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[Eddie_Bradford]

Yes that's right folks in off presidential year elections Delaware's voting population is almost the same as Wyoming (and in '94 it was actually less).  Combine this with the fact that Delaware is the best state for jobs and it's hard to ignore it as a leading possibility.  I think it's best for jobs because it is within commuting distance to 2 major cities.  A third major city is a little to far to commute to.  Biggest problem I'd say is voting sentiments which are lukewarm.  Until Roth lost they had 1 republican Senator and 1 Dem. and 1 Republican representative.  Now I think they have 2 D. Senators.  Anyway I'd describe the state as mildly Republican but sorta the bland NE Republican type.  Anyway we could control the entire state with a total of 50,000 votes.  current voters in off presidential election 180k with us there 200k to win half of the seat by getting 50% of the vote we would need 50k votes.  Obviously we can't be that perfectly spread out but still think about how achivable that number is.
-Eddie

[Emerson]

No responses to this since last August?
Sounds interesting to me.

[Eddie_Bradford]

Yeah no kidding!  Delaware is one of my favorite choices because it has quite a low population and an even lower voting population especially in off presidential years.  If I recall correctly then ususally there is approx the same number of voters in off presidential year election as Wyoming and on presidential years there are still less voters than almost any other state.  

This combined with the fact the Delaware EASILY within commuting distance of 2 major metropolitan areas makes it the best choice in my opinion.

If this project is going to work it will need to be near to a large metropolitan area where people can actually find jobs!  Boise just doesn't make the cut, to small, not enough professional jobs or economic diversity where most people could find a job in their field.  None of the Western states make the cut in my opinion because people just won't be able to find jobs there.

-Eddie

[JasonPSorens]

Fewer than 20,000 people voted in the Democrat and Republican primaries in Delaware in 2002.  There was no governor's race this year, but still...intriguing.

[Emerson]

I agree though, we're going to need jobs. I work in a computer IT environment, partially mainframe, partially Unix.
I have looked on the net, etc and see not very many jobs of this kind in the Dakotas, or Wyoming.

[varrin]

I wouldn't rule out Idaho, but Deleware would be one of my top choices as well.  The down side(s) to Deleware are that many people will have to go out of state for job purposes.  Though that's not such a big deal, it does mean we'll have strong ties with other states and some of the laws and taxes associated with them.

There's *no* scheduled air service in DE.  Also DE has much higher housing prices than the western candidates.

The weather, however, is significantly better than NH, VT, and ME, though it lacks the diversity available in the west (particularly Idaho).

V-

[TedApelt]

I agree totally.  Delaware is my personal favorite.

I also think that if Delaware was picked, the number of people we could get to move to it would be much greater than the number of people we could get to move to any other state.

Don't forget!  The important thing is not the state's population, it's the PERCENTAGE of the state's voters that are free state people.  If another state had half the number of voters, but we could only get a third of the amount of people to move there (and stay) that we could in Delaware, that state would be a worse choice than Delaware.

[TedApelt]

Another important point:

It would require less money and resources to broadcast the libertarian message in a state with a small land area like DE, NH, or VT than a big one with people scattered over hundreds of miles.

For example, there would be fewer TV stations needed to reach the population, billboards would be seen by more people, and driving distances would be greatly reduced.  (Driving distances are very important to me, since I plan on being a full time activist going to every significant event in the state!)

[varrin]

I'm beginning to wonder why more attention hasn't been paid to DE.  Any guesses???

[JasonPSorens]

It's not a very romantic choice - I mean, who really wants to go to Delaware?  Of course lack of romance shouldn't disqualify it...

[Racer X]

Delaware does seem the most bland, along with the Dakotas.  It's probably the best for jobs, though.  Awfuly close to big liberal cities.  Does anyone know if Delaware is pushing for more gun control since the beltway sniper shootings?

Racer X

[varrin]

Sometimes the most bland makes for the best compromise.  I'm not sure I'd apply that logic to the Dakotas, but I certainly would to Deleware.

Deleware really does have a lot going for it.  How about climate:

Wilmington has the most weather data so I'll post that:

# of days per year with:
clear skies: 97
Partly cloudy:  104
Cloudy:  164
Average wind speed MPH: 9.0
Average snowfall: 20.5"
Average precip:  42.81"
Average number of precip days: 117
Average humidity morning/afternoon:  78/55
Annual average temp:  54.4

So the temperature is warm (even warmer than Boise, making it the warmest city in the FSP candidates), the wind isn't too much, and there's not a whole lot of snow.   In fact, in temperature, snow and wind, it's very comparable to Boise.  It's more humid, significantly more rainy and less sunny than Boise.  

Deleware was somewhere recently ranked #1 in the nation for economic freedom (for whatever that's worth).  Clearly Deleware is *very* business friendly and access to employment is easy.  Wilmington has a good job market, particularly for financial services.  Philly is an easy commute as is Baltimore and the DC area.

The population is low, the voting population is low, voter turnout is low, and as was pointed out in this thread, the number of people voting in the primaries was *very* low this year.  Based on these factors, it appears that Deleware could be easy to influence with our target of 20,000 people.  It is more compact, so a smaller number of activists could cover a larger percentage of the physical area of the state, potentially making our most active activists more effective than they could be in a geographically large and climatalogically unfavorable state like Wyoming.

That's all I've got for now.

V-

[thewaka]

Another important point:

It would require less money and resources to broadcast the libertarian message in a state with a small land area like DE, NH, or VT than a big one with people scattered over hundreds of miles.

Then why is it that according to the State Data page, 3 of the 5 western states plus Alaska have lower election expenditures? DE is #6, MT #7, but NH (another "small" state) is #10, most expensive. Cost is not going to be determined by how much area there is to cover, but by how much the Rep/Dem candidates typically spend.

As far as the climate goes, DE is the least attractive to me precisely because of the humidity and heat. I grew up in MS, not one of the cold northern states. I loved living in Chicagoland and love north central PA, at least for the climate. All of the other states have climates that I find better than DE, although they present a greater challenge for growing the heirloom tomatoes I want.

And DE is the one state I opted out of. Although I have several personal reasons for not wanting to move there, that is not why DE is off my list (or AK would have been, too). The current gun laws ("may issue") are an indication to me that it is the wrong state to go to. We can't take our guns and my husband is training to be a gunsmith. So another state would be better since we wouldn't immediately need to change the concealed carry law and my husband would have a better opportunity to support his family.

Diana

[TedApelt]

Another thing - Of all the states on our list, only NH has a smaller percentage of people receiving welfare.  Federal spending AND state spending per capita is also lower than any other state on our list, except NH.  What is this about it being so socialist??  I just don't see that when I look at the numbers.

Politically, it is also very close between Republican and Democrat, which would be very useful for us.

And don't forget - ONLY THREE COUNTIES!!!

[Zxcv]

Ted, what's this thing you have about 3 counties?  

Actually I think more is better in this respect. Gets us lots of different venues to get up to speed in government, and with only 3 counties it means they are high-stakes counties with large governments themselves - i.e., open only to professionals. I've seen big-county government, and small-county government, and the latter is much more accessible.

About buying ads on TV stations, I think it would be wasteful in Delaware because the broadcast area would include a lot of out-of-state viewers. We'd be paying for something of no use to us.

Do we really know how many FSPers would go to Delaware, compared to Wyoming or Idaho? I wouldn't necessarily assume it's going to be a strong draw, as you seem to.