The groups of conservative-minded people who come together to provide the funding and get-out-the-vote operations for conservative political victories.
Prominently positioned in the top-right hand column of the re-elect George W Bush website was an invitation to join a 'Bush-Cheney coalition'. 7.5 million people supplied the website with their email addresses. 1.4 million people became 'volunteers for Bush'. Many of these volunteers enlisted through one of 32 Bush-Cheney 'coalitions':
African Americans
Hispanics
Pro-lifers
Arab Americans
Home Schoolers
Religious conservatives
Asian Pacific Americans
Investors
Seniors
Catholics
Jewish
Small Business Owners
Democrats for Bush
Labor
Sportsmen
Educators
Law Enforcement
Students for Bush (18+)
Farmers and Ranchers
Lawyers
Veterans
Firefighters
Military
Women
First Responders
Muslim
Young Professional
Health Care Professionals
Native Americans
Youth
Hi Tech
Natural Resources.
Some of these groups - Catholics, Religious Conservatives and Veterans - would be much more significant than others but in a close election every energised voter matters.
Members of these coalitions became the infantry of the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign. Whilst hundreds of millions of dollars were being spent on TV advertising the coalition were the frontline persuaders and get-out-the-vote mobilisers.
They were emailed tailor-made material from the Bush Cheney campaign about the issues that mattered to them and then encouraged to share that information with their peers. The Bush-Cheney coalition members wrote letters to newspapers and called radio stations. They were encouraged to open up their homes to members of their gun club, synagogue, veterans' group or village and talked about why they were voting for George W Bush. They donated money to the campaign. On election day they were the volunteer army that knocked on the door of likely voters. In the crucial swing state of Ohio the Democrats had to hire people to get out their voters because of the weakness of their rainbow coalition and, as history records, it was Bush's volunteer army 'wot won it'.
The Tory Coalition
In order to reach out to floating voters the British Conservative Party currently has to spend seven figure sums on hiring telephone canvassers because of the dwindling size of its ageing membership.
Telephone canvassing is better than nothing but it lacks the persuasiveness of a recommendation from a volunteer who shares the floating voter's interests or lives in their neighbourhood.
At the moment The Tory Coalition is narrow. Its most enthusiastic members are euro-sceptics, fox hunters and small business people. The Tory Coalition needs to become broader, deeper, younger and better-informed. Building US-style conservative infrastructure will require a long-term commitment from a future Tory leader to the task and a willingness to make imaginative use of new media.
The most important members of a Tory Coalition will be different from the Republican Party's coalition but might include churchgoers, charity volunteers, pensioners and full-time mums.
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