Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed creator of the Huey Report and direct mail expert, Craig Huey, to the newsmaker line to discuss the successful advanced strategies of the Democratic Party and sent a warning to Tennessee conservatives and Republicans not to take elections for granted.
Leahy: On our newsmaker line our good friend Craig Huey. A direct marketing expert who has moved to Tennessee from California mercifully and thankfully. Craig, we were talking a little bit about all the problems out in California. As a California Refugee now living happily in Tennessee, what kind of warnings do you have for us about what California has done and what it might mean if we try to do something like California has done here in Tennessee?
Huey: Michael, I really do fear some of the trends. In the neighborhood I live in, there are so many business owners and people from California that have moved here and yet I find that they all are conservative and republican and consider themselves refugees. Company owners who have moved as I have out here they’re in the neighborhood.
But I do know that there are so many people leaving the liberal states of New York, Illinois, and California and these collectivist states that are trying to transform culture and politics to the left and create a socialist type society. They’re moving into Tennessee too. And I don’t think it’s as bad as people in Tennessee think because so many right now are conservative that are moving here. But it is in danger.
And in this last election, the left has perfected data and mobilization and politics to such an extent that I see it happening in this last election here in Tennessee. And I don’t see the Republicans and I don’t see the conservatives really recognizing how important that it is that they use the most advanced strategies and tactics to be able to get out the vote and to be able to realize that there is a danger even in Tennessee of losing to a socialist candidate because Republicans are acting as if it was 15 20 years ago. Not as if it’s today.
Leahy: What are the warning signs that you saw in this last election in Tennessee. Other people have mentioned that and I wonder if you have any specifics you might point to here in Tennessee that has caused alarm.
Huey: Yeah. So what I saw was for example, while the targeted swing states were the key areas that were being marketed to. I saw groups marketing to conservative Catholics and evangelicals with millions of dollars in digital ads to try to undermine the Christian vote to have them either flip to Biden or to not vote. I saw also incredible new moves in being able to develop petitions and mobilization of voters where they’re collecting the data of who’s going to vote left who are going to vote left.
And who is going to vote Democrat? Who’s going to vote to enlarge the government control over the people. and as they build this data of who their voters are and the Republicans aren’t and the conservatives aren’t actively involved in also doing digital media What I’m seeing is that there’s going to be a shift in areas where we don’t want Williamson County or other areas to turn out like, Nashville. I’m looking at Nashville and I see so many similarities to Los Angeles.
And I believe that if the Republicans and the conservatives seriously move to stop this trend and to be able to be proactive we could even take back Nashville because of the power of the conservative Republican vote. But it’s not going to happen if we act as if it was the year 2005 or 20020. And the Democrats do the most advanced strategies today.
Leahy: What would be the top one or two things that conservatives and Republicans in Nashville should do to try and take back Nashville? It is typically, you know, 65/35 Democrat. What would you suggest?
Huey: Well first of all it’s building data. And so in Nashville would I would be doing is I would be taking the petition concept of opening the schools. Of stopping the tax. A variety of different things where you’re getting market segments. You are getting parents. You’re getting people in favor of education with the school issue.
You’re getting people who are against the taxes on the economic issue. And you’re creating a database not just because it’s a petition but because it’s a petition gathering the data. That’s what the left does. And then they gather the data and they see who’s not registered to vote and they make sure they get registered to vote. They dramatically increase their voter turnout.
And then when it comes to the election, they got that data to get out the vote to make sure they actually go to the poll. And they train people how to go to the poll. And they spend so much money to be able to motivate people to vote and vote in larger numbers than ever before through email, digital ads, and direct mail based upon data.
Leahy: Well Craig Huey, thanks so much for that comment. I don’t know if you know Jim Roberts already with the Nashville Taxpayer Protection Act, but I’m going to make sure the two of you have a conversation.
Huey: Yeah great. I’d love to help out because we’ve got to be able to get Tennessee caught up to modern times in the political area.
Leahy: Craig Huey, author of the Huey Report and an expert in direct marketing and a refugee from California now living happily in Tennessee.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.Â
