Getting inside the political process

Alicia Robinson

Giving new meaning to the idea of political parties, today’s

activists are supporting their preferred candidates by breaking out

the balloons, banners and beer mugs.

Recent events in Costa Mesa and Corona del Mar attracted dozens of

supporters of President Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry to

grass-roots parties that are equal parts social event, fundraiser and

political networking opportunity.

“I invited a few friends, who then told their friends, who told

their friends,” said Natasha Palmaer, a Corona del Mar resident who

hosted a May 22 party at her house to drum up support for Kerry.

To make the event fun, Palmaer held a cookout with music from

Irish musicians the Fenians. She also asked for $25 donations for

Kerry’s campaign. Her original expectation of about 30 guests

mushroomed into 75 people showing up.

“It was amazing,” Palmaer said. “We had a great time and we raised

about $3,000.”

Small tickets count, too

While Republicans are known for big-ticket events that generate

hundreds of thousands of dollars in a matter of hours, for this

campaign they’ve jumped on the community-events bandwagon with

“parties for the president.”

“It went really well for us,” said Lee Lowrey, president of the

Orange County Young Republicans. The club hosted a party for the

president April 29 at the Harp Inn in Costa Mesa.

The event drew about 65 people from the mid-20s to mid-30s age

group, who tend to be less involved in politics, Lowrey said.

“They don’t follow all the political races from president all the

way down to school board. They’re just focused on the general

election,” Lowrey said. “That’s the kind of people we were trying to

attract, and I think we succeeded.”

The grass-roots approach and the personal touch of a local event

are attractive to Democrats and Republicans for different reasons.

For Palmaer, holding a Kerry party offered a chance to talk to

undecided voters who want information and to meet Democratic allies

she didn’t know were here in heavily Republican Orange County.

“Having a John Kerry sticker on the back of my car, I have gotten

a couple of dirty looks and shakings of the head,” she said.

But she’s starting to get positive responses as well.

“They’ll come up and say, ‘Oh my God, where have you been? I

thought there weren’t any [Democrats] in the county,’” Palmaer said.

Republicans use gala events to raise money, but they also have

long relied on community activities to register voters and drum up

volunteers for phone banks, Lowrey said.

“You have to have both [types of events], or I don’t see a

campaign working,” he said.

Not just coffee and cash

While the friends-inviting-friends strategy of political

networking is nothing new, it’s become less common in recent years

because national-level candidates have to focus on fundraising, said

UC Irvine political science professor Mark Petracca.

President Bush reportedly often raises several million dollars for

the GOP at a single event.

“You don’t raise that kind of money having coffee at someone’s

house,” Petracca said.

In the 1980s, candidates began using more direct mail, which can

specifically target voters by demographics, he said. But that kind of

impersonal strategy leaves something to be desired in this election,

where every vote is likely to count.

“The neighbor’s going to have more persuasive power over the

individual than the piece of direct mail,” Petracca said.

Newport-Mesa political activists have another five months to test

their powers of persuasion, and both Republicans and Democrats plan

to hold more party-style events for their presidential candidates.

For some, the events have done their job. Rob Pfeiler, a Costa

Mesa voter who’s a registered Republican but considers himself

left-leaning, attended Palmaer’s Kerry bash.

It was the first time he’s done anything political, but the event

appealed to him because he wanted to contribute something but doesn’t

have time to walk precincts or answer phones, he said.

The party also channeled what Pfeiler sees as a growing

dissatisfaction with the presidential administration, drawing out

newcomers to the political scene like himself, he said.

“I wanted to make a little bit of a difference,” he said. “The

social part was fabulous too. [Palmaer] can dance quite an Irish

jig.”

For information on parties for presidential candidates, visit

www.GeorgeWBush.com or www.kerryoc.com online.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].