GOP Dinner and Dinner With Students

I know it's been a while since I last blogged, but it's been busy! With elections just around the corner, I'm using every spare minute that I have campaigning for a few candidates in Maine. If I can't campaign in Indiana for my fellow conservatives, I might as well do it here! I've been lit. dropping for Paul LePage, Garrett Mason, and Dale Crafts. And talking with Scott D'Amboise about his upcoming campaign in 2012. I actually just attended a dinner with Scott the other night in Androscoggin County. That is definitely in my list of top 5 best nights since I've been out in the field. I was among 100+ conservatives who were coming together to show their support for Maine candidates such as: Paul LePage, Jason Levesque, Dean Scontras, Lois Snowe-Mello, Garrett Mason, Dale Crafts, etc. Some of the big shots who attended would be Senator Snowe, Senator Collins, Former Governor Jock McKernan, Andy Card, and Charlie Webster. I felt so privileged to be surrounded by such great people. Other than the politicians, most of the people in the room were every day people who have been putting all of their support behind getting the RIGHT majority in the state legislature!

My favorite speech of the night was, by far, Andy Card. Card is the former Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush. His speech was centered around his time in the office during the 9/11 attacks. He focused on 9/14/01--the day that President Bush called for the meeting of the War Council. He talked about how President Bush acted as a man, not just as the President, on that day. He told us a story about a woman who approached President Bush during his visit to NYC. She approached him and gave him a badge and said, "I don't care if you forget me, but please don't forget my son." Card told us that President Bush began to cry and told her, "I won't forget."
Tears were building in my eyes during his speech and my heart was racing for several minutes after he finished. Even now, writing this, my heart is pounding. I don't care what anyone says, George W. Bush is a great man--and he's still proving that to this day.

Another awesome dinner that I had was last night with some students from the University of Southern Maine. They recently formed a group called USM College Conservatives. It is a great group of students who are relentless in their support for the conservative movement. They were constantly met with resistance by the College Republicans on their campus, so they rallied together and formed their own group. They are going to be holding a Tea Party Rally on October 29th, and I have been honored to assist them with the planning process. The administration has been giving them difficulty, fellow students have been giving them difficulty, but still they push forward. I say this all the time, but it is so refreshing to see conservative students build a voice on their campus. It proves what I always tell students--one voice is all that it takes. All that it takes is that one voice to speak up and say, "I'm a conservative" and others will follow. Nothing will change on campus, nothing will change in our nation, if conservatives bow down to the liberal bias that surrounds us.

Okay...enough of my little rant. I've been busy here, but I'm still looking to the future. Planning is underway for me to move to Washington D.C. in January. I pray every day that God will lead me, and I keep getting pulled to D.C. Dad-- I know what you're thinking. "It's because that's what YOU want. But is it what GOD wants?" Well, yes, I believe it is. Everything is falling into place, everything is working out the way that it should. And I don't think that God would allow that to happen if that wasn't the path for me. Just like everything worked out for my job as a field representative, everything is working out for me to move to D.C. Well, time to rally the troops! Be looking for my next post!

Prayers

I want to send out a heart-felt thank you to all of you who have been praying for me! This past week has been pretty rough.  I feel like not a lot has been accomplished, regardless of my efforts. I find myself trying to fix things myself rather than placing it in God's hands. I am trying to keep my focus on why I'm here, and the fact that God placed me here for a reason!

I have been constantly visiting campuses and talking with students. Unfortunately, my job relies on students responding to my e-mails/phone calls. As we all are in college or have been in college, we know that sometimes it's easier to look past an e-mail rather than respond to it. Our minds are so focused on finishing our school work and going to the next get together with our friends, that we push aside some opportunities. I keep praying that God places it on a certain student's heart to start a group. Some of the students that I come across are conservative but either won't admit it or don't want to get involved. However, sadly, most of the students that I run across have no interest in politics. Many don't recognize the names "Ron Paul", "Mitt Romney", or even "Glenn Beck" (who does not recognize that name--good or bad?). All of them recognize the name Barack Obama. All of them. Yikes!

Recently my strategy to draw students to my table has been a simple poll: "If the 2012 presidential elections were held today and your choices were between Barack Obama, Ron Paul, or Mitt Romney who would you vote for?" The most common answer, of course, is Barack Obama. The reason behind this answer, though, is scary. Probably 7 times out of 10 the reason they answer Barack Obama is because they "don't recognize the other two names." Seriously? These people are strong political leaders and you have no idea who they are? I've even had some answer, "I don't really care about government, I don't care about elections." I just want to shake these kids until some sense is knocked into them. This job is tough. And I'm starting to feel the weight of the responsibility I have up here. Please pray for me.

Well, I'm off to meet with Scott D'Amboise. He's running as a U.S. Senate candidate for Maine in the 2012 elections. I met him a a Tea Party rally a few weeks back. I'm so excited to discuss his campaign with him! Until next time!