Fred Harris for President 1976 Campaign Brochures

‘25 WAYS You can Help FRED HARRIS become our next PRESIDENT’

Reach Out For New Supporters. Personal contact is the best way to get others involved in the Harris campaign and you are the best person to reach out to your own family, friends, fellow workers and acquaintances:

1. Write or call people you know and tell them about your enthusiasm for Fred Harris. Ask them to support Fred and to get involved with you in the campaign. Be sure to send us the names and addresses of anyone you sign up as a Harris supporter.

2. Always have a supply of Fred Harris campaign materials with you to distribute. Remember, everyone is a potential supporter in this people's campaign. Don't overlook cab drivers, barbers, grocery clerks, waiters, service station attendants, or anyone else you meet in your daily activities.

3. Hold a Fred Harris coffee on your own, Invite a few people into your home to tell them about the Harris campaign and to ask for their support. Have materials on hand, and get a copy of the Fred Harris Slide & Sound Show to present at these coffees.

4. Seek your minister's support for Fred Harris.

5. Display Fred Harris bumper stickers, buttons, house signs and posters wherever potential supporters might see them. Make use of public bulletin boards that allow political material.

6. Turn out 25 new potential supporters the next time Fred or LaDonna have an event scheduled in your area.

Get to Work IN THE LOCAL HARRIS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE. The Harris campaign is a decentralized, grassroots effort, relying on local supporters to do the campaigning. It is not just Fred Harris in the race, but all of us, working together to win the Presidency and make a difference in the way our country is run. Local and statewide committees have been formed all across America, and they need your active participation.

7. Contact the National Campaign Headquarters to find out who else is at work on the Harris campaign in your area.

8. Attend the next regular meeting of the local or state Harris organizing committee and jump right into one or more of the jobs to be done: organizing, fund raising, publicity, etc. Everyone is needed, for everyone can do something to help.

9. If there is no Harris for President Committee operating in your area, get some people together and get one going. If needed, you can get advice on how to do it from the National Campaign Headquarters.

Raise Money. A people's campaign must be funded by the people -- no few fat cats will do it for us. In 1976, for the first time, there is a tough campaign finance law that cuts the super-rich and the giant corporations down to size. They cannot buy this election. It gives people like us a fighting chance in presidential politics, and it even puts a premium on small contributions. Now, each of us can become important fund raisers, and we must. The "secret" to raising money for a presidential campaign is to ask people for some. Keep raising small amounts of money and it will add up quickly to a lot of money:

10. Send your own contribution to "Harris for President" -- it's hard to ask others to contribute if you have not.

11. Set a personal goal of raising $250 for the Harris campaign in the next 5 months -- $50 a month.

12. Write personal letters to people you know, introducing them to Fred Harris and asking them to help with a contribution. Follow up this letter with a call.

13. Hold a Harris for President fund raising event in your home -- a wine and cheese party, a tea, a cook-out, a beer bust or whatever. Use your own imagination, and make it fun. Have Harris materials available, and get a copy of the Harris Slide & Sound Show to present. Charge $10 or so to attend. If just 20 people come, that's $200 in a single evening!

14. Fund raising in this campaign should not be separated from organizing. Join with other Harris supporters in your area, for example, to have a garage sale, a cake sale, an art auction, a used book sale, or similar event with proceeds going to the Harris campaign. Not only will this raise money, but it will also give you a chance to distribute literature, talk to people and sign them up for Fred Harris.

15. Young people can also be major fund raisers for Fred -- they can hold a weekend car wash, make and sell crafts, offer a babysitting service, give guitar lessons, mow lawns, etc.

16. Encourage the Check-A-Month habit. Many people can't make a big contribution all in one chunk, but they can give $5 or $10 a month.

Speak Up! There are many opportunities locally to spread the word about Fred Harris, and we are counting on you to make the most of those opportunities. Consider yourself a one-person speakers bureau, and begin to look for forums that will give you the chance to speak up for Fred Harris

17. Write letters to newspaper editors on behalf of Fred Harris, and call up radio and television talk shows.

18. Whenever there is a big event in your area -- a county fair, a block party, Labor Day picnic, a farm show, etc. -- set up a Fred Harris booth or table with a large Harris sign that's visible all around. These gatherings are excellent places to distribute Harris literature, talk to people, raise money and sign up new supporters.

19. Speak to your civic clubs, unions, professional groups, churches, and other organizations about Fred Harris' campaign.

20. Write letters to state organizations to which you belong. If they endorse a presidential candidate, seek their support for Fred Harris,

21. Put a little classified ad in your newspaper. For example: "Fred Harris in 1976! If you want a President who'll fight for you against the big boys..."

22. Make a special effort to speak before senior citizens, farm groups, small business people, high school and college students, ethnic organizations, labor unions and others who ought to be involved actively in this campaign.

Do Some Research. Nobody is more familiar with the issues and politics of an area than the people who live there. You are in an excellent position to assist our research efforts by keeping us informed of local haunts and political developments!

23. If there is a local or state issue that you think the Harris campaign should know about, don't hesitate to send a few relevant newspaper clips or to send a concise, two-page summary. Mark these to the attention of "Issues Coordinator" and send them to the National Campaign Headquarter.

24. Clip any articles about the Harris campaign that appear in your local paper and send them to us together with the paper's masthead. (If we reprint the article, the masthead helps readers to know where the article came from.) Also, clip general articles about the 1976 presidential campaign, and any articles about other presidential candidates who pass through your area

25. Begin to develop some expertise in the current step-by-step procedures for delegate selection in your area. Contact your county or state Democratic Party and obtain copies of any relevant laws, rules and procedures.

‘One person running for President in 1976 has the toughness and ability to make a difference in the way the country is run: FRED HARRIS’

FRED HARRIS was born into a sharecropping family in Oklahoma in 1930. By the time he was 12, he was following the wheat harvest all the way to North Dakota each summer with family.

Working his way through the University of Oklahoma as a printer, Harris received degrees in government, history and Law earning membership in Phi Beta Kappa along the way.

After serving in the Oklahoma State Senate for 8 years, Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. Harris served with distinction on the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, (the Kerner Commission) and later served as co-chairman of the Urban Coalition's Commission on the Cities in the 70's.

As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1969 and 1970, Fred Harris launched significant new reforms to help broaden the Party's base.

Outside the Senate since 1972, Harris has continued to use his legal and political experience to work with citizens' groups around the country that are involved in tax reform, utility-rate fights, campaigns against food monopolies, union representation for mine workers and other battles against concentrated economic power.

LADONNA HARRIS is a Comanche Indian who was born on a farm in Cotton County, Oklahoma in 1931. LaDonna was raised in the home of her grandparents, where Comanche was the primary language. She is President of Americans for Indian Opportunity, a national organization which supports Indian action projects and self-help programs.

LaDonna has long been active in the fields of women's and minority rights. She was a co-convener of the National Women's Political Caucus and is a member of the National Advisory Committee of NOW. She also serves on the national boards of Common Cause and the Urban Coalition.

In 1973, LaDonna was selected as one of seven Women of the Year in the United States in a national poll conducted by Ladies' Home Journal.

Fred and LaDonna have three children: Kathryn, a recent Stanford Law School graduate; Byron, just out of high school; and Laura, a high school freshman.