Morgan Philpot Cottage Meeting on 10/23/10

Yesterday, the New York Times followed certain grassroot political organizations here in Utah. One of the candidates they followed was Morgan Philpot. I attended a cottage meeting in Alpine to hear from Mr. Philpot last night. Although the media did not attend, if Mr. Philpot did as well as he did last night for them, they certainly should have a positive view of the citizen's of Utah.

Here are a few talking points that I appreciated:

1. Negative campaigning: Morgan stated that they looked over the last few campaigns that have been waged against our current incumbent. He said that they all turned negative, and that became the advantage for Mr. Matheson. He and his campaign made a decision early on to not use negative campaigning, and have not done so. He states that he would rather use his opponents factual voting record instead, and has done so.

2. Suggestions from the 'crowd': Several attendees suggested that he call Mr. Matheson the "Democratic Candidate, Jim Matheson" because Matheson's advertisement does not identify him in this manner. Morgan stated that he did do this for a time, but then Mr Matheson came out with ads stated that Mr. Philpot was being "political". That got a laugh from everyone.

Another suggestion was to highlight Matheson's voting record on the stimulus and other spending bills he supported.

Still others asked why he didn't point out, what they felt, were the specific untruths Mr. Matheson was using against Mr. Philpot. Mr. Philpot again stated that he is using facts and that people don't be seem to be buying the innuendo from the opponents camp.

3. Advertising: The question was asked as to why the Philpot campaign isn't advertising on TV. Morgan reported that one weeks worth of TV advertising would cost over $170,000.00. When asked how the Matheson campaign is able to afford this, Morgan reported that over 80% of their funding is coming from sources and special interests outside of Utah. The Philpot campaign is being run on a 'shoestring', but seems to be effective. Even Rocky Anderson reportedly called up Morgan to give support. That is one for the books!

4. Volunteers: Many people asked how they could get specifics on his platform to be more knowledgeable when sharing with others. He gave this link to get this information.

He also spoke about many people who have taken on campaigning without being asked. He spoke of a gentleman in Wasatch County who has organized and lead a campaign there. For the first time in years, Wasatch County is leaning toward someone other than Mr. Matheson. He also mentioned that people were doing many things on their own to campaign and fund raise. He was very specific when he mentioned that a Garage Sale had been held to raise funds. I quickly spoke up stating that this was out precinct and the whole room erupted in applause.

If you want more information about Morgan Philpot's campaign, please go to http://www.philpotforcongress.net/icampaign/index.php.