Introducing the Big Red Tent
By Erick Posted in Elections — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Patrick Ruffini has said more than once that the right needs to stop building what the left already has and instead build the next big thing. As part of heading in that direction, please let me introduce you to the Big Red Tent. We didn't build it, but we're actively supporting it.
What is the Big Red Tent? It's a place where you, RedState, and anyone else can build a slate of candidates who you feel deserve support (based on location, issues, or whatever criteria you prefer), reach a consensus on an official list of candidates, and incorporate widgets into your own site to keep track of your chosen candidates. An online community two years in the making, Big Red Tent puts the keys to the electoral and fundraising process back in the hands of the grassroots, allowing any candidate to be proposed for support, and allowing activists, concerned citizens, and politicians to reach out to each other and to communicate.
Why is this important, and how can it help you? Let's say that you are a Republican living in a "safe" district in Georgia. Your Congressman is secure, so you want to help support a Republican who is in a less safe district (or who is challenging an incumbent Democrat). Through Big Red Tent's slate-building option, you can quickly and easily learn about candidates who are geographically distant from you (and who you might not hear about at all otherwise), find out what they stand for, and contribute to their campaigns. Likewise, not everybody has the time or the inclination to drop $1,000.00 or more to participate in campaign fundraisers; nor should donations of that size be required to gain legitimacy within a campaign. With Big Red Tent, you can learn about the candidates, communicate with their supporters, vote on adding them to the site's official slate, donate any amount you wish to as many of the slated candidates as you wish, and encourage others to do the same - all without having to leave the comfort of your own home.
It's a community, like RedState, but with a difference. We focus on the activism. Big Red Tent focuses on the fundraising. We wanted to reveal the Big Red Tent to you today. The contribute component comes online next week.
Until then, you can get your account together, get your slate set up, and start pitching your candidates. By working together to harness the power of the internet in debating candidates, building slates, and combining our contributions, we can convince people, influence elections, and succeed in our goal of getting Republicans elected. With your involvement, Big Red Tent can be that Next Big Thing, and we here at RedState are behind the effort 100%.
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Introducing the Big Red Tent 9 Comments (0 topical, 9 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
...push any candidate based on whatever position they think is most important, and can use the BRT platform to try to convince others to join them in supporting that candidate.
Thanks for noticing, Dan.
We had some push back from representatives of the right side of the spectrum in our party. Right out of the gate, folks wanted to know how we got our name and whether a 'big online tent' dilute our party's platform.
We explained that Big Red Tent is not an effort to exclusively court new GOP members from the left. We will let any Republican participate, start a group so that other Republicans can join their group. An organic development may mean lots of viewpoints. Ideas and groups that do not gather participation should wither without our interference.
Additionally, we explained that we took the name from a speech Reagan gave in 1967 to the California Republican Assembly, http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/govspeech/04011967a.htm.
Our plan is to facilitate community dialog, candidate discussion among the grassroots and voters, and empower them with tools, such as online contributions.
Ryan
www.bigredtent.org
Good to see there are other fish in the sea working toward the same ends. May the best fish win.
I think Redstate's Adam C. made a few solid points in his post last night on Slatecard.com.
Best,
David All
Slatecard.com
We would like to thank everyone here at RedState for their support of Big Red Tent, and would like to welcome all of you to what we hope will be a great opportunity for Republicans to make the same kind of financial impact for our candidates online as the Dems have done so successfully over the past few election cycles.
Big Red Tent is the brainchild of Ryan Gravatt and Brad Jackson, two online political consultants for more than 50 federal, state and local campaigns. Our goal is to create an online community where Republicans, armed with the right tools, can make a financial difference in races across the country. It’s past time for our party to catch up with the other side in online fundraising, and we hope that Big Red Tent not only catches us up, but also propels our party well into the future.
As Erick mentioned in the post above, Big Red Tent is a community where anyone can work to financially support Republican candidates across the country. We’ve provided the basis for action and support and given you the keys to help Republicans win elections in each and every district across the country. Big Red Tent gives you the chance to tell our community which candidates you like and why. Convince everyone why they should support them, then back it up with donations to their campaign.
As soon as we get a few more kinks worked out in the candidate donation system we should have it online and ready for ya’ll to start donating. Until then, get started at Big Red Tent, by creating a group or stumping for your favorite candidates. Our group function is a way for you to start a mini online organization based around whichever Republican candidate or cause you desire. Take all your great writing and activism at RedState at turn it into a group that supports candidates that share your values, interests and policy stances. RedState has started a group of it’s own at Big Red Tent, and so can you.
The most important thing you can do at Big Red Tent today is to start stumping for your candidates. Get them on the slate by creating a “Stump Speech” telling the community why we should add your candidate to the slate. We’ve already got our first entry at The Stump – a post stumping for US Senator John Cornyn. Think we should add him to the slate? Head over to The Stump and let everyone know your thoughts on Senator Cornyn. Want to add your Congressman, Senator or favorite Republican presidential candidate to the slate? Stump for them today.
Thanks again to everyone here for your interest in Big Red Tent, and I hope we can all work together to help close the online fundraising gap, and get more Republicans elected in every state.
Ryan, Brad and the Big Red Tent Team
you demanded my home and cell phone numbers in order to create an account. I rarely give my cell phone number to anyone outside close friends and family, and I already get enough calls at home. Sorry!
We changed the status on that. It wasn't meant to be mandatory, and we're not going to sell or exchange our Big Red Tent community data. We may use cell phones for SMS messaging to alert the community that a candidate poll vote is nearing close or other actions. We're building an SMS system and this is one way to use it.
Ryan Gravatt
www.bigredtent.org
Nothing but the RS blog comes up as I try to google it.
any follow up on this idea?
Let's reclaim the broader meaning of "big tent" (i.e., that the party is a natural majority party and therefore has room for people who have different takes on a variety particular issues) rather than just a euphamism for pro-choice or across-the-board squishily moderate Republicans.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill