Independent Activity

Draft Chris Christie For President in 2012
http://draftchristie2012.com
"Ask Yourself: If Not Chris, Then Who?"

By Donald Sico.  Launched Oct. 14, 2010.

Elections are about choices.

In 2012, our Nation will be at a crossroads and facing the most important election of a generation. Our “choice” will dictate our future for a long, long time. Are there many of you out there who do not now believe that the collective “choice” made by Americans in 2008 has put us on the path to fiscal ruin? In 2012 we get to change all that.

Republicans will be faced with one of the most important decisions in three decades - since Ronald Reagan. But we have to make the right choice. In my view, ALL of the other potential Republican candidates have baggage too heavy to lift.

I love Sarah Palin, but the media despises her and many voters find her unacceptable as a Presidential candidate.

I respect Mitt Romney, but “Obamacare” is the illegitimate child of his Massachusetts health reform experiment. It will weigh like an anchor around his neck.

I admire the intelligence of Newt Gingrich, but baggage, baggage, baggage.

Mike Huckabee. Nice guy, but never caught on. And the rest ... none of them excite me.

But there is one: Christopher J. Christie.

Here in New Jersey, we know what it is like to face fiscal ruin; to live with never ending tax increases; the highest property taxes in the nation and debt so deep that not only could we not see the light, we could not find the tunnel.

But today there is a glimmer of hope.

Because in 2009, New Jersey elected a “man in a hurry” - Chris Christie - to lead us out of the abyss that had been dug for us by a succession of “spenders” - in all three branches of government. Many of you have noticed that Chris has not wasted any time and is actively pursuing a “Reform Agenda” www.reformjerseynow.org that will set the Garden State on the path to fiscal and economic prosperity. We are not there yet, by any stretch of the imagination.

But we are on our way. Thanks to Chris.

And while the job is not done, there is a bigger, more important job that awaits: Cleaning up the mess that has become Washington.

In my view - and in the view of a great number of Americans - Chris is the right person for the job. In fact, he may be the only choice.

But Chris is not a quitter. He will not leave the job he started in New Jersey easily. We have to convince him. We have to sway him with our numbers.

DraftChristie2012 is designed to do just that.

Please take a moment to join our growing numbers by filling out the form.

We do not want or need your money, just your support.

There is NO “donate now” link.

We will not sell the list or give it to anyone except Chris Christie.

My “donation” is this website. It is not fancy. There are no videos, links to newspaper articles or photographs. You can find those at any number of sites designed to tell you more about Chris. I encourage you to do so.

THIS site is intended for just one purpose - collect names of people just like me and you who believe that Chris Christie is the right man at the right time.

Please fill out all the fields so we can keep in touch with you and let you know how many have joined you. We will keep track of our growing numbers on this website. So check back if you want to see how we are doing.

And MOST importantly, please send this link to as many of your friends, neighbors and co-workers as possible. Put it on your Facebook page. Tweet it. Text it. Just get the word out ... and quickly.

A few hundred supporters clamoring for Chris to run for President will not do it.

A few thousand citizens fearful of the American future and convinced that Chris Christie needs to lead us will not make a difference.

It will take tens, even hundreds, of thousands.

Join us today. And spread the word.

Sincerely,

Donald Sico

Executive Director

DraftChristie2012

Ed. Notes

Donald Sico of Riverton, NJ runs Donald Sico & Co. LLC is a South Jersey-based consulting company with clients from all over the state. (for example he does public relations for the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute). 

"Donald Sico was the longest serving Executive Director of the New Jersey General Assembly in its history, serving as Chief of Staff to two Assembly Speakers (Garabed “Chuck” Haytaian and Jack Collins) from 1992 until 2002. Prior to his appointment as Executive Director, Mr. Sico served as Communications Director for the Republican Caucus. He served as Press Secretary to the Republican candidate for Governor in 1989. Prior to coming to New Jersey, Mr. Sico worked in Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill as Press Secretary to a member of Congress from Ohio and in Columbus, Ohio, on the staff of the Ohio Legislative Services Commission. A veteran of dozens of political campaigns, Mr. Sico understands how to mobilize public opinion on issues.

"A former reporter and editor, Mr. Sico now brings his legislative experience and communications skills to bear for a wide-ranging list of clients."

>As Sico's introduction, above, notes, this is not a site with a lot of bells and whistles, but his communications skills were evident in the launch of this site, which generated a lot of coverage.  He issued a press release on October 18:

DraftChristie2012.com Movement Enlists 838 in First 72 Hours
New Facebook and Twitter Features Assist Effort

Riverton, NJ - A website (www.draftchristie2012.com) launched on October 14th to enlist the support of Americans in an effort to draft New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to run for President in 2012 signed up 838 supporters in its first 72 hours. New Facebook and Twitter features are also showing significant support.

“It is a start and I think it is a good one,” said Donald Sico, Executive Director of www.draftchristie2012.com. “But we have a long way to go if we are to convince this reluctant warrior.”

The website was launched at 6 a.m. on Thursday October 14th to coincide with the 365th anniversary of the birth of William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia. The first list of supporters was compiled at 6 a.m. Sunday morning, October 17. Updates will be provided publicly on a weekly basis. The complete list will be given to Governor Christie at the completion of the effort.

The 838 supporters who filled out a form at the website represent 45 of the 50 states (Alaska, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming had no supporters thus far.) as well as overseas military personnel and one former New Jerseyan now living in Montreal, Canada. Governor Christie’s home state of New Jersey led the list with 133 supporters followed by California (70), Texas (55), Pennsylvania (40), Florida (37), Illinois (36), New York (35), Virginia (32) and North Carolina (28). Supporters included military officers, county committee members (and one county chair from South Dakota), elected officials, delegates and Tea Party members. Numerous independents and several Democrats also supported the effort.

The Facebook page, which was launched on Saturday evening, had more than 100 followers by Monday morning and the Twitter site had 32. Both the Facebook and Twitter sites can be linked to from the www.draftchristie2012 site. As of Monday morning, the webpage had nearly 5,000 (4,926) “unique visitors” and more than 34,000 (34,226) “hits.” The top five referrers to the webpage were: www.observer.com, www.politicsdaily.com, www.facebook.com, www.philadelphia. cbslocal.com, www.politickernj.com, www.blogs.app.com, www.iowaindependent.com, www.dailyrecord.com, www.philly.com and www.salon.com.

Those who filled out the form were given the opportunity to “comment.” A compilation of many of the comments is included as an addendum to this release. Reporters who would like to be put in touch with commenters from their states can make that request by contacting Mr. Sico by email at dsiconj@gmail.com.

>Sico also wrote an Op-Ed that was run in the Providence Journal on Jan. 23, 2011.

>(March 13, 2011)  The latest update to the webpage is Nov. 23, 2010.  Facebook page (763 people like this) and Twitter (88 followers) are active.  Most recent posting on March 7/8 ("Chris is HOT!", a Bloomberg story about a Quinnipiac University Poll).

>Sico offered the following observations (3/14) in response to an e-mail:

Activity on the site is most definitely driven by media coverage. I guess that is not unusual or unexpected, but we most definitely see a spike when something happens, like the Governor's AEI speech or when Ann Coulter said he is the only one who can win. After the launch in October, it died down until the past February when we had a large spike due to media speculation about his candidacy.

The Facebook page advances on its own, with little care and feeding. Twitter not so much.

I am still having some difficulty with people who use Firefox. 

>On June 28, 2011 Sico issued a press release "Draft Christie Supporters Refuse to Take 'No' for an Answer" in which he outlined a web survey he had conducted.  Sico noted that, "Nearly eight months after we started this effort last October, Christie supporters are no less enthusiastic about his candidacy."

DRAFT CHRISTIE SUPPORTERS REFUSE TO TAKE “NO” FOR AN ANSWER

 

SEVENTY PERCENT OF THOSE SURVEYED WANT TO KEEP TRYING TO PERSUADE NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012

 

TEXAS GOVERNOR RICK PERRY IS CLEAR SECOND CHOICE

Riverton, NJ - More than 850 supporters of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for President in 2012 have clearly said they will not take “no” for an answer from the Governor. In a web survey conducted over the past week, www.draftchristie2012.com members voted in overwhelming numbers to continue their effort to try and convince the Garden State Governor to throw his hat in the ring for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination.

“Nearly eight months after we started this effort last October, Christie supporters are no less enthusiastic about his candidacy,” said Donald Sico, administrator of the www.draftchristie2012.com webpage. “Despite his numerous denials and statements to the contrary, seven out of every 10 supporters believe we should either ‘push him even harder’ or “just give it time” and ’he will come around.’”

The simple three question survey included the following questions (with results and total number of respondents):

1. It does not appear as if Governor Chris Christie is moving off his position of not wanting to run for President in 2012. What should we do?

•       Push him even harder with even more convincing arguments. 52.0% (437)

•       Just give it time. He will come around when he is ready. 17.9% (150)

•       Give up and find another candidate. 12.3% (103)

•       Start getting ready for 2016. (12.3%) (103)

•       I have no idea. This is frustrating! (5.6%) 47

Total who answered question: 840. Total who skipped question: 14.

2.  What is the single best argument we can make to convince Chris Christie that we need him in 2012 NOT 2016?

There were 712 responses to this open-ended question. They are contained in the attached document in their entirety and are un-edited. With just a very few exceptions, they are refreshingly free of vulgarity and negativity. This question was skipped by 142 respondents.  [ed. This was a very long list...examples include "

3. Who is your second choice?

•       Newt Gingrich 1.0% (8)

•       Rick Perry 35.5% (295)

•       Sarah Palin 3.2% (27)

•       Mitt Romney 7.0% (58)

•       Tim Pawlenty 3.0% (25)

•       Michele Bachmann 15.7% (131)

•       Jon Huntsman 3.4% (28)

•       Ron Paul 6.1% (51)

•       Rick Santorum 2.2% (18)

•       Herman Cain 8.1% (67)

•       Buddy Roemer 0.4% (3)

•       John Bolton 1.2% (10)

•       Someone New 13.3% (111)

Total who answered question: 832. Total who skipped question: 22. In responses to the open-ended question, several respondents “wrote in” Florida Congressman Allen West and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.

The more than 3,000 members of the www.draftchristie.com page as well as the more than 1,100 members of its sister Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/DraftChristie2012/162275667125764) were emailed three times over the past week and asked to fill out the survey.

-30-

Ed. Examples of responses to Question 2:

"His country needs him"

"No other candidates can beat Obama"

"He is the only candidate we have who can effectivy country Obama's PR machine.  No one else has the skill set he has.  Another 4 years of Obama may destroy this country..."

"We cannot be taken seriously as Republicans if we only offer second tier candidates to run against Obama."

"You don't need to convince him - he is going to run.  He just wants to get some bills passed in his state and then he will announce."

"I don't believe that he wants the job at this point.  Unfortunately, with the field we have, we may need him desperately in 2016 because Obama may be re-elected in 2012."