Ben Carson Set to Announce!

Joe --

The day you and I have been waiting for is almost here!

When the Wall Street Journal first suggested that Ben Carson run for president in 2013, he laughed it off.

When a hue and cry went up from Americans all across the land urging Ben Carson to run for president, he made it clear that he was not interested whatsoever.

But, as we kept the drumbeat up month after month and gathered more than 500,000 petitions and clamorings urging Dr. Carson to run for president, he began to seriously consider running.

Finally, he heard us and on Monday, May 4, in his hometown of Detroit, he will officially announce his candidacy for President of the United States.

This announcement will signal the official beginning of his run for the White House.

Now, our work really begins.

While his official campaign is coordinating his travel schedule and developing a strategy to win over traditional Republican participants in primaries, conventions, and caucuses across the nation, we will focus on…

Providing the Margin of Victory to Ben Carson!

Recently I have received several phone calls and e-mails from folks who seem to be somewhat confused by our strategy.  I have talked so much about winning over black, Hispanic, and Asian voters, I haven’t said very much about winning over white voters. 

The truth is we are not interested in any group of people just because of their race or their ethnic background.  What we are interested in is winning over voters who are in agreement with our conservative stand on the issues.

We are not dividers, like the Democrats.  They see people only as members of victim groups that they can make dependent upon the government.

As conservatives, you and I see people as unique, God created individuals who can reach for the stars when the government gets out of their way.

The Democrats are Manipulators!

They have created the great lie that you and I and all conservatives are racists.

I’ll not mince any words. 

The Democratic Party was the party of racism when it opposed emancipation of the slaves by Abraham Lincoln.

It was the party of racism under Woodrow Wilson who re-segregated the federal government and is the father of today’s Democrat Party.

It was the party of racism under Franklin Roosevelt who appointed a life member of the Ku Klux Klan, Hugo Black, to the United States Supreme Court.

It was the party of racism under Lyndon Johnson who, as majority leader of the United States Senate, repeatedly killed civil rights acts supported by conservative Republican stalwarts like John Bricker, Gordon Allott, Barry Goldwater, Bourke Hickenlooper, Carl Curtis, Roman Hruska, Karl Mundt, and Bill Knowland.

And, it is the party of racism today as it promotes policies that hurt black and Hispanic Americans more than any other segment of society, resulting in extremely high unemployment rates, higher fuel costs, poor schools, and dissolution of the family structure.

You and I know from recent polls that 37% of African Americans consider themselves to be conservative, yet due to the propaganda machine of the Democrats, these voters continue to believe that you and I are racists and thus continue to support the Democrat Party.

Our message of limited government, traditional values, and common sense appeals to a broad majority of Americans, but we continue to lose elections because the media and the Democrats have convinced African American and Hispanic voters that our candidates and our party are racist.

Democrats Have a Big Edge in 2016!

We won a big election in 2014, but I have looked at the numbers, and I can guarantee you that the Democrats have a big edge in 2016. 

Why?

Because they will once again gear up their big propaganda machine and turn out millions of voters who do not vote in off-year elections like 2010 and 2014.  Just because we won big in 2014 doesn’t mean that we will win again in 2016.

Remember, we won a huge election in 2010, yet Obama won re-election in 2012.  Big turnouts in presidential election years favor the Democrats because the Republican Party has failed to win over black and Hispanic voters who turnout strongly for the Democrats when the presidency is on the line.

Ben Carson Will Win in a Landslide Because He Will Not Only Win Over Traditional Republican Voters, But Also African Americans and Hispanics.

With Ben Carson as our candidate for president and the work of this super PAC, we can thwart the efforts of the Democrats and win a great victory in 2016.

But remember, in 1980 Ronald Reagan won a landslide election garnering 60% of the white vote.  Yet, in 2012, Mitt Romney was soundly defeated, even though he won 59% of the white vote.

Every Republican candidate for president since Ronald Reagan has won a very high percent of the white vote.  In fact, the average support from white voters for the Republican candidate for president since 1980 is 58.4%.

There is absolutely no reason to believe there will be a drop off in support from white voters if Ben Carson is the Republican nominee for president, unless you buy into the false premise of the Democrats that Republican voters are racist.

In fact, because Ben Carson has powerful persuasive abilities, is a solid conservative, and will run a strong campaign, I expect him to do better with white voters than the average indicated above, and certainly better than Romney and McCain.

Ben Carson will be a strong candidate like Ronald Reagan and thus generate strong support from all quarters.

Providing the Margin of Victory to Ben Carson!

As I have said repeatedly, the goal of this super PAC is to provide the margin of victory to Ben Carson.

The best way we can do that is to get every conservative, regardless of race or ethnic background to the polls on Election Day.

The typical turnout for the Iowa Republican Caucus is about 125,000, even though there are more than 600,000 registered Republican voters in Iowa.

I will tell you right now that if the turnout in Iowa is just 125,000, Ben Carson will not win the Iowa Caucus.  That’s just reality.

Barack Obama may be a lot of things, but one thing he is good at is campaigning.  In 2008, when he first ran for president, he was in exactly the same situation as Ben Carson is today.

If the voter turnout for the Democrat Caucus in Iowa was the typical 100,000, his team knew he would lose.  So, what did they do to make it possible for Barack Obama to win the Iowa Democrat Caucus in 2008?

They knew that there were nearly 700,000 registered Democrats in Iowa, far more than the 100,000 who traditionally participate in the Iowa Democrat Caucus.

They decided to go after folks who had not previously participated in the Iowa Democrat Caucus.  They estimated that if they could lift the total number of participants to 180,000 Barack Obama would win.

They worked hard and the final turnout was 239,000.  The rest of the story is history.  That victory put Barack Obama on the path to the White House.

Our strategy is the same. 

We intend to provide the margin of victory to Ben Carson by expanding the number of folks who participate in the 2016 Iowa Republican Caucus.

We are leaving the responsibility of winning over traditional participants in the Iowa Republican Caucus to the official campaign.

Eric, you already know our targets…

1. Health care professionals
2. Home school advocates
3. Pro-life activists
4. Conservative African Americans
5. Evangelical Hispanics

We must leave no stone unturned in the hunt for delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

That’s why we have had a full time office and full time staff working in Iowa for many months.  That’s why we acquired access to high tech software that will enable us to not only identify Carson voters, but also get them out on the day of the Iowa Caucus.

This same type of activity is going on in each of the early delegate selection states of New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, and North Carolina.

And, recently we launched phase two of our campaign, expanding our staff and targeting the second tier of presidential primaries in Florida, Texas, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Michigan.

It won’t do us any good to be successful in the early delegate selection states and then fall flat on our face when the second tier of states are voting.  The official campaign has its important work to do, and this super PAC has very critical work to do.

As I have mentioned several times previously, it was Mitt Romney’s super PAC, Restore Our Future, that is credited with winning the GOP nomination for him in 2012.  It spent more than $20 million in the primaries and bulldozed over Romney’s conservative opponents.

And, frankly, without The 2016 Committee, the chances of Ben Carson winning the Republican nomination in 2016 would be very slim indeed.

What are our immediate needs?

First and foremost, we need more staff.  Right now our monthly overhead is about $255,000.  This doesn’t just cover compensation, rent, travel, etc. it also pays for important projects that cost tens of thousands of dollars, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

As you know, The 2016 Committee spent more than $224,000 to print 600,000 copies of the book, Ben Carson, Rx for America to distribute to potential voters and Caucus-goers.

And, without recapping in detail, this super PAC has spent more than a million dollars on radio ads, display ads, billboards, bumper strips, buttons, yard signs, car magnets, technology, and other campaign items.

Our Campaign Director, Vernon Robinson, has traveled from coast to coast and border to border organizing, meeting with Carson supporters, giving speeches, and participating in interviews.

I have given more than 60 media interviews for the sole purpose of promoting the candidacy of Ben Carson.

Things are happening so fast, it’s hard to know where to start.

Billboards Go Up in Iowa!

Right now our Midwest Regional Coordinator, Tina Goff, needs an additional $15,000 per month for 16 billboards that will go up in that state starting May 1.  These billboards are a mix of static and electronic and are located at high traffic locations in the state.

This nine month run of billboards will cost $135,000.

These billboards will be up in Iowa through the end of January 2016.

Funds permitting, we will increase the number of billboards as we get nearer to the February 1, 2016 Iowa Republican Caucus.

We know that many folks have never heard of Ben Carson, and that’s why his name identification is low.  Putting up billboards will correct that problem.

And, make no mistake about it, Iowa is critical.

Ben Carson must make a strong showing in Iowa if he is to have a chance of winning the GOP presidential nomination.

We also have the Iowa straw poll coming up on Saturday, August 8.  We want to finish in the top three in this straw poll.

How do we do that? 

We will need to underwrite the cost of 25 buses to bring voters to the straw poll from every corner of Iowa.

How much will those buses cost?  A general breakdown of planned expenditures for this important event are shown below…

Activity	Cost
25 buses holding 44 each	$58,000
25 mini vans holding 8 each	$1,000
1,500 tickets purchased	$45,000
Booth, food, campaign materials, rooms	$20,000
Total	$124,000

And, we also need $72,000 to pay for college interns to assist our regional coordinators.

So, you can see that our need is real and immediate.

We have no choice in regard to making our monthly overhead of $255,000, and we urgently need those college interns ($72,000) and are committed to hiring those 25 buses ($58,000) and 25 minivans ($1,000).

So, my question to you is will you help us again?

The pressure is on. 

The latest caucus survey shows Scott Walker in first, Ben Carson in second, and Jeb Bush in third.

I am excited by the fact that just as soon as Ben Carson announces in Detroit he will fly to Iowa to campaign for several days.  It is this kind of so-called “retail” campaigning that is crucial to winning Iowa.

The well-heeled candidates will try their best to buy the Republican nomination just as they did in 2008 and again in 2012.

Please don’t let them do that and take us down the road to defeat again.

I am hoping and praying that I can count on your help again today.

Thank you and God bless you for considering my request.

Sincerely,

John Philip Sousa IV (2016 Committee)

P.S. In a political race like this one, where the opposition is well-funded and the candidate is relatively unknown, your dollars right now are especially important.  They enable us to put up billboards, rent buses for volunteers, make telephone calls, and do the 10,000 and one things that need to be done in order to win.  Please help with a contribution again today if at all possible.  Thank you and God Bless America.