Dear Mitt,

Yesterday’s SuperTuesday primary elections were a definite downer for your campaign. I’m frustrated because I haven’t even been able to vote for you yet (Idaho’s Republican Primary isn’t until May), and by the time I can, if you keep going like this, my vote will make no difference at all.

Mitt, it’s time to start running a real campaign … a 21st century campaign … one that would put you in the White House. Please do the following:

1. Start standing for something. Pick a three-phrase slogan and then stick with it. I propose something like “Real Jobs … Real Growth … Real Leadership”. This slogan should be the foundation upon which everything else in the campaign is built. Stop parroting “change”. Even if nothing is done, things will change anyway. Start telling the American People what you will Do when you are elected. Start outlining what you will do the first month, the second month, and the third month. Then make a commitment that every three months you’ll go in front of the American People and report. As a businessman, you understand the “plan, execute, and report” process. So do the American People.
2. Stop responding to the stupid questions and assertions. Start answering the questions that should have been asked. Today’s pundits and candidates ask strange questions in hopes of tripping people up and consequently the real questions don’t get asked. Listen to the question, decide what the Real Question is behind the question, and then answer the Real Question. Let everyone else wallow around in the muck and mire. The American People know these are stupid questions and they are looking for someone to stand above the stupidity and speak directly to them. Appoint someone to do the “responding to stupid stuff” work once a week. This would be a great use for a blog.
3. Start talking to the people who will make a difference in the next 50 years. That means you need to move out of the 20th century and into the 21st century and do it Now and In A Big Way.

For instance:

• Go get a Seesmic account. Loic Lemeur, Seesmic’s founder, is the easiest person in California to reach. Ask him for an account. Set it up, and three times a week, using a plain old webcam and a laptop computer, record a two minute video of Mitt Romney talking to the American People. Within minutes the video will be seen across the country and around the world. And. It. Will. Cost. You. Nothing. The format is simple: sit down in front of the camera which is getting a head and shoulder’s view and press record. Say hello, repeat a question that a Real Person asked yesterday, answer it, ask for their vote, and say goodbye. In less than a half hour each week you will directly reach millions of people. You’ll change some minds, educate others, and enlighten quite a few. It will do more for your campaign than anything else I can think of. BUT the questions have to be real. The response has to be real … rehearsed but not scripted … just Mitt talking to the world.
• Start using Facebook. Get an account and start letting people setup Facebook events. They’re already doing it, so make it official! Facebook is better than anything the John Dean people tried to do. Using your laptop computer and videocamera, record short 5 minute head-and-shoulders shots of you talking directly into the camera about what you stand for and what you want to do. Send these short videos to the organizers of the Facebook events. They’ll set up a laptop and a video projector and you’ll be able to attend every one of the events vicariously. The American People get it and they will remember.
• Have your key staff start using Twitter. Let them microblog about what you’re doing, who you’re meeting with, what’s on your mind. It has to be a no-holds-barred, absolutely open conversation, though. No vetting ahead of time what might be tweeted…. If you let it happen, thousands of potential voters will be hearing something from or about you several times a day, directly from your staff, with no pundits or media or anyone else inserting their spin. And. It. Will. Cost. You. Nothing!

Mitt, I’m just a guy in rural Idaho who wants a real choice for the next President of the United States. Stop screwing up your opportunity to be part of that real choice! Start being a real person with a real agenda and a real voice. I’m still hoping for that chance to vote for you in May.

Regards,
Roland Smith
Pocatello, Idaho

p.s.: If you don’t know what Seesmic, Facebook, Twitter, or blogging are, ASK ME!