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This file contains:
From Kehrli to Haldeman RE: White House election night plans. 3 pgs. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], 10/24/1972
From Stan Anderson to MacGregor RE: plans for increasing voter turnout on election day, forwarding election information to the White House, and controlling public appearances of RN. 5 pgs. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], 10/20/1972
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WHSF: Contested, 15-14
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This file contains:
From Kehrli to Haldeman RE: White House election night plans. 3 pgs. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], 10/24/1972
From Stan Anderson to MacGregor RE: plans for increasing voter turnout on election day, forwarding election information to the White House, and controlling public appearances of RN. 5 pgs. [Subject: Campaign] [Memo], 10/20/1972
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Richard M. Nixon's Returned Materials Collection
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Richard Nixon Presidential Library
Contested Materials Collection
Folder List
Box Number
Folder Number
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No Date
Subject
Document Type
Document Description
15
14
10/24/1972
Campaign
Memo
From Kehrli to Haldeman RE: White House
election night plans. 3 pgs.
15
14
10/20/1972
Campaign
Memo
From Stan Anderson to MacGregor RE:
plans for increasing voter turnout on election
day, forwarding election information to the
White House, and controlling public
appearances of RN. 5 pgs.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Page 1 of 1
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
October 24, 1972
ADMINISTRATIVELY CONFIDENTIAL
MEMORANDUM FOR:
H. R. HALDEMAN
FROM:
BRUCE KEHRLI
BAU
SUBJECT:
Election Night Plan
Attached at Tab A is the general plan for Election night
activities at the Shoreham. This does not include the
specifics of influencing the vote and of information re-
trieval at the White House. The information plan is in-
cluded at Tab B and the vote influence plan is due by close
of business, Wednesday.
The reason that these are being forwarded now (without the
PR/voting influence plan) is that we would like to get some
feedback on the type of information that you and the Presi-
dent will need.
You should review both plans and particularly note any changes,
additions or deletions on the information plan.
In addition to the resources of the Re-election Committee and
the RNC, the following will be set up in the West Wing.
1. Monitoring of all three networks, the Washington
and "A" wires of UPI and AP and the Election night
wire that prints out detailed results by state for
Presidential, House and Senate races every 45
minutes starting at approximately 7:00 p.m.
2. A system of receiving information on standard
forms similar to the system we have after speeches
will be set up in Timmons' office and the Roosevelt
Room. According to Chapin, the President will be
in the Residence; if plans change the following
apparatus will be shifted downstairs or to the
EOB so as not to disturb him if he's in his office.
-2-
3. Access to the West Wing will be limited to
those working on the follow-up system and people
- with offices here.
4. Bob Teeter will be located in the West Wing
to analyze the data coming in.
5. Teeter will have information on when the nets
will release their information. They may attempt
to hold it for awhile trying not to influence the
vote, and if so, we'll try to put someone "inside"
to forward information as it comes in. Also, we
are trying to get information on when the nets
will project a winner.
6. We expect quite a few congratulatory phone
calls and we propose to set up a system to have
the following people take the calls for VIPs and
close friends:
Butterfield -- Cabinet, Administration
Timmons -- Senate and Congress
Dent -- Governors
Colson -- Labor, Business
Klein- - Editors, Publishers
Rose Woods -- Close friends
Each of the VIP calls will be noted (on standard
form) along with the message so that a letter can
be sent thanking them for the calls.
If you approve, a draft will be submitted.
APPROVE
DISAPPROVE
7. Should we "gin up" congratulatory calls from the
Cabinet and friends for the President to take himself?
YES
NO
-3-
8. Strachan, Colson, and Teeter can get comments
from pollsters -- Gallup, Harris, Benham.
9. If it looks like a landslide, we should have
Colson program prominent people to release statistics
about the overwhelming mandate for the President.
YES
NO
10. Suggest we skip the news summary on the day after
the Election. Give Mort Allin one night off to help
out with the follow-up. Have Mort put together a
summary of the Wednesday morning papers during the
day on November 8th.
11. Will the President want to send out telegrams to
Republican winners and losers in House, Senate and
Governor races? If so, suggest we not send out until
all results can be checked and verified which may take
a couple of days.
The specific Senate and House races to be monitored,
specific counties and precincts to be watched, and
sample forms will be forwarded close of business,
Monday, October 30, if we're on the right track.
Committee
for the Re-clection
of the President
1701 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006 (202) 333-0920
October 20, 1972
MEMORANDUM FOR:
CLARK MacGREGOR
FROM:
STAN ANDERSON
SUBJECT:
Election Day and Evening Activities
This memorandum sets forth the results of initial planning we have com-
pleted for the activities on election day and evening, and asks for your
concurrence. The memo also outlines the type of programmatic activity
we anticipate and outlines the various logistic and support activities
necessary to carry out our plans.
PURPOSE OF ELECTION DAY AND
EVENING ACTIVITIES
The purpose of the proposed election day and evening activities at the
Shoreham are threefold:
a) The primary purpose of the day and evening is to get out the
vote in all states and to influence the vote for the President
in the West.
b) An auxiliary purpose is to provide a mechanism and forum to
collect and display election results primarily for use in in-
fluencing the vote in the West and providing the President
and you with up-to-date election results and analysis.
c) A third purpose is to provide a suitable public forum for the
President's first public appearance after his reclection.
In essence there are three separate phases: 1) affecting the vote; 2)
collecting the results and 3) providing a suitable setting for the Presi-
dent. Phases one and LVO will overlap in the early evening as the polls
close in the East and the results begin to pour in and while we still at-
tempt to influence the vote in the West. Later in the evening phases two
and three may also overlap.
bec: Bruce Kehrli
- 2 -
OVER-VIEW OF ELECTION DAY ACTIVITIES
Shoreham. We anticipate making the Shoreham the Nixon Headquarters
Hotel. The Shoreham will serve as the focal point of activities
throughout the day and evening. The primary emphasis in all planning
and preparation will be the need for an effective "get out the vote"
effort on election day. This philosophy will permeate everything we
do in an effort to insure that the staff focuses on the important "get
out the vote" activities of the last day and not on the celebration
aspects which may also occur.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
Invitations. It is our feeling that election night activity should not
be a mammoth show but rather an opportunity for those people here in
Washington who have worked long and hard on the campaign to get together
to view election returns and to hopefully have a personal opportunity to
see the President in his first personal appearance after his reelection.
In this regard I recommend invitations to the following groups in the
number indicated.
CREP Staff - Approximately 700 (including spouses). This number
includes all campaign staff except those field people having
election day responsibilities who will remain in the field.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
CREP Volunteers - 500 (including spouses). We anticipate selecting
the 250 volunteers who have worked the hardest in the past 18 months.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
White House Staff - Approximately 1,200 (including spouses). This
number would include all White House staff including administrative
people who have worked long and hard in the campaign.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
"Rose Mary Woods List" - Approximately 200 (including spouses). This
list includes family members and close friends of the President who
are normally invited to this type of event.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
- 3 -
Republican National Committee - Approximately 400 (including
spouses). We feel it is important that the RNC participate
fully in election day activities to further exemplify the close
working relationship between our two organizations.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
CREP Finance Committee - Approximately 450 (including spouses).
This is the maximum number that Mr. Stans anticipates attending.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
Surrogates - Approximately 30 (including spouses). Surrogates
normally based in Washington will be invited, those who are
Governors, Senators and Congressmen will be encouraged to stay
in their state.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
Administration Appointees - Approximately 500 (including spouses).
This list includes all the Agency Heads, Under Secretaries, and
Assistant Secretaries.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
Democrats for Nixon - Approximately 100 (including spouses). This
list will be supplied by Mr. Connally's office.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
Young Voters for the President - Approximately 500 (including spouses-
no dates). This number will liven-up the evening and provide an OD-
portunity for these young workers to be involved in an exiting event.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
Vice President - Approximately 200 (including spouses). We are ad-
vised that this is the approximate number of invitations that will be
required by the Vice President's office.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
- 4 -
Miscellaneous - Approximately 500 (including spouses). This
group includes friends of senior CREP and White House staff
and others who do not fit in any other category.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
D.C. Committee - I recommend that we ask the D.C. Republican
Committee and the D.C. Re-election Committee to sponsor another
election night event at a different hotel in Washington. There
are several reasons for this recommendation. First, if we in-
vite both of these Committees to participate in our activities
it would add approximately 2,000 more people to our event which
would severely over-tax our existing facilities. Secondly, the
D.C. sponsored affair could be advertised locally as a public
event thus directing a major portion of the "walk-in traffic"
away from the Shoreham. We anticipate that this "walk-in traffic"
could be substantial. We plan to provide the D.C. event with
various speakers throughout the evening.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
Security. Some form of security must be undertaken at the Shoreham in
order to provide proper protection for the President and in order to
insure that "walk-in traffic" will not overwhelm those guests we have
invited. The security will be "soft" and will not be readily apparent.
There will be no uniformed security people in evidence. All security
will be handled by Steve King's current staff and by volunteers from
YVP.
It will be necessary for us to have some sort of security identification.
We recommend a security pin which will also serve as a momento of the
evening.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
Overall Budget. Attached at Tab A is the overall budget which was pre-
sented to the Budget Committee last Monday, October 16, 1972. I recom-
ment that you approve this proposed budget.
Approve
Disapprove
Discuss
5
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES
Influencing the Vote. All activities on election day at the Shoreham
will be aimed at influencing voters to come out and vote for the
President. The development of a detailed program will be undertaken
by Ed Failor. A schedule will be devised which will provide for you,
and some of our major surrogates, a forum to hold press conferences and
briefings for the press assembled at the Shoreham. Mixed into these
formal briefings will be press coverage of the President voting in
California and you voting in D.C. We will provide special spot-masters,
featuring various Administration spokesmen, aimed at key western states.
We will be forwarding to you shortly a detailed program to influence the
vote.
Collection of Election Results. We have concluded that it is unrealistic
to try and compete with the networks on the collection and projection of
election results in the Presidential race. They have invested nearly two
million dollars in their combined retrieval system and have developed a
very sophisticated computer system to instantly analyze the results as
they are received. We are informed that the networks will telecast re-
sults as they are received.
We do plan however to develop a collection system which will amplify upon
the materiel collected by the networks. There are basically three types
of data which in our view would be useful to the President and to you
during the day and early evening hours:
1) Periodic information on voter turnout with comparison data
on voter turnout in similar areas in prior Presidential
elections.
2) Voting data from special target precincts in blue collar,
black and Catholic areas selected by Bob Teeter.
3) Collection of reports from political operatives across the
country who will analyze early results in their areas.
We also plan to lease a UPI election night wire which, beginning at 7:00
p.m. will print out the complete vote count from each state for Presidential,
Senate and House races. The cost for this service is $300. I have asked Ed
DeBolt of the RNC to pull together a detailed plan for the election night col-
lection operation. Ed will combine the resources of our Committee, the White
House, the RNC and the Senate and House Campaign Committees in this project.
This plan will be forwarded to you shortly.