  Try new programs. Find what works for you.  Political technology decides elections.

But don’t whine about it.  Go on the offensive.

Campaigns and Elections magazine offers these helpful tips:

Earning media from yard sign thieves

A Google News search for “yard signs” returns 39,000 news results in just the last month. Long story short, the media loves to report on yard signs—including sign theft and vandalism. When a supporter recounts their story of a stolen sign, ask if you can include information about the theft in a press release. Once the campaign has accumulated a few similar stories, issue a press release decrying the actions of your opponent’s supporters, and offer quotes from your supporters about the purported thefts. With any luck, you’ll get a sympathetic news story.

Sign theft and volunteerism

Angry supporters are ripe for a volunteer ask, and yard sign theft is a powerful source for supporter anger. When a supporter calls the field office to share their story and ask for another yard sign, you’re likely to get a “yes” from a volunteer ask because they’re motivated by anger and want to reciprocate. In addition, many campaigns successfully trade a sign for a volunteer shift, which also works well.

Turning sign theft into dollars

Using the same process as above, small dollar contributions in exchange for a yard sign are common, and upset supporters will be quick to open up their wallets for a few dollars to replace their sign for virtuous reasons and spite alike.

Ben Donahower is a contributing editor to the free guide, Get Out The Vote To Win, and a campaign veteran. You can connect with Ben on Twitter at @iapprovethismsg.

A simple way to solve that, and get your campaign rolling at the same time is to collect signatures door to door by working off a registered voter list.  That way everyone who signs can quickly be verified as a registered voter and eligible signer.

How do you do it?

1) Contact the proper voter registration office and purchase the full voter registration list.  You’re going to need it anyway.  In many cases you must file a statement of candidacy first, so get that out of the way too.

2) Your best bet is voters who are Libertarians and those registered with, or vote in the primary of, the party opposite the incumbent.  Just tell them, “My name is _________ and I will be running as a Libertarian against (Republican/Democrat) _________.”

3) When you turn in your signatures, you can now also include a direct list of each signer, in order, with their verified voter registration.  That makes it harder for the government to disqualify your signers.

And not only does this let you work the kinks out of your door-to-door operation early, you can also ask these people if they’d like to volunteer or donate, and if they’d like a yard sign when they come in.

Not only can you lock up your ballot access early, you’ll be hitting the ground running with door-to-door practice and an early list of supporters.