TAKING THE INITIATIVE, THE "YES ON PROP M" CAMPAIGN

At this point, another of the vital members of DCCC comes, front and center, into the story.

Tim O'Brien, a long-time libertarian writer and commentator, Libertarian Party activist and friend of mine, had actually been actively involved with DCCC from its inception. Mr. O'Brien's creativity and expertise as an advertising and marketing professional, as well as a successful political campaign consultant, would prove invaluable. In fact, next to legal counsel, hiring an expert in political advertising and marketing is the wisest investment a reformer can make. While most everyone appreciates that they do not have the knowledge or expertise to draft a legal document, far too many make the mistake that because they know how to read a newspaper and watch TV, they have the skills to create an effective ad campaign.

Given the fact that primary voters in Detroit and most other places are fewer and much more well-versed on the issues, we chose direct mail as our main campaign vehicle, knowing our message will likely get read by the prospect to whom it was directly addressed and sent.

The piece Mr. O'Brien designed featured an elderly, yet alert appearing, African-American female in a wheel chair. The caption read: "You would never take away her wheelchair … How about her medicine?"

DCCC paid a substantial sum ($1500) to a photo house for exclusive rights to this high quality, professional shot of the exact image we were looking to project to our target voter audience. We also purchased the photo rights to two other images of African American persons in a hospital setting, an elderly male and a younger female, who seemed on the road to full recovery from their illnesses.

In addition, with assistance from MPP, DCCC was able to obtain the endorsement of Proposal M from Dr. Jocelyn Elders, the first African-American United States Surgeon General, and popular TV talk show host Montel Williams, whose pictures and personal endorsements also appeared in the brochure.

Finally DCCC got a photo of Rev. Al Sharpton and reprinted a quote from his presidential election campaign: "I think that medical marijuana patients should not be arrested for using medical marijuana. I think that's something I wouldn't do." (We did not need to secure Rev. Sharpton's permission, as our attorney assured us that this man was a public figure and, as long as we did not make up the quote, our action was considered "Protected political speech.")

Our local research in the community suggested that in addition to appealing to simple human compassion for the sick and dying, the argument that medical marijuana was not legal "because of greedy drug companies and their friends in Washington," played very well with our target audience.

Finally, the piece also contained endorsements from both local political leaders and prestigious institutions such as The American Nurses Association, the Institute for Medicine, and others.

Every Detroiter who had previously voted in a primary election got this four-color piece in the mail the very day one of our sources in the clerk's office told us the absentee ballots would arrive (around three weeks prior to election day). The mailing to the rest of the list of those who had a history of voting in primaries (i.e., non-absentees who must, therefore, go to the polls) went out four days before election day.

REFORMERS TAKE CAREFUL NOTE. In every community, there exists a core group of voters, perhaps as few as 25% of those who have the right to vote (but do not), who take this right so seriously that they never miss an election. They are up on the issues and are key opinion leaders in their families, churches, neighborhoods and local government itself. If you can win these votes, you are well on the way to winning your election in the final count.

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