On August 4, 2009, I received an e-mail from Chuck Muth, a well-known name in numerous political circles. In that e-mail, Mr. Muth asked numerous, pointed questions about my personal qualifications and campaign strategy to secure the nomination as the Republican candidate to run against Harry Reid in the 2010 U.S. Senate election. These are valid questions and deserving of a thoughtful answer. I assume others within the Republican party are asking these same questions. Therefore, I am taking this opportunity to post to my website the questions posed by Mr. Muth and my answers to those questions so that anyone interested in my candidacy can be fully informed.
1.) Why are you running?
Before I answer the question directly, I’d like to take the opportunity to point out that the answer to this question, as well as answers to many other questions, have appeared for more than four months on my campaign’s web site at http://www.parsonforsenate2010.com. As a short response, allow me to quote the following from the front page of my web site:
This campaign is about restoring “We the People”. Our Federal government is not a group of elected officials in Washington D.C.; rather, it is the entirety of our citizenry. The people of Nevada, like many across our great nation, are angered that Nevada’s elected officials are no longer representing the interests and values of our State. Even worse; their agenda is driving our nation down a path of collectivism and implementing socialistic programs that threaten to destroy the very foundation of our country. We, our children, grandchildren and future generations will be enslaved by the tremendous debt that those same elected officials in Washington have saddled our great country with. They have used the national treasury to bribe the populace with “Free Money”; money they have borrowed from foreign governments that are not friendly to the United States, and can rescind those loans at their pleasure. Elected officials even contemplate subordinating our National Sovereignty to International Courts and Organizations chartered by the United Nations. This must not stand.
In short, I believe that the Federal government is going down the wrong path and I believe I possess the necessary qualifications and, more importantly, Constitutionally-minded principles required to make an effective Senator.
2.) What are your qualifications?
I have expertise in the following areas: business with extensive budgeting and scheduling responsibilities, military planning and operations, international relations working with the U.S. State Department, telecommunications and information technology, energy, national security and intelligence, and national crisis and emergency management.
I served in the United States Marine Corps in both enlisted and commissioned capacities. During my career, I served with distinction in a variety of roles and theaters; my experience in the Marine Corps provided a sound foundation in leadership and planning that prepared me for a successful civilian career as a project manager with the Nevada Test Site. During my career with the Test Site, I was responsible for projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars requiring coordination with Federal, State and private organizations. None of my projects ever came in late or over budget.
Due to my military and civilian careers, I have extensive experience working within and through government bureaucracy, as well as recognizing when projects are feasible and appropriately budgeted. This is far more than can be said of many of our current elected officials, who currently believe it’s possible to reduce our deficit by spending a downpayment of over one trillion dollars on a health care scheme that a majority of Americans would prefer to do without.
3.) What campaign training programs have you attended?
This is an interesting question, since the author of these questions has a business focused on campaign training programs. I would point out that none of the founding fathers attended campaign training. In October, I will be attending one of the most important Campaign Training areas there is for a National Campaign, the Federal Election Commission’s Conference on Federal Campaign Finance Law for House and Senate Campaigns. I have also enlisted the help and assistance of like-minded individuals with greater experience in the campaign management process than my own. One of the advantages of my project management experience is knowing when to delegate.
4.) How many votes do you need to win?
Glibly, the answer would be “more than the other guy”. In all seriousness, though, this is an “off-year” election, I believe that, due to the economy and the Democrat’s craven attempts to “use the crisis” for their own advantage, we will probably experience a stronger than usual voter turnout. If this forecast proves true, I will need approximately 350,000-400,000 votes to defeat Harry Reid. This would be a larger vote requirement than the 322,472 votes John Ensign used to secure his seat in the 2006 election.
5.) What’s your “game plan” for winning?
As you have already pointed out, I enjoy neither the material advantages nor the name brand recognition that Reid currently enjoys – indeed, I’d argue that there isn’t a GOP candidate in the field that isn’t similarly handicapped at this time. For better or worse we, as a party, are contending against an individual who has recently spent the better part of his Senate term tending to the needs of his campaign instead of the needs of Nevadans. Obviously, like every other candidate in the field, my job is to do everything within my power to overcome these deficiencies. To that end, I have been scheduling appearances throughout the state – not just Las Vegas. Name recognition is an element of a winning strategy, but a candidate with ideas and an educated voter base that understands where a candidate stands is also critical. “Anybody but Harry Reid” will not win an election. I have, and will continue to take, every opportunity to explain to my fellow Nevadans how I differ from Harry Reid and how I will put the people of Nevada and the Constitution first.
Though this probably doesn’t go into as much detail as some may prefer, due to the nature of our campaign, we will need to allow the finer detail of our strategy to reveal itself after the fact. When operating under a material disadvantage, as the GOP is against Harry Reid, it’s rarely good tactics to openly state how and where you will address this disadvantage.
6.) What are you going to do differently from others who have run for this seat and lost?
Win, of course! As much as I would enjoy going into specifics, I will have to address this question obtusely. Generally speaking I do not believe I’m compromising anything when I say that we are ready, willing, and able to take this campaign directly to the voters themselves.
7.) How much will your campaign cost?
According to FEC records, Reid has already raised over $7 million, and his campaign staff have indicated they will raise $25M. These are substantial sums. I do not foresee any GOP candidate in Nevada matching Reid dollar-for-dollar. Our campaign will be judicious and prudent with every single dollar spent, identifying tactical and strategic tipping points where the greatest impact can be achieved.
I do see a winning campaign requiring several million dollars over the next year to succeed, particularly in the last 120 days of the campaign. Interestingly, this will actually make it one of the smaller projects, budget-wise, that I’ve managed over the past decade.
8.) What will you spend the money on?
Media advertising will be exceedingly important, especially in the later stages of the campaign. The bad news is that Reid has significantly stronger name recognition in Nevada than any other candidate, potential or otherwise, for the Senate in this state. The good news is that much of Reid’s name recognition is negative – he was wrong about the Iraq war, he was wrong about the budget, and he was wrong when he declared that those who dared oppose his policies were “evil-mongers”. I aim to increase his negative name recognition as much as possible while also getting positive name recognition for myself and for the GOP.
9.) How much have you raised so far?
A portion of our Campaign Strategy is behind us and now revealed. We had no intention of raising money during the first quarter, and in fact refused donations. Our objective in this phase was to interact with voters from across the State without the distraction of “Give me Money” as the first and last words they heard. My last report to the FEC identified actual campaign expenditures at just over $6,000.00. We recently enabled the campaign web site http://www.parsonforsenate2010.com/make-a-donation/ to accept credit card donations, and will be planning fundraising events throughout Nevada in the future.
10.) How much of your own money have you put into your campaign?
As I have already reported to the FEC, I committed over $13,000 in personal funds during the period of April – June 2009. As required by United States Code, Title 2, Chapter 14, Section434 (a)(6)(b)(i)(V), I have also filed notice to the FEC and registered Nevada Senatorial Primary Candidates (as of the filing this was only Sharon Angle and Robin Titus) of plans to spend $50,000.00 of personal funds. This value may be adjusted at any time by filing a subsequent letter of intent.
11.) How do you expect to raise the balance?
I’m receiving small donations from individual Republicans of modest means who are willing to do everything possible to bring a Constitutionally-minded small government conservative into the US Senate. I have other sources that will be called upon as scheduled in our Campaign Plan.
12.) Who is working on your campaign (manager, consultants, advisers, etc.)?
I already have a set of managers and advisors and am presently looking to grow the number and scope of them significantly. So far, I have secured a Telecommunications and Information Technology Director, who is responsible for the technical side of our web-related and communication contact efforts. A Director of Content, who is responsible for distributing content to our volunteers, and an Interim Campaign Media Director, who is responsible for our media outreach programs. The campaign is looking to grow this significantly and we are already hard at work at finding suitable people to fill the gaps.
13.) Who is supporting your campaign (endorsements)?
Our focus is on finding financial and material support from individual Nevadans interested in reining in the growth and interference of the Federal government against our lives. Though we’re not against receiving “angel financing”, that’s not our primary focus at this time.
14.) Are you going to campaign full time?
I already am and have been campaigning full-time for the last five months. I have traveled extensively across the State numerous times over the last four months, engaging with Nevadans in a grass roots effort, which is more than can be said of any of the other GOP candidates at this time.
