News from Iowa

[Dave]

As a Des Moines-area Ron Paul supporter, I've decided to start this thread to share news and observations from Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation caucus.

[Dave]

I posted this earlier in another forum but thought it would be a good place to begin with "News from Iowa". The Iowa GOP Straw Poll in August is being talked about in the local media.



I have attended the Iowa Straw Poll. It's a grotesque spectacle but I would consider it a necessary evil since it will be widely covered and it is the first real test of the candidates. This is even more important now that the caucuses and primaries are so front-loaded. To do poorly in the Iowa Straw Poll this year will reflect very poorly on those campaigns - and to do well requires an extraordinary commitment.

(One strategy is to skip it and/or Iowa entirely. McCain tried this last time and Giuliani is contemplating it this time. Nobody has ever won their party's nomination after skipping Iowa.)

It's far from a scientific poll of a candidates support in Iowa - it's really much more of a test of a candidate's organization. This is really where the campaigns that are serious about a good showing in Iowa flex their muscle. I'm concerned that to my knowledge Dr. Paul doesn't seem to have much of an Iowa organization right now.

It's a carnival-like atmosphere in and around Hilton Coliseum at Iowa State University. There will be tens of thousands of people there. They have parking for over 500 buses that candidates will hire to deliver Iowans to Ames.

Massive tents are set up all around Hilton. Candidates pay big bucks to get the prime locations and have the biggest and most elaborate setup. The wining and dining is over the top. Fantastic spreads of food and drink. Live bands, some with national stature. Hats, buttons, flags, horns, and RAH RAH RAH! Woe to the candidate with the tent clear out in the parking lot offering a bowl of fritos.

Then there's the Iowans. It's like sheep being led to slaughter but instead of slaughter it's a giant party! Only Iowans can vote but literally hundreds of campaign supporters from around the country come to help orgranize busloads from all corners of Iowa and fill them with Iowans to go vote. The parking lot is a sea of buses.

More than once I saw people become anamored with another candidate's tent and 'jump the fence' to check it out. It's a secret ballot so nobody really knows who these people ultimately vote for.

Inside Hilton it's like the national convention. Each candidate gets an opportunity to speak. It seems like it was 10-20 minutes. You'd better have your herd seated by then so they can scream their heads off at the end of your every sentence.

If you're a political junkie, this event IS Xanadu. Even if you're not GOP.

I had an automated call last night from Tommy Thompson offering to bus me to Ames (I only live 45 mins. away) and pay for my $35 ticket in exchange for my support.

The Paul campaign will have to decide soon whether to commit to this event. It's outrageous, very expensive, non-scientific, and I'm not sure if we (yet) have the kind of grassroots support in Iowa that would allow us to light up Ames like we light up the internet. To skip this event might be a risky strategy but there may be better ways to use our limited money and unlimited energy. I trust the judgment of Dr. Paul in this regard.

[DavyDuke17]

Is there enough interest to start a thread on the home page for the Des Moines area?

[Dave]

I guess we'll find out. I'll leave that up to Josh.

[JoshLowry]

Howdy Dave

It looks like you got some good ideas, check out this thread and post in there: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=208

I will go ahead and make that forum as soon as you guys decide on a name. It looks like you have 4 or 5 members on this message board. Iowa grassroots might have to just start with you 4 or 5 and then pyramid down, it's got to start somewhere.

Also checkout http://ronpaul.meetup.com for other members in the area. I think you are right though, Iowa could be big for Ron if done right.

[MsDoodahs]

Hello. I'd like your input on whether or not to bother with placing ads in Iowa newspapers?

Thanks!

MsD in Texas

:)

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

I'd be interested in carpooling down there with a group from Minnesota. I'll put a message out to the list in late June or early July, when we know a little more about what is going on with the campaign. Maybe the campaign itself would be interested in helping us coordinate at that point.

[lonestarguy]

I'm trying to rally Texas to Iowa, like Patton's Army to the seige at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Here is what I posted to my Austin meetup of over 100 and growing. Let it apply to you from wherever you are reading this. The future of our country, I believe hinges hugely on Iowa. Wherever you see the word Texas below, insert your state unless of course your way closer to New Hampshire:

From my Austin Meet-up Post of Tuesday 22 May.

Knowing how important the Great State of Iowa is to nearly every prez candidacy, (though the well-monied McCain in 2000 skipped Iowa to win in NH), I was scanning around Monday (21 May) on the meetup site snooping zip codes and towns in Iowa and found nary a meetup, and my heart sunk. But I did find about 20 interested persons spread across the state but no one had pulled the trigger to start a group. Lo and behold, Des Moines has it's first group as of 21 May, with 15 members and meets for the first time 4 June. And just today group number two pops up to the east towards the Illinois line in Iowa City with 3 members and a 5 June scheduled meeting. There is life in Iowa!!!

As the great person that started this person indicated, the Iowa Strawpoll is 11 August, a test of a candidate's field operations, is just over eleven weeks away. I think it's possible to finish in the top 5, but it will take work, and lets be honest, reality check time, between June and late December, it is going to require, imho, a significant volunteer base transiting between here, Texas, and there, Iowa. Just rough guessing it but anybody who can spend on the ground only a couple of solid days to those that can spend weeks, it's gonna be worth it. We can't hope that others will do the job, we have to ensure the job gets done. If RP is the nations's gem, it is only fitting that Texans are there on the ground in a crucial state and doing whatever it takes.

Iowa is where the rubber meets the road and the dance begins in this labor intensive person to person operation, and heck, Des Moines from Austin is only 923 miles, from Dallas only 690. This is the summer of our life. And if Iowa is to be sweet to RP, then some of us are gonna have to do the heavy (though fun in a serious way) lifting.

Logistics and what not will need to be explored soon as well as quick education of this thing known as the 'caucus system'. I do not see us waiting "until" campaign hq is on the ground in Iowa, we have to get in the game and soon, Iowans have to stand up and get in the game, but Texas may have to lead side by side. Communicating and talking and meeting people in a significant way has to commence soon. The latest Des Moines Register Poll simply indicates we have our work cut out, but ultimately with the good leadership from the quality of people in Austin, Dallas, etc, we can do anything. I have studied the calender and I will spend my 10 days on the ground the last two weeks of July and another 6 days in the Fall or Winter in sunny Iowa.

One final note, Florida is moving up its primary to around 26 January. Iowa to remain number one, is considering moving her caucus in mid to late December! How about that one

[Dave]

Josh - If you'd like, just elevate this thread to it's own forum called News from Iowa. Otherwise, just leave this thread here.

Either way, I'd like to keep this thread/forum separate from the 'local area' forums so everyone can easily follow what's happening in Iowa. Iowans can continue to post/organize in a local area forum as well but I want to keep broadcasting news to the whole Ron Paul forum.

[lonestarguy]

I think in addition to Dave's comment we might consider re-naming the thread, MUST READ: ALL EYES ON IOWA

[JoshLowry]

That's fine for you to post Iowa news in this forum. Just keep it updated with new posts and it should stay at the top for everyone to read.

I wish you guys the best of luck, glad to see some serious Iowans aboard. It's time to hit the streets. Houston MeetUp group is hitting the streets this Friday.

[ARealConservative]

let's start gathering a list of contact info for local papers and such and ask people to submit something positive.

http://www.qctimes.com/pages/contact/



Also - Iowans - go here - we have more support on that site then this one and most large communities have already paid the fee to use this service:

http://ronpaul.meetup.com

I created a group for the Quad City chapter (Davenport and outlying area). I think it will be beneficial to coordinate all our groups leading up to the straw poll.

I'm personally going to be hitting the pavement over this three day weekend. We have some large gatherings for the holiday and I hope to maximize my limited resources.

[JoshLowry]

I talked to campaign HQ. They would like me to ask if anyone here would like to become a campaign coordinator for Iowa. I imagine it would need to be someone with the time to organize things as well as having the job freedom to do something like this.

They are very busy at HQ trying to organize all across the US, so please send us a resume including how much time you have available to help out. I will forward it on to the e-Campaign Manager at HQ.

Please pass this information onto those two new Iowa meetup groups and anyone in the Iowa area that would be suitable for managing and coordinating some efforts.

Please send this information to: RonPaulForums@gmail.com

[MsDoodahs]

For a list of all newspapers in the state of Iowa, see this link:

http://www.usnpl.com/ianews.php

I have already called the first listed paper.

I am happy to spend a few days calling these papers and compiling the costs for ads in the different ones. I have lots of free time during the day, and a phone plan that allows unlimited free long distance calling. :D

The questions I've been asking so far are:

How many papers do you publish?

How often do they come out?

How many subscribers/circulation for each?

Which day is highest subscriber/circ?

Do you have a "combo deal" where I get a cut rate if I do more than one of your papers?

What is the cost of the following:

1/4 page

1/2 page

Full page

What are the combo deals you offer?

If anyone can think of other questions we would need answered, please post them!

I would really like input on whether to bother with Iowa or if another state should take precedence.

Thanks

MsD

[LibertyOrDie]

For a list of all newspapers in the state of Iowa, see this link:

http://www.usnpl.com/ianews.php

I have already called the first listed paper.

I am happy to spend a few days calling these papers and compiling the costs for ads in the different ones. I have lots of free time during the day, and a phone plan that allows unlimited free long distance calling. :D


That's awesome that you are willing to put in that time, you may also want to check radio. Here is a link for Iowa Radio Stations:

http://www.ontheradio.net/states/iowa.aspx

[Abby]

Have any ideas been pitched regarding Texans actually going to Iowa?

I know I am definitely interested, and I'm sure the rest of my "Paul-supporting" family (mom, brother, etc) would be interested as well.

I am from Houston and I would bet others from our meetup would be willing to go. Anyone out there have ideas? Let's make it happen!

[Dave]

Hello. I'd like your input on whether or not to bother with placing ads in Iowa newspapers?

Thanks!

MsD in Texas

:)

I'm not a media person but it would seem like a reasonable idea. The Des Moines Register has a broad reach but is relatively quite expensive. There are dozens if not hundreds of small weekly and daily papers around Iowa that I think would be very cheap to run half-page ads in. These might be a good way to reach the 'offline' population. Dr. Paul's performance on the national stages, of course, is a great way to reach people.

I know that Federal Election Commission regulations are complex and daunting. I'm sure there are rules regarding who can pay for an ad and what's reportable. If you're acting entirely on your own and not using graphics, etc. provided by the campaign then you are probably safe. I would try to confirm this with someone from HQ, however. The FEC could shut us down faster than the media so we have to learn the rules and then play by them.

[Dave]

To lonestarguy and Abby, et al:

Love or hate him, Howard Dean wrote the book on using the internet to mobilize and energize supporters to work Iowa. Hundreds of Dean supporters from all over America came to Iowa and literally went door-to-door in 2004. Lots of young people actually moved to Iowa for the summer to help. He finished a disappointing third after leading the Iowa polls for a long time. I think the negative ads between Dean and Gephardt did both of them in. Then 'the scream' finished Dean off for good.

Maybe you could search the internet for stories about Dean's 2004 Iowa campaign and get some ideas for how people from out-of-state can contribute to the cause and how the internet was used.

[Dave]

I would really like input on whether to bother with Iowa or if another state should take precedence.

Thanks

MsD

MsD - If I remember right, I think HQ wants to focus on IA, NH, AZ, and SC. I know there is traction in NH. I don't know what's happening in AZ and SC. I think we definitely should bother with IA since it:

1. Has the straw poll.
2. Comes before NH.
3. Uses the caucus format instead of the primary format.

I will follow the lead of HQ on this and other campaign matters. Remember - Ron Paul is the candidate. We are the supporters.

[MsDoodahs]

Dave, thanks, I will continue with compiling a list of costs from IA newspapers tomorrow.

My understanding at this point is that there are no regulations that would prohibit ME, as an INDIVIDUAL, from buying ad space in a newspaper and using that space for material that I want published.

I have been told that here in TX, the only requirement is that the ad has to end with "paid for by" and your name and address.

Anyone know if the rules are variable state by state, or is that the same nationwide?

[Winston]

Howdy Dave

It looks like you got some good ideas, check out this thread and post in there: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=208

I will go ahead and make that forum as soon as you guys decide on a name. It looks like you have 4 or 5 members on this message board. Iowa grassroots might have to just start with you 4 or 5 and then pyramid down, it's got to start somewhere.

Also checkout http://ronpaul.meetup.com for other members in the area. I think you are right though, Iowa could be big for Ron if done right.


Some folks I know in Austin, TX are discussing ways we can help you guys in Iowa. Get the ball rolling, reinforcements coming soon!

:cool:

[reeferseed]

Have any ideas been pitched regarding Texans actually going to Iowa?

I know I am definitely interested, and I'm sure the rest of my "Paul-supporting" family (mom, brother, etc) would be interested as well.

I am from Houston and I would bet others from our meetup would be willing to go. Anyone out there have ideas? Let's make it happen!

I am from Austin, eager to devote my life full-time to Dr. Paul... I had been thinking of moving to New Hampshire since this election cycle may be New Hampshire's most influential primary ever... Maybe Iowa instead, who knows? I am willing to go anywhere that I can do the most good for Dr. Paul's movement!

[Dave]

The Strategic Vision poll that shows Dr. Paul at 2% is getting some play in the local media. They focus on the 'big 3' plus Fred Thompson and don't mention Ron Paul. Here's a summary:

Mitt Romney 20%
Rudy Giuliani 18%
John McCain 16%
Fred Thompson 10%
Tommy Thompson 7%
Newt Gingrich 5%
Mike Huckabee 3%
Tom Tancredo 2%
Sam Brownback 2%
Ron Paul 2%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Jim Gilmore 1%
Chuck Hagel 1%
Unsure 12%

Poll interpretation is dangerous and 2% is within the margin of error, but I think this poll is reason for optimism. This is the first Iowa poll that Dr. Paul has registered in whatsoever. It's also the first poll that was taken entirely after the SC debate.

Hunter, Gilmore, and Hagel seem non-existent here so they are rightly at 1%. Given the amount of time and money being spent here by Tancredo and Brownback, I think it's encouraging that they are no higher than Dr. Paul.

T. Thompson and Gingrich have been here more than Dr. Paul.

[tnvoter]

They should definately commit to it. I'd sign up to go upstates to help out.

[mrapathy]

Iowa went Democrat largely in 2006 Iraq war being a major factor. the status quo stay the coarse lost big time in Iowa.

the last straw poll also took the pulse on the war situation. it was unfavorable against the war in Iraq.
Fred Thompson is a mystery factor and imo another Bush he works for media and a member of CFR.

all but Ron Paul support the status quo.

ron paul kicks ass on the cyclone conservative poll but that could be out of stater voters. consistently getting 400+ votes blowing the rest ouf of the water.

subsidies for farmers may help or hurt its a factor in Iowa.

I feel Iowa is Ron Pauls to lose. I dont see Iowa going for any of the other pro Iraq war neocon candidates. Fred Thompson may have support out of ignorance he will turn out to be another Bush.

[lonestarguy]

Dave, Do you think you would be able to head up Iowa as RP's campaign chief there? Are you willing to consider or would you prefer to be a liasion to another. How do you see yourself there? You have insight into your great state. What say you sir?

[Dave]

Dave, Do you think you would be able to head up Iowa as RP's campaign chief there? Are you willing to consider or would you prefer to be a liasion to another. How do you see yourself there? You have insight into your great state. What say you sir?

I'm hopeful there's a better candidate. There's a cadre of extremely well-connected people who are experienced in running Iowa presidential campaigns. They tend to be party bosses, former elected officials, or professional campaign managers who more or less do this for a living.

I run a business and have young kids. I'm willing to focus less on the business but not my kids. I have a lot to offer the campaign but we need someone who has experience with running a campaign and is well-connected. Check out this link to get an idea of the kind of people working on the various candidates' Iowa campaigns.

http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/cands08txt.html

The size of the Iowa organizations for even the second-tier candidates is amazing.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

I live in Minnesota and am willing to coordinate Minnesotans to get to Iowa for the Straw Poll and at any other time we're needed. I obviously can't head up Iowa and would encourage Dave to take up at least the temporary mantle. Dave, you can probably find someone willing to take it on once you get going.

[Dave]

Here's an enlightening writeup to help you understand the Iowa Straw Poll:

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=B07D8ED7-3048-5C12-001EC89C29D67FCF

The Ron Paul campaign isn't centered on flash and spending lots of money on frivolity. I'm anxious to see his strategy regarding this event. For all its flaws, I have to agree that it is kind of a pre-caucus.

[lonestarguy]

Strategic Vision, a polling firm, polled likely Republican voters in Iowa, and they found that 54% of Iowa Republicans want us out of Iraq in six months. Now, what Republican do you think those people would likely vote for?

Please pass this post up the campaign!

Article follows below.


Strategic Vision: Most Iowa GOPers Favor Complete Withdrawal
by Jonathan Singer, Tue May 22, 2007 at 09:56:27 PM EST

The latest survey of likely Iowa caucus-goers from Republican polling outfit Strategic Vision was released this afternoon and the results may just shock you, because they certainly shocked me. Take a look at the fifth question (600 GOP LVs, May 18-20, MoE +/- 4%):

Do you favor a withdrawal of all United States military from Iraq within the next six months? (Republicans Only)

Yes 54 percent
No 37 percent
Undecided 9 percent

Certainly there's an extent to which these results are reflective of the fact that Strategic Vision did not give respondents a chance to choose other alternatives, like withdrawing some troops over this time period or aiming to withdraw all American forces in six months or a year or two years. Still, the results are fairly clear: A fairly substantial majority of likely Iowa caucus-goers favor the full withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq within the next six months. This majority is safe from the margin of error and, to repeat, these numbers come from a Republican poll.

For those interested, the poll also showed that likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers favor this tough line on Iraq by an even wider margin, 81 percent to 5 percent. This would certainly seem to upend the notion that a Democratic presidential candidate would have something to lose by going out too far on the issue of Iraq.

And because I'm sure you're at least wondering...

If the 2008 Democratic presidential caucus were held today between, Joeseph Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson, for whom would you vote? (Democrats Only; Names Rotated)

John Edwards 29 percent
Barack Obama 24 percent
Hillary Clinton 16 percent
Bill Richardson 9 percent
Joe Biden 3 percent
Chris Dodd 2 percent
Dennis Kucinich 1 percent
Undecided 16 percent

[billv]

One final note, Florida is moving up its primary to around 26 January. Iowa to remain number one, is considering moving her caucus in mid to late December! How about that one

Just as an aside, if the states keep moving up primaries, we're gonna be having primaries before the previous president is elected.

[lonestarguy]

Dave, I think it would be interesting to hear even more about what you know. I hope to pick your brain here. In the years past have you ever worked for a campaign? If you did, can you kinda break it up for us, say, what did your particular campaign do in the months and weeks in the run-up to the Ames summertime Strawpoll?

Then, after the Strawpoll in Ames, what did the campaign have you do in the run-up to the actual Iowa caucus in January?

Can you explain how the Iowa caucus operates? And tell us what you see as keys to the caucus.

What, if any, stand-out as lessons learned? And anything else you think we should know?

Thanks so much.....

[Dave]

The 5/23 Des Moines Register has results from an interesting poll about where Iowans get their info about candidates for president and their involvement in the campaigns.

Here's the % of Iowa caucusgoers who say they have done the following or are likely to do so. Read the list and imagine your roles, keeping an eye toward the '% reach' to prioritize:

94% Watch candidate debates
93% Read newspaper stories about the campaigns
87% Watch or listen to candidates' ads on tv/radio
86% Read newspaper opinion pieces or letters to editor
83% Watch mainstream political news shows (e.g. Meet the Press, Face the Nation)
79% Go to candidate events
69% Give money to campaigns
58% Visit candidate web sites
58% Volunteer to work for a campaign
56% Search the internet for candidates' stands on issues
44% Read onling forums/blogs written by experts
41% Watch satirical shows with fake newscasts (e.g. The Daily Show, SNL)
22% Read online forums/blogs written by non-experts
19% Contribute to online forums or comment on blogs
11% Post pictures/videos of political events on the internet

Draw your own conclusions but it seems to me that laypeople working the internet with postings can only hope to affect up to 22% of Iowans' views.

Dr. Paul is doing his part in the debates and working top-down to get into the media. We need to find ways to get into the Iowa newspapers through the columnists and letters to the editor (preferably written by local Iowans themselves). It would seem to help for Dr. Paul to spend more time in Iowa to host 'candidate events' but I leave those decisions to HQ where they have the whole picture.

It seems that Iowans will go to the internet for information but are most likely to head to the candidates' web sites rather than blogs/forums. This suggests that the Ron Paul 2008 website is key. Maybe those of us with internet skills (not me) can donate their talents to HQ to make the web site the best it can be, whatever that means. The rest of us need to donate $ (I do) to help facilitate this (and the other campaign efforts).

I think an important conclusion to draw from this is that we all need to be spending as much if not more of our time OFF the internet building old-fashioned bottom-up grassroots support.

[Dave]

Dave, I think it would be interesting to hear even more about what you know. I hope to pick your brain here. In the years past have you ever worked for a campaign? If you did, can you kinda break it up for us, say, what did your particular campaign do in the months and weeks in the run-up to the Ames summertime Strawpoll?

Then, after the Strawpoll in Ames, what did the campaign have you do in the run-up to the actual Iowa caucus in January?

Can you explain how the Iowa caucus operates? And tell us what you see as keys to the caucus.

What, if any, stand-out as lessons learned? And anything else you think we should know?

Thanks so much.....

My campaign experience is limited. Like most Ron Paul supporters, I've never been a big 'party' person. I've been a delegate to my county, district, and state conventions - I may describe that strange experience some other time.

I was a self-appointed 'precinct captain' (meaning I took responsibility for supporting him in my precinct) for Steve Forbes back in 2000 and chaufferred him around Des Moines a few times. A buddy of mine was involved with his Iowa campaign. I was my precinct's chairman on caucus night and delivered my precinct solidly for Forbes.

Here's a good short summary of the caucus process:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iowa_caucus

I'll write more in future posts.

[tnvoter]

I think an important conclusion to draw from this is that we all need to be spending as much if not more of our time OFF the internet building old-fashioned bottom-up grassroots support.

fact.

[Dave]

David Yepsen is the Des Moines Register's political honcho. He's kind of the voice of the caucuses and is very often interviewed by the national media for his take on what's happening in Iowa.

He had a piece on 5/25 where he handicaps the 2nd tier candidates, which to him means T. Thompson, Brownback, Huckabee, and Tancredo. Here's how he references Dr. Paul:

"Beneath the second tier is the bottom tier. California Congressman Duncan Hunter and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore have done little in Iowa.

Neither has Texas Congressman Ron Paul, but his good performances in debates might help him with libertarian Republicans. Unfortunately for him, there aren't that many libertarian, isolationist, anti-war Republicans who attend GOP caucuses in Iowa."


I was a bit steamed at first but I think Yepsen is stating facts. Ron Paul has only spent two days in Iowa while Brownback, Huckabee, Romney, Tancredo, and T. Thompson have all spent over 20 days here. Yepsen tips his hat to Dr. Paul's debate performances, which is nice. The only thing I think is clearly misunderstood is the 'isolationist' reference and I will send Yepsen a kind note discussing the difference between an isolationist and a non-interventionalist.

Anyone who wants to shine some light on candidates beyond the 'big 3' is a friend to our campaign so I think Yepsen is doing us a favor with articles like this and I DON'T think we should flame him. He's widely read in Iowa and by the national media so this mention of Ron Paul is positive.

Remember, too, that it doesn't matter how many people in Iowa agree with you - it's how many of them that you can TURN OUT on caucus night and allow you to beat EXPECTATIONS, which will build momentum for the later contests.

Here's the link if you want to read the whole article - I recommend it.

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070524/OPINION01/705240368/1036

[MsDoodahs]

Dave, from the stats you posted, it appears that 93% read newspaper articles about the candidates.

I'm trying to figure out what areas would be best to hit with ads for Dr. Paul, and how to configure those ads.

Off the top of my head, I'm thinking that the best method would be to target smaller communities instead of the larger ones.

What data should I be looking for to help figure this out?

Thanks!

[Dave]

Dave, from the stats you posted, it appears that 93% read newspaper articles about the candidates.

I'm trying to figure out what areas would be best to hit with ads for Dr. Paul, and how to configure those ads.

Off the top of my head, I'm thinking that the best method would be to target smaller communities instead of the larger ones.

What data should I be looking for to help figure this out?

Thanks!

The survey referenced articles but made no mention of ads (maybe the DMR didn't want to hear that people don't read the ads?) I'm sure people are less likely to read newspaper ads than newspaper articles but that doesn't mean ads are a bad idea.

I guess the info you would like to know is what the circulation is of all these various newspapers. Then you could compare the 'cost per view' of ads and use this to help prioritize.

Keep in mind that Iowa gets more conservative as you go from east to west. Lots more GOP in the west. Maybe more opportunity for crossovers in the east. Food for thought.

[MsDoodahs]

The survey referenced articles but made no mention of ads (maybe the DMR didn't want to hear that people don't read the ads?) I'm sure people are less likely to read newspaper ads than newspaper articles but that doesn't mean ads are a bad idea.




That's why I'm thinking of configuration, too.

If I buy the "adspace" and use it to publish an article written by Dr. Paul himself, then it will not appear to be an "ad" at all.

Thoughts?

[MsDoodahs]

I guess the info you would like to know is what the circulation is of all these various newspapers. Then you could compare the 'cost per view' of ads and use this to help prioritize.



I'm making calls to determine what the circulations are for the different papers.

What I am thinking about is whether there is more advantage to certain communities over other communities.

In other words, is there a way to know which geographic areas have stronger impact in their primary, or not?

Also, if I understand the caucus system correctly, it seems rather....slimey. Sort of a way for those "in favor" insiders within the state party to get wined and dined in exchange for their vote. A microcosm of congress, maybe?

If that is in fact the case, perhaps money would be better spent in other primary states?

[Dave]

I'm making calls to determine what the circulations are for the different papers.

What I am thinking about is whether there is more advantage to certain communities over other communities.

In other words, is there a way to know which geographic areas have stronger impact in their primary, or not?

Also, if I understand the caucus system correctly, it seems rather....slimey. Sort of a way for those "in favor" insiders within the state party to get wined and dined in exchange for their vote. A microcosm of congress, maybe?

If that is in fact the case, perhaps money would be better spent in other primary states?

I don't know how to decide which communities are more important than others. If you're trying to turn out GOP members, there are more of them west of Des Moines than east of Des Moines. The homes of the 3 state universities (Ames, Iowa City, and Cedar Falls) are the most liberal. I'm sure they'd appreciate Dr. Paul's stand on Iraq but I don't know if they'd go for much else. I don't know what else to offer so maybe it's not so important as just getting the message out.

I think the Ames straw poll in August fits your definition of 'slimey' but the caucus in January is no more slippery than any other political contest and by-passing Iowa has historically been a losing strategy. The party insiders only get one vote on caucus night, just like everyone else who shows up. The good thing about the caucus system is that many people go there undecided and there's an opportunity before the vote for people to give a short speech in support of their favorite. This can sway people at the last minute.

[Cyclone177]

I am an alum from Iowa State, now living in Omaha. I would be willing to do stuff on the weekend to help promote Ron. I am in total agreement that Iowa could make or break his campaign. I saw a post on Cyclone Conservative blog about some dinner last night where there were over 80 representatives for Repub's, but none for Dr. Paul. We need to make a huge effort to get things going in Iowa. People in Iowa are not stupid, and are pissed about this war. That is going to be the issue in this campaign, and with all the farmer's I know being Repub, they aren't satisfied with the slate of big names up there now.

[specsaregood]

//

[Pedrique]

I was under the impression that Bill Clinton skipped Iowa in 92 and he still won - that's the reason his former staffer was encouraging Hillary to do the same.

[Dave]

I was under the impression that Bill Clinton skipped Iowa in 92 and he still won - that's the reason his former staffer was encouraging Hillary to do the same.

EVERYONE skipped Iowa in 92 because Iowa senator Tom Harkin ran for president, making the Iowa caucus almost meaningless. Harkin won with 76% while the others had 4% or less.

The fact that staffers are even contemplating having Hillary skip Iowa tells me they're scared about where she's going to finish here. Remember - it doesn't matter where you finish in Iowa, it's where you finish relative to expectations.

[DjLoTi]

I think Ron Paul would go over *great* with the farmers of Iowa and I wouldn't recommend leaving the college-aged 'liberal' out of our efforts. Think about it. Many 'liberals' are crossing over to repub just to vote for this guy

Also, a college-aged youth is more likely to be informed of the internet functions and features, especially including the content. I propose rallying on both sides of the isle.

[MsDoodahs]

Interesting. Print "ads" are intended to grab those who aren't internet savvy (because we have the net saturated already).

So newspaper advertising should be away from college towns...

or at least that is what I am thinking.

Your thoughts, people?

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Interesting. Print "ads" are intended to grab those who aren't internet savvy (because we have the net saturated already).

So newspaper advertising should be away from college towns...

Then maybe shoot for small-town papers, or farm radio? There are weekly, local publications that have cheaper rates.

But what is the message for the ads? I would include a way for voters interested in Ron Paul to contact someone local in order to assist with campaigning and to get bumper stickers/lawn signs. "Free bumper sticker by calling 222-555-1234." When they call, see if they'd be willing to volunteer at the Straw Poll.

[Pedrique]

EVERYONE skipped Iowa in 92 because Iowa senator Tom Harkin ran for president, making the Iowa caucus almost meaningless. Harkin won with 76% while the others had 4% or less.

The fact that staffers are even contemplating having Hillary skip Iowa tells me they're scared about where she's going to finish here. Remember - it doesn't matter where you finish in Iowa, it's where you finish relative to expectations.

Gotcha. Thanks!

[JosephTheLibertarian]

That's good... there's still hope if we don't win Iowa, but gosh would it be great to win Iowa! :)

[sidsquidrick]

Hey, do we want to make a convoy?

We can rent a 7 passenger van in Dallas for 60 bucks a day, less with my military discount. At 15 MPG, we could get there and back with a $400 dollar bill. We could leave on the 10th and return on the 12th. For $100 a head we shouldn't have any problems getting there. At $100 a night, we can use two rooms per van load. You can put up to four adults in every room.

I am used to sleeping in tents with a lot of people (Iraq for 14mos) so it wouldn't bother me. Anyone else like the idea?

If we could get several convoys going from all over the country we may get an even better rental rate from a national car rental company and the hotel where we can all meet.

Lets talk seriously about this.

Sid

[JosephTheLibertarian]

..I'm from NJ, it sounds like a good idea. Where are you from?

[Dave]

That's good... there's still hope if we don't win Iowa, but gosh would it be great to win Iowa! :)

Winning would be nice but there's TONS of hope if we don't win - as long as we beat expectations. Imagine - if the caucus were today and Romney won with 25% but Dr. Paul finished in 2nd with 24% then Romney would be considered a loser and Paul would get a huge victory. It's ALL relative to expectations.

I don't think anyone has ever been nominted without finishing in the top 3 in Iowa. Our Iowa goal needs to be this:

Finish in the top 3
Finish ahead of what the polls say going into the caucus.

[Dave]

How would the Hemp legalization and anti-drug war positions go over in Iowa? I imagine the Hemp bill would be popular. But my understanding is that Iowa has been ravaged by Crystal Meth production and addicts in recent years -- How does that translate to drug-war sentiment? Any thoughts?

I don't think either of these positions are vote-getters in Iowa. Iowa farmers make their money on corn and soybeans - their skills and equipment revolve around these crops. Farmers here aren't demanding new things to plant - especially right now when corn and soybean prices are VERY high due to all the ethanol and biodiesel demand.

Outside of some potheads I just don't think there's much interest here in legalizing drugs - particularly in the GOP.

Some crossover would be nice but it's never really happened much here in the past despite there always being talk about it. Iowan's just don't cross over very much. It's silly to think that democrats and liberals are the key to winning the GOP nomination. Ron Paul is not a democrat or a liberal (by today's definition) - he's a conservative.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

Well, wouldnt' marijuana legalization give them something to plant? LOL

[angelatc]

Industrial hemp isn't pot and according to Wikipedia hemp was Canada's most profitable crop in 2006.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

Both sound good to me... :D

[axiomata]

Some of the polling (http://strategicvision.biz/political/iowa_poll_052307.htm) I have seen from Iowa is very encouraging for Ron Paul.

i.e.,


2. Do you see President George W. Bush as a conservative Republican in the mode of Ronald Reagan? (Republicans Only)
Yes 5%
No 79%
Undecided 16%

3. How important is it for the Republican presidential candidate to be a conservative Republican in the mode of Ronald Reagan, very important, somewhat important, not very important, not important, undecided? (Republicans Only)
Very Important 42%
Somewhat Important 19%
Not Very Important 11%
Not Important 12%
Undecided 16%

5. Do you favor a withdrawal of all United States military from Iraq within the next six months? (Republicans Only)
Yes 54%
No 37%
Undecided 9%

More than 50% favor withdrawal of all US military from Iraq in just 6 months. None of the other candidates share that opinion. Furthermore, just about everyone polled recognize that Bush and the neocons are not heirs to the Reagan legacy and a high percentage feel a Reagan-like president is important.

However, all is not good news:


1. If the 2008 Republican presidential caucus were held today between Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Chuck Hagel, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, Fred Thompson, and Tommy Thompson for whom would you vote? (Republicans Only; Names Rotated)
Mitt Romney 20%
Rudy Giuliani 18%
John McCain 16%
Fred Thompson 10%
Tommy Thompson 7%
Newt Gingrich 5%
Mike Huckabee 3%
Sam Brownback 2%
Tom Tancredo 2%
Ron Paul 2%
Duncan Hunter 1%
Jim Gilmore 1%
Chuck Hagel 1%
Undecided 12%

4. Are you satisfied with the current field of announced Republican presidential candidates for 2008? (Republicans only)
Yes 29%
No 51%
Undecided 20%

I'm guessing from the looks of those two polls, serious name and issue recognition work is needed from the Paul campaign. There's definitely room for growth the fill the void. Anything anyone can do in Iowa will significantly help Paul's campaign.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

They either don't know him or don't know his positions. It's ok. This is the old poll?

[MsDoodahs]

Dave, from your take on the feelings of voters in the state, do you think that RP's stance on the war would be the best way to attract readers to "ads?"

Any other issues where RP's stand might resonate?

Taxes?

Gun control?

[JosephTheLibertarian]

Most Iowans are against the war :) They will also like him on lower taxes and no gun control.

[Dave]

Dave, from your take on the feelings of voters in the state, do you think that RP's stance on the war would be the best way to attract readers to "ads?"

Any other issues where RP's stand might resonate?

Taxes?

Gun control?

My 2 cents...

Every one of Dr. Paul's stands will turn off/on a large number of people so I think you have to serve up a pallette so everyone can find something they like. Lots of liberals are excited about his Iraq war stand but don't you honestly think we'll lose their interest when they find out he's anti-abortion, anti-gun control, and anti-government programs? Dr. Paul is a traditional conservative, not a modern liberal.

I think immigration issues are huge in Iowa right now - Dr. Paul's stand here can draw attention. Fighting for lower taxes is always a plus but you've got to convince readers he's not like every other candidate who promises this.

His stance on property rights and eminent domain will resonate here. Inside the GOP his stand against abortion and gun control is a must.

Dr. Paul's positions don't sell well in sound bites - they take time for people to think about, learn, and digest. The ads should serve two purposes:

Get the name Ron Paul before as many eyes as possible.
Get people hungry to learn more.Perhaps lead in with some questions. For example:

"Tired of voting for the lesser of two evils?"
"Ready to hear the TRUTH?"
"Tired of cardboard candidates?"
"Tired of politicians who only tell you what they think you want to hear"
"Do you think politicians are all the same?"

[Bradley in DC]

I think immigration issues are huge in Iowa right now - Dr. Paul's stand here can draw attention. Fighting for lower taxes is always a plus but you've got to convince readers he's not like every other candidate who promises this.

His stance on property rights and eminent domain will resonate here. Inside the GOP his stand against abortion and gun control is a must.

Iowa has historically been very anti-war and pro-life. Playing up Dr. Paul's record consistent principle (in this case in favor of a seamless garment of a culture of life-- Catholic language should work there well too). This argument contrasts nicely with the pro-abortion, pro-war, flip flopping competition!

[angelatc]

My thought is that nearly everything should be turned into a state's rights issue.

Taking the power back from Washington.

[lonestarguy]

Dave, Considering the current 'Caucus' season, what is your perception on the historic availability of hotel room availability, camping space, college dorm rooms, etc?

What are you seeing right now on the ground, I gather your in Des Moines? Certainly other campaign peeps have knocked on your door, spoke to you, probably tried to canvas you for all kinds of info?

So correct me if I'm wrong, I often am, but what do you see as the must haves? Each campaign must find a precinct captain for each targeted precinct? His job is to be responsible for holding the decided of that candidate and getting them to the caucus in winter. He's also responsible for gathering them up for the bus ride to Ames, correcto?

The individual campaigns rent the buses to pick up their flocks from around the state to bus into Ames for the August 11th Strawpoll? Or, buses are available at the meet points, for the towns across the state, for all who are there to board these buses to head for Ames?

Besides the candidate, his message, power of character, issue positions, on the ground, the precinct captain for any campaign is the most significant person?

Off hand, how many precincts across Iowa, hundreds, huh? But Gopers and Dems concentrate mostly on there areas of strength in the state, traditional Gop areas and the traditional Dem areas?

How would you characterize, a bit more specifically, the state partisan geographic layout. Using, say the I-35 and I-80 corridors. Would you say the I-80 corridor from Des Moines, west to Nebraska state line is overwhelming GOP? East of Des Moines along the I-80 corridor and south to the Missouri line Democratic?

In recent prez election seasons, if you were ever impressed with a campaign, what was it that "on-the-ground game" that impressed you? Was it the resoluteness of relentless contact by door-to-door volunteers, etc?

Thanks so much!

[Pedrique]

Seems like two issues could consolidate folks in Iowa and still make RP distinct.

Opposition to the Iraq War
Strong stance on illegal immigration.

These two issues seem cross-platform and also make him distinct from all republican candidates. Focusing on these two could be a powerful message to bring independents and maybe democrats into the fold.

Adding pro-life may solidify the gop base but since it could alienate others we want voting in the primary it might be best to leave it off of the primary message.

That's my 2 cents.

[johngr]

Don't forget "Abolish the IRS immediately". NONE OF THE OTHER CANDIDATES CAN TOUCH DR. PAUL ON THIS ISSUE! We've got to get across (in Iowa as well as everywhere else) that that's not just an empty promise. He will actually do it.

"Tired of tax, borrow and spend republicans? Vote Ron Paul."

[Dave]

Seems like two issues could consolidate folks in Iowa and still make RP distinct.

Opposition to the Iraq War
Strong stance on illegal immigration.

These two issues seem cross-platform and also make him distinct from all republican candidates. Focusing on these two could be a powerful message to bring independents and maybe democrats into the fold.

Adding pro-life may solidify the gop base but since it could alienate others we want voting in the primary it might be best to leave it off of the primary message.

That's my 2 cents.

This is worth a LOT more than 2 cents. I think you've boiled it down well and really nailed it. On these two issues people are sick of the talking heads from both sides. We should focus on these 2 issues in Iowa.

[Dave]

Dave, Considering the current 'Caucus' season, what is your perception on the historic availability of hotel room availability, camping space, college dorm rooms, etc?

I doubt if finding a bed would be a problem. The Ames straw poll could be a bottleneck - 40,000 attended in 1999. Iowa State will have tons of empty dorm space at that time but I don't know if they use it for things like this. That date (8/11) is alslo the first day of the Iowa State Fair 40 miles away in Des Moines and that tends to clog the hotels/campgrounds in central Iowa.



What are you seeing right now on the ground, I gather your in Des Moines? Certainly other campaign peeps have knocked on your door, spoke to you, probably tried to canvas you for all kinds of info?


I'm on a somewhat rural road just outside of Des Moines so I haven't had anyone at my door. I get lots of automated phone calls from the candidates every time there's any election. I've only gotten one so far this year - from Tommy Thompson inviting me to the Ames Straw Poll. I know one of the big wheels in Brownback's Iowa organization so I get lots of emails from that campaign. I've gotten about 3 slick mailings from Romney (including a DVD) and 1 from Brownback. I expect all of this to pick up in the next few weeks.

Candidates from both parties who want to score here are spending a LOT of time all over Iowa and calling in to talk radio from the road in Iowa and from elsewhere.

I started this thread to keep people aware of what I'm seeing on the ground in Iowa so I'll keep posting...



So correct me if I'm wrong, I often am, but what do you see as the must haves? Each campaign must find a precinct captain for each targeted precinct? His job is to be responsible for holding the decided of that candidate and getting them to the caucus in winter. He's also responsible for gathering them up for the bus ride to Ames, correcto?


A precinct captain (campaigns have different names for this person) is an unofficial person who tries to get people in their precinct to vote with them on caucus night. As far as the Ames poll, I don't think people work at the precinct level to get turnout for this but I suppose the most aggressive supporters do.



The individual campaigns rent the buses to pick up their flocks from around the state to bus into Ames for the August 11th Strawpoll? Or, buses are available at the meet points, for the towns across the state, for all who are there to board these buses to head for Ames?


The former, I believe. Campaigns round up people and get them on their buses. I don't think people supporting different candidates end up on the same bus. Of course lots of people drive themselves to Ames, too. You don't have to come by bus.



Besides the candidate, his message, power of character, issue positions, on the ground, the precinct captain for any campaign is the most significant person?


I don't know if I'd say they're the most significant but they are the most grassroots-level. This would be the bottom tier on an org chart. They are the ones who will speak out in their precinct on caucus night and try to convince people to vote for Dr. Paul. It's Ron Paul's job to load the bases - someone in each precinct needs to bat cleanup to drive them home.



Off hand, how many precincts across Iowa, hundreds, huh? But Gopers and Dems concentrate mostly on there areas of strength in the state, traditional Gop areas and the traditional Dem areas?


I've heard numbers from 1800 to 2000. I don't think anyone targets by precinct. I think they target more by congressional district (Iowa has 5) or at the county level (Iowa has 99).



How would you characterize, a bit more specifically, the state partisan geographic layout. Using, say the I-35 and I-80 corridors. Would you say the I-80 corridor from Des Moines, west to Nebraska state line is overwhelming GOP? East of Des Moines along the I-80 corridor and south to the Missouri line Democratic?


I'd use I-35 as an east-west divider. The western half of Iowa is more GOP but more sparsely populated. Take a look at the famous red/blue county maps from the last two elections here:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm


In recent prez election seasons, if you were ever impressed with a campaign, what was it that "on-the-ground game" that impressed you? Was it the resoluteness of relentless contact by door-to-door volunteers, etc?

Thanks so much!

Everyone was amazed with the Deaniacs last time. They wore orange stocking caps and went door-to-door all winter in great numbers. Nonetheless, Dean finished BELOW expectations in 3rd place.

It's impressive when a candidate can build grassroots support that builds into mainstream support and coverage. Then it's about placement (spending $) - it's noticeable when a candidate permeates your radio, tv, and mail.

Something that really means a lot to Iowans is meeting the candidate in person. Candidates are crawling all over Iowa right now and Iowans love sizing them up in person, especially the big names.

[Lois]

I see that someone in this thread said this --


Maybe those of us with internet skills (not me) can donate their talents to HQ to make the web site the best it can be, whatever that means.

However - I just read where someone else said this --


A distressing trend rears its ugly head - again

I was talking to a political activist with considerable experience and resourses at his disposal. He related to me how he had recently been in touch with the RP 'national campaign HQ'. He offered his resources and his expertise gratis to some fellow at the RP national HQ. What he was offering was nothing to sneeze at. This joker at the RP HQ blew him off, told him they had no need of him or what he had to offer. And then when this fellow went on to elaborate, saying, "I don't think you fully comprehend what I'm willing to do for RP, I wanna speak to your supervisor," this joker very rudely reiterated "I told you we have no use of you and what you have to offer" and then hung up on him.

This is a something I have witnessed before, as a distant observer and personally - so-called 'professional campaign workers' effing think they know it all and have absolutely no need of us peons meddling in 'their' 'efforts'.

Is this an issue that needs to be addressed before a lot of Ron Paul supporters spend a lot of time and energy where it's not wanted?

[JosephTheLibertarian]

My thought is that nearly everything should be turned into a state's rights issue.

Taking the power back from Washington.

yup. People think that RP is pushing pro-life issues, no, he's only pro-life in belief, he will allow the states to make the call, he will not go either way. Most libertarians reject the label of pro-life/choice, they just say : non-government issue. But.. it'll play well in Iowa, then, if he wins the nomination, he can start saying "it's a non-government issue, leave it to the states!" this would keep him out of the pro-life/choice fight, will preserve his mixed base.

[SV-v2.0]

I see that someone in this thread said this --



However - I just read where someone else said this --



Is this an issue that needs to be addressed before a lot of Ron Paul supporters spend a lot of time and energy where it's not wanted?


Lois, this is why I think it's important for us grassroots folks to seize the initiative, go out into the field, and get things done on our own without waiting for direction from the headquarters. Of course we still work with them when and where we can, but time is of the essence and we need to git'er done. It's up to us regular folks to make this happen, IMO.

[Dave]

I see that someone in this thread said this --



However - I just read where someone else said this --



Is this an issue that needs to be addressed before a lot of Ron Paul supporters spend a lot of time and energy where it's not wanted?

I wish I could say this was the first time I've heard of this kind of thing. I'd say the folks at HQ are overwhelmed right now with all the response so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt but I hope I don't hear more of this.

[SV-v2.0]

I wish I could say this was the first time I've heard of this kind of thing. I'd say the folks at HQ are overwhelmed right now with all the response so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt but I hope I don't hear more of this.

Yes, I think part of it is just being overwhelmed, however by not properly managing the resources people are volunteering they're passing up on a lot of super potential by not utilizing it, IMO.

That's why we're largely on our own out here in the field and it is necessary for us grassroots folks to sally out on our own as best we can. We need to apply the resources we have amongst ourselves to the best of our ability rather than allowing them to get tossed by the wayside due to indifference by people who are already covered up.

Let's git'er done! We can do it!


.

[lonestarguy]

Lois, I would not worry about such stories. It's a normal course of being involved in politics, rumours of this, rumours of that, yadayadayada. It's normal. We all simply press on in positive manner doing the things we can do for our candidate. It's really that simple. So, just ignore such stories. Remember, as a normal course of things, the other campaigns are watching us, but of course we watch them. No problem.

[Dave]

The Des Moines Register today releases results of an Iowa poll of 400 reps and 400 dems asking how important various issues were to them and the issues on which they want more information from the candidates.

GOP Issues that stand out to me as high in importance AND needing more information are tax policy, national security, and immigration.

You can look at the table below or go here if you want the whole feature:
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070527/NEWS09/70525025/-1/iowapoll07&lead=1

What does this suggest to you?


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/graphics/07may/m0525pollinfogap.jpg

[MsDoodahs]

Honestly? It suggests to me that most Iowa GOPers watch Fox News and that they live in fear of terror attack every day because they subject themselves to the Fox and NeoCon "terror tactic" of KEEPING AMERICANS LIVING IN FEAR.

[MsDoodahs]

Dave, do you happen to know what is the demographic of Iowa? Predominately dem or GOP overall?

[Dave]

Dave, do you happen to know what is the demographic of Iowa? Predominately dem or GOP overall?

I recall that it's fairly evenly split between rep, dem and independent but I think the dems have recently pulled ahead. Here's a link from the Iowa Secretary of State with some May 2007 reports by congressional district. Why don't you add these up to get a statewide total? NP means no party and I don't know how they define active vs. inactive.

http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/voterreg/regstat.html

[Dave]

Honestly? It suggests to me that most Iowa GOPers watch Fox News and that they live in fear of terror attack every day because they subject themselves to the Fox and NeoCon "terror tactic" of KEEPING AMERICANS LIVING IN FEAR.

I was looking for suggestions on how to reach people who might support Dr. Paul. Flaming members of the Iowa GOP doesn't promote our cause.

[mrapathy]

anybody know when and where Ron Paul will be?

[Pedrique]

I was looking for suggestions on how to reach people who might support Dr. Paul. Flaming members of the Iowa GOP doesn't promote our cause.

It seems from the chart that Ron Paul's position on foreign policy would be enough to attact independents and democrats into potentially participating in the straw poll.

The war in Iraq, relations with other countries, national security and the nation's long term debt (partly caused by our reckless foreign policies) are 3 of the top 4 issues on the democrat side, with health care and economy rounding out top 5.

On the Republican side it is war in Iraq, terrorism, national security in the top 5, with faith and values and immigration rounding it out.

If nearly 60% Iowa Repubs are in opposition to the war, I reiterate my early suggestion that RP's stance on the war and on immigration be his primary message in Iowa. Surely there is a tech savvy person who can pare down some of the various videos on RP into a concise DVD to touch on these issues that can be passed out (or mailed) prior to the straw poll?

[Bradley in DC]

If nearly 60% Iowa Repubs are in opposition to the war, I reiterate my early suggestion that RP's stance on the war and on immigration be his primary message in Iowa. Surely there is a tech savvy person who can pare down some of the various videos on RP into a concise DVD to touch on these issues that can be passed out (or mailed) prior to the straw poll?

His opposition to abortion plays well with Republican caucus voters who would want someone with a consistent record on the issue (unlike Rudy McRomney).

[Brandybuck]

His opposition to abortion plays well with Republican caucus voters who would want someone with a consistent record on the issue (unlike Rudy McRomney).
Remind me again what the Rudy McRomney stance on abortion is again. What is amnesty or invasion? :D

[Dave]

It's barely 10 weeks to the August 11 GOP Straw Poll in Ames and Ron Paul has no Iowa organization yet. Most other campaigns have entire teams on the ground in Iowa dedicated to this one event.

40,000 people attended this event last time (1999). 600 journalists were on hand from over 250 organizations. You can't really skip this event. There will be a poll that day and someone will win. 3 men will finish in the top 3. Someone will finish last. This will all be newsworthy.

Can we possibly hope to compete in this circus on the same playing field as everyone else (see my 2nd post in this thread)? I'm not sure if the best strategy is to try to keep up with the Joneses given time and personnel constraints. Besides, is decadently spending money on frivolous pomp really in the style of Dr. Paul and his supporters?

Maybe we need an anti-establishment yet positive idea to really set the Paul movement apart from the rest of the field. Maybe if 20,000 Paul followers could converge in the parking lot from all over the nation this would attract some real attention. Maybe if everyone wore matching neon green t-shirts instead of the tired U.S. Flag apparel. Or hospital scrubs ("paging Dr. Paul")...Maybe if everyone went Brown Baggin' for Dr. Paul and literally brought their lunch in a paper bag to contrast with the other candidates' bacchanalian spreads. These are just my silly random thoughts but you get the idea. Rather than try to beat the others at their own game, we need some creative-type people to find us a way to buck the system and do something really special and head-turning.

Of course, little of this matters if the poll still results in Dr. Paul being far back in the field. Iowans must be turned out in droves to vote for Ron Paul.

We desperately need a strategy for this event (I don't know HQ's thoughts here) and we're running out of time and have no organization. Any thoughts?

[Bradley in DC]

It's barely 10 weeks to the August 11 GOP Straw Poll in Ames and Ron Paul has no Iowa organization yet. Most other campaigns have entire teams on the ground in Iowa dedicated to this one event.

Maybe if everyone wore matching . . . hospital scrubs ("paging Dr. Paul")
We desperately need a strategy for this event (I don't know HQ's thoughts here) and we're running out of time and have no organization. Any thoughts?

I love the scrubs idea. I understand it's been a tactic in the past for a campaign to differentiate themselves in some way.

[sifupaul]

Friends,
The movement to advance the candidacy of Ron Paul is well beyond the tipping point. This is truly a peoples movement consisting of a broad-spectrum of the citizenry. There is no turning back. Iowa is the tip of the spear! We are looking to rally hundreds and hundreds of volunteers into the great state of Iowa, beginning early-mid June on into December, when we believe the Iowa Caucus will be conducted. The important Iowa Straw Poll, conducted in Ames, Iowa, on August 11th is the first show of organizational strength amongst the campaigns.
We are now kindly but urgently requesting those Ron Paul supporters who live in the great state of Iowa, as well as those who live in the states that border Iowa within reasonable driving distance, including Omaha, Ne., to kindly inform if they have extra bedroom(s) to house Ron Paul volunteers, beginning early/mid June 07 thru at least December. Please inquire within your contact base of friends and allied groups, such as your local Libertarian Party, churches, etc, who would be able to inquire within their groups about opening up they're homes to incoming Iowa volunteers from across our great country.
So take stock of your own personal situation. Think very seriously about taking your vacation time on the campaign trail advancing the Ron Paul candidacy for president in Iowa. Rest assured, you are needed in Iowa, this cannot be over emphasized. Those that cannot volunteer in Iowa, naturally you will advance the Ron Paul candidacy where you are. So everyone, insure your hooked up to your local meetup group and outreach for Ron Paul.
Pay very close attention to this forum and your meetup group for future announcements regarding the movements advance into Iowa.
Those with spare bedrooms willing to house volunteers please relay name, address, and contact phone numbers to Austin, Tx Meetup-Iowa Support Coordinators paulfarris1957@yahoo.com and Paul Davis (sifu).
Please cc to: sifu78704@gmail.com
Come be on the ground in Iowa this summer and fall and lets defy the pundits and make history. The future depends on you!

[heiwa]

Interesting. Print "ads" are intended to grab those who aren't internet savvy (because we have the net saturated already).

So newspaper advertising should be away from college towns...

or at least that is what I am thinking.

Your thoughts, people?

Hello,

I just found the forum yesterday. I read a spectacular editorial in the Billings, Montana newspaper (http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/27/opinion/letters/30-paul.txt). I wonder if editorials would be a good low cost way to get the word out.

We could certainly highlight the fact that Dr. Paul would like to leave Iraq immediately. That, along with his philosophy of international and national non-intervention would be music to midwesterner's ears, I would think.

Perhaps it would be better for an Iowan to send the letter in, but I'll be happy to draft something as a starting point.

Please forgive me if this has been suggested before or already done!


Jen


---- We're taking our country back. ---

[lonestarguy]

Jen, Welcome to this forum. If you haven't already, join your local Ron Paul meetup group. To find your group go to http://ronpaul.meetup.com/

Thank you for the link to the article, updated below.
Letter writing to newspapers is an excellent way to influence other citizens to vote for Ron Paul. Jen, also, stay close to this forum, become familiar with all it's sections for ideas about how to advance the Ron Paul Movement in your area.

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/27/opinion/letters/30-paul.txt

lonestarguy

[heiwa]

Thank you, Lone Star Guy,

I'm currently in Japan, and will be for another month, but will return to the US in June or July and will dedicate as much of my life as I can to getting this man into the White House.

Thanks for the info, and I'll keep close contact.

Jen

[Sojourner]

I love the scrubs idea. I understand it's been a tactic in the past for a campaign to differentiate themselves in some way.

I like the scrubs idea also. I don't think that it matters all that much if the scrubs are matching, scrubs are easily identifiable no matter the color or pattern. If people could wear whatever color or pattern of scrubs, it would seem like there would be all that many more scrubs seen, rather than limited to those who were able to obtain a particular color of scrubs.

It would also make a strong presentation that those in the medical fields support Ron Paul if the colors and patterns of the scrubs were across the spectrum.

JMO

[Dave]

I just got an automated phone call from the Romney campaign inviting me to an "Ask Mitt Anything Town Hall" coming up in Des Moines. This guy can't find enough ways to spend all the money they have.

[BW4Paul]

I just got an automated phone call from the Romney campaign inviting me to an "Ask Mitt Anything Town Hall" coming up in Des Moines. This guy can't find enough ways to spend all the money they have.

Are you going to go and ask him something?

[ARealConservative]

Are you going to go and ask him something?

"ya Mitt. I lived much of my life in missouri - you sure the garden of eden is really in that state?"

oh - serous questions only - sorry.

"Mitt - Why did Brigham Young kill all those innocent people? Was it blowback or something?"

[BW4Paul]

"ya Mitt. I lived much of my life in missouri - you sure the garden of eden is really in that state?"

oh - serous questions only - sorry.

"Mitt - Why did Brigham Young kill all those innocent people? Was it blowback or something?"

LOL, I meant a question relating to the campaign.

But I'm guessing... not. :)

[LABIX]

It's barely 10 weeks to the August 11 GOP Straw Poll in Ames and Ron Paul has no Iowa organization yet. Most other campaigns have entire teams on the ground in Iowa dedicated to this one event.

40,000 people attended this event last time (1999). 600 journalists were on hand from over 250 organizations. You can't really skip this event. There will be a poll that day and someone will win. 3 men will finish in the top 3. Someone will finish last. This will all be newsworthy.

Can we possibly hope to compete in this circus on the same playing field as everyone else (see my 2nd post in this thread)? I'm not sure if the best strategy is to try to keep up with the Joneses given time and personnel constraints. Besides, is decadently spending money on frivolous pomp really in the style of Dr. Paul and his supporters?

Maybe we need an anti-establishment yet positive idea to really set the Paul movement apart from the rest of the field. Maybe if 20,000 Paul followers could converge in the parking lot from all over the nation this would attract some real attention. Maybe if everyone wore matching neon green t-shirts instead of the tired U.S. Flag apparel. Or hospital scrubs ("paging Dr. Paul")...Maybe if everyone went Brown Baggin' for Dr. Paul and literally brought their lunch in a paper bag to contrast with the other candidates' bacchanalian spreads. These are just my silly random thoughts but you get the idea. Rather than try to beat the others at their own game, we need some creative-type people to find us a way to buck the system and do something really special and head-turning.

Of course, little of this matters if the poll still results in Dr. Paul being far back in the field. Iowans must be turned out in droves to vote for Ron Paul.

We desperately need a strategy for this event (I don't know HQ's thoughts here) and we're running out of time and have no organization. Any thoughts?

Your posts and points have all be right on the nail head Dave.

But I would like to add just a few additions to put this in perspective for everyone.

40,000 to 50,000 is the expected turnout for August 2007.

And only double this, 100,000 is expected for the actual caucus 5 months later.

This is not a futile exercise. Far from it. Liz Dole, Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, and other big names of their day in 2000 all dropped OUT and were never on the ballot in 2008, after disappointing showings at the fall straw poll.

The same will happen to the bottom 3 to 5 candidates in 60 days.

Look at the list of a dozen hopefuls. In less than 90 days, a few weeks following the August straw poll, that list will be in single digits.

And Dr Paul needs to, in your exact words, exceed the expectations. He cannot be last or even in the bottom three and still be credible. His fund raising will take a huge hit.

But if he jumps into that 7th spot, or higher? If he gets the "ticket out" to the next round, then he is suddenly for real.

He cannot afford the other side effect of a low placement in the straw poll. The debates that follow may include guidelines that in order to be allowed in, you had to have X% showing.

They have kept candidates out in the past who failed to perform.

This is the first real test and I thank you for taking the time to present the facts and to impart just how seriously this event needs to be taken.

Kind regards.

[heiwa]

Hello All,

I found this really interesting article from someone who was just in Iowa - it's as though the people there are just waiting to hear our message!

url: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/5/29/213138/152

GOP in Trouble: My Personal Iowa Experience
by thereisnospoon
Tue May 29, 2007 at 07:57:04 PM PDT
Allow me to begin this personal story by stating the way I earn my daily bread: I'm a focus group moderator by trade, one of those oft-vilified creatures in politics and corporate advertising who talks to regular people, finds out how they feel about specific issues, and relays that information to my clients to help them craft better messaging.

So you can imagine my delight at being invited by my better half to visit her relatives over Memorial Day weekend in rural Iowa, the heart of the "heartland" and home to the famed Iowa caucuses. The entire trip provided me the opportunity to use my moderating skills and probing techniques on the farmers, teachers, service employees and other denizens of this conservative bellwether state. What I discovered there should strike terror into the heart of any Republican operative--especially one working for a candidate supportive of Bush's policies in Iraq.

thereisnospoon's diary :: ::
The people I spent my time with were by and large, with a few pleasant and notable exceptions, your archetypical rural Midwest Republicans: generous, proudly self-sufficient, kindhearted people who often wear their religion on their sleeve, carry with them deep racial prejudice born of decades of Republican rhetoric and lack of contact with "the other", and deeply distrust government involvement. One of the houses I visited at length even sported a Ronald Reagan calendar facing a George W. Bush calendar, with an outsize W'04 re-election sticker plastered on the inside walls to overshadow them.

Even here, however, the tide has turned against the GOP to a strong degree--and against Bush to an even stronger one. My conversations, when they turned to politics, always eased into the subject gradually--but when they did, there was palpable discontent in the air. These are people who are extremely upset: upset at the incursions of big agriculture companies into the marketplace that used to be dominated by small farmers; upset at the lack of economic and social incentives for their children to remain in their hometowns or even within the state; upset at the amount of out-of-control government spending and huge national and trade deficits; deeply upset at the lack of enforcement of immigration laws; upset at the abandonment of the farming and industrial economies in favor of those that support the passing of money from one person to another without physical goods in trade; and upset, above all, at the pointless and hopeless occupation of Iraq. And while all of these issues may not be enough to drive many of them to vote for Democrats, more than a few are thoroughly disenchanted with the Republican party that they admit has been directly responsible for these negative repercussions.

It is also important to note that the demographic trends I observed strongly favor the progressive side: by a hard and fast rule, the oldest generation (75-100 years old among these resilient Norwegian descendants) was by far the most conservative; the next generation was fairly evenly divided with a slight conservative orientation; the next (somewhere between 25-40) leaned decidedly progressive; and the few young adults present were unanimously liberal.

But there was one conversation that struck me more than any other, truly encapsulating the heart of my Iowa experience and opening a window onto the sordid reality facing the modern Republican Party of Bush:

In the middle of my dinner at a restaurant near Des Moines, I arose from my chair to get a closer look at the television at the bar. Or should I say the televisions plural, as one was situated in an ill-lit and out-of-the-way corner, while the other stood prominently on display at the center of the bar. The television-in-exile was set to Fox News, its anchors yammering mindlessly about Lindsay Lohan's recent DUI arrest; the favored location was set to CNN's Situation Room, where the primary subject under discussion was that of Iraq. It was around this latter that three restaurant employees and one patron (all Caucasians) were seated, intently watching the report and murmuring to one another with the quiet earnestness of communal resignation and disappointment.

I strolled up to the bar and approached nearer to the television--and to the far more interesting words it was obscuring from its denizens. When one of the employees turned to offer me a drink in the down-to-earth, friendly manner only a down-home Midwestern bartender can, I pointed instead to the television and indicated that I had sidled over for the news, rather than a drink. It was at that moment that another employee, a handsome, weary-looking woman in her late thirties with a heavy golden crucifix around her neck exclaimed, "What a damn waste!"

"The war?" I asked. Everyone at the bar nodded. It turned out that the occupation of Iraq was deeply personal for several of them: one, an attractive young woman in her mid-twenties with the demure earnestness of the reserved regular church-goer, had a cousin currently serving in Iraq as part of the first battalion to ever go there from Iowa under W's regime. He was supposed to be home by now, but his tour of duty had been extended through July. I wished for his speedy and safe return in July; her response was heartbreaking. "IF he gets home then; I don't know if he'll ever make it home, alive or not." Another had a cousin who had died from an IED in a poorly armored humvee. The third employee's patron's son reportedly had a friend whose head was horribly disfigured in another IED blast, and was now struggling to survive through the paltry graces of the post-Walter Reed Veterans' Administration. I asked the woman whose cousin was on his extended tour how he felt. She responded with a sigh, "Just like the rest of his unit. He was totally gung-ho when he first went in, but now he's 180 degrees the other direction. He says there's no reason to be there anymore, and he just wants to come home." It was painfully reminiscent of a New York Times article that came to similar conclusions when interviewing Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division.

The original woman bearing the cross continued, "They're only there for oil, you know."

"Really!" I said. I explained that I talked to people for a living and had never been to Iowa before, and that I was deeply interested in what they had to say for my own education. "That's good," said the patron, a gruff man in his fifties. "Nobody else ever listens to us. Certainly not the people in Washington."

I asked the first woman why she thought it was an oil-driven war (I didn't use the Occupation frame--I was then involved in the discovery of opinions, rather than their creation), and when she had begun to feel that way. Her answer was at once surprsing and deeply revealing: "A few years after it started, when everything was clearly going downhill. Bush and those boys never changed anything about what they were doing there, even when it obviously wasn't working. And we're still there when everybody knows we got no business there. What else are we supposed to think? What other reason could there be?"

I asked in turn each of the others when they had soured on the war; they would only answer after I had assured them that I felt the same revulsion to Bush's foreign policy as did they. Each and every one said that their discontent had begun two or three years back. Said the patron, "Like she said, we've got no business there. These people have been fighting one another since the beginning of time..." "Since Adam and Eve, almost," chipped in the third employee, whose vague grasp of even Biblically-inspired history did not diminish her moral judgment of Bush's Iraqi trail of tears. "It's not our job to civilize them and make them stop fighting, even if we could. It's pointless and ridiculous. We just need to bring our boys home." Although these good, God-fearing people could not bring themselves to take responsibility for what the government they helped elect had wrought on the Iraqi people, they still knew a skunk when they saw one.

It turned out, however, that their greatest concern was not even for the soldiers still stationed there, but for those already home and those soon to be home. "How many more billions are we going to have to spend on the medical care for the ones do make it home wounded? It's just never going to stop," said one. The patron told the tale of his son's friend's difficulties (the one currently with half a head) in procuring veteran's benefits or employment after being released from a California hospital. Said another, "We remember how many people suffered after coming home from Vietnam. This is just going to be so much worse."

Then came the Democrats' turn in the spotlight--though it was a far more favorable gaze than I had anticipated. The young woman mentioned that the Democrats had just given Bush more money; I affirmed that they had, and asked how they felt about that. Interestingly, each one responded with a slight variation on the original woman's response: "I don't know. They didn't have a choice, I guess. That's all the bargaining power they have when it comes to dealing with the President." I don't know if this attitude holds true for most of America's heartland, but if it is, it is at once deeply comforting and highly dismaying. On the one hand, it demonstrates that Pelosi's and Reid's gamble has paid off, and the public still considers this to be Bush's occupation opposed by the Democrats; on the other, it shows an alarming lack of understanding of Legislative's ability to act as a coequal branch to that of the Executive.

It was here that our little group was broken up by the arrival of other patrons to occupy two of the restaurant staff, and the call of nature upon the original patron. My last question--and most instructive--was for the young woman who remained.

"What," I asked, "is your most important issue right now when it comes to a candidate?" "The war," she said without a moment's hesitation.

Looking down at the wedding ring on this young woman's finger and the small crucifix she bore on a chain round her neck, I ventured further: "Let's say it's 2008, and you have the choice between a Republican who supports Bush's mission in Iraq, and a Democrat who you disagree with on important moral issues. What do you think you'll do?"

Her answer should make Republicans nationwide tremble with the terror that only the swift and inevitable recognition of an approaching boulder of karma can bring.

"You know, it's tough. Usually I vote on moral issues--and so does my family. You can tell someone's character from the stand they take on those things. But at the same time, I think we've seen that no matter what you believe in morally, it doesn't really matter very much to what happens in the country. My family has talked a lot about this. We really need people who are going to make the right decisions, no matter what they believe personally. So I'd still definitely have to say I would vote for the person who says they'll stop the war."

There's trouble brewing in River City, Iowa. Big, big trouble. And that starts with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "B" and that stands for Bush. Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin...

Cross-posted at MLW and There Is No Blog

[Dave]

I just got a phone message (I couldn't tell if it was live or automated) from a volunteer with the Brownback campaign summarizing his positions on things and encouraging me to vote for him in the Ames straw poll.

[ARealConservative]

I just got a phone message (I couldn't tell if it was live or automated) from a volunteer with the Brownback campaign summarizing his positions on things and encouraging me to vote for him in the Ames straw poll.

the phone message was definitely not live. :p

[Bradley in DC]

"ya Mitt. I lived much of my life in missouri - you sure the garden of eden is really in that state?"

oh - serous questions only - sorry.

"Mitt - Why did Brigham Young kill all those innocent people? Was it blowback or something?"

Ouch! I'm glad you're on our side!

[Bradley in DC]

Remind me again what the Rudy McRomney stance on abortion is again. What is amnesty or invasion? :D

I think Gulliani explained it best in the first debate;)

[Dave]

2 minutes ago "Mitt Romney" called to invite me to a live telephone town hall and direct me to his website.

[Dave]

the phone message was definitely not live. :p

It came from a local number on caller id. This has not been true for the other candidate's calls.

I wonder if RP HQ has thought about getting the phone list (buying, I suppose)from the Iowa GOP and making some of these calls as well?

[Dave]

Two interesting pieces of mail today...

A slick ad from Brownback
An invite to the "Presidential Candidates Forum" in Des Moines on June 30. This event is sponsored by Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance. Confirmed to attend are Brownback, Gilmore, Huckabee, Romney, Tancredo, and T. Thompson. I think this shows you who the candidates are who are trying to use Iowa to propel themselves onto the national stage.

[ARealConservative]

Two interesting pieces of mail today...

A slick ad from Brownback
An invite to the "Presidential Candidates Forum" in Des Moines on June 30. This event is sponsored by Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance. Confirmed to attend are Brownback, Gilmore, Huckabee, Romney, Tancredo, and T. Thompson. I think this shows you who the candidates are who are trying to use Iowa to propel themselves onto the national stage.

Dave - are you an organizer for Des Moines? If not - do you know if the organizer is calling into the conference call tonight?

[Dave]

Dave - are you an organizer for Des Moines? If not - do you know if the organizer is calling into the conference call tonight?

I just saw your post. I can't answer your question - I must not be an organizer and I don't know about a call. Sorry.


I had a voice mail from John McCain tonite inviting me to breakfast next Saturday. That's so thoughtful of him.

[FSP-Rebel]

I think that Paul would be good-served by showing up to the Iowa situation to combat the other Neos. But, if not, He should eventually run a few commercials in order to spread his name. It's time that people understand where Paul stands on the issues, but at the same time that they understand that he's the only consrvative in the race. I mean, how can other people choose between the regular candidates w/o realizing that Paul is the only person that recognizes the Constitution, or is a good student thereof.

[ChicagoLawyer]

I was on the RP HQ conference call yesterday and I asked "what's planned for the Iowa Straw Poll?" One of the staff responded that they will be contesting it vigorously, and that further instructions will be forthcoming from the campaign.

I hope that is true, but as has been said above, the instructions better start coming much quicker. I think HQ has just been a bit unprepared for organizing all of the grassroots support that has mushroomed. It might be that they never imagined they'd have this much to do this soon. They said they'd been working 20 hour days, and I believe them.

Let's just hope a lot more direction will be coming. Undirected grassroots activity is great in theory, but if it has no direction from HQ there will be a lot of wasted energy spent by people who haven't been involved in national campaigns before. Believe me, I've been there and reinvented the wheel too many times. Thinking I was saving the world when actually I was doing the equivalent of screaming at a wall.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Does Iowa have a state fair (of course) and other large events where we could set up a booth with banners, lit, DVDs, etc?

I'm still looking for a way to come down with some other Minnesotans to help out in Iowa. If anyone feels the slightest breeze of direction from the campaign and can point others of us in the right direction, do share.

[Dave]

Does Iowa have a state fair (of course) and other large events where we could set up a booth with banners, lit, DVDs, etc?


The Iowa state fair is August 9-19 which means the August 11 Ames Straw Poll is the first Saturday of the fair. The state fair draws over a million visits each year and I'm sure every candidate will make an appearance there at some time. I've heard a rumor that F. Thompson may skip the straw poll since he's so late getting into the game and instead spend the day campaigning at the fair.

The fair staff provide some kind of opportunity for candidates to do a "stump speech" inside the gate if they want. Then there's lots of roaming around and doing all the quintessential Iowa photo-op nonsense - the sterotypical corn dog eating, looking at the hogs, sitting on hay bales and tractors, etc...Yawn.

I've never seen a booth for an individual candidate. That doesn't mean it couldn't be done, I just don't know the fair's rules. I think there's quite a waiting list to get a booth of any kind. What I have seen is candidates spending some time at the booths for the Iowa GOP and Iowa dems. These are staffed by volunteers and Iowa politicians doing all the gladhanding and passing out bumper stickers, wristbands, tattoos, fans, and other trinkets. I think you should contact the Iowa GOP to find out how to promote Dr. Paul at this booth.

The other really big event in Iowa this summer is RAGBRAI - the big bike ride/party across Iowa July 21 to 28. I've never ridden it but I've been to some of the parties. I really think this crowd would be into freedom. I'd say at least 15,000 people ride but it's a huge party in every town they ride through, especially the overnite towns. There were some posts in another thread a few weeks ago about trying to use this event to promote Dr. Paul. I think it's a great idea. Anyone planning to come to Iowa this summer to work for Dr. Paul should really look into this - it might be the time of your life. There's never enough room for everyone who wants to ride but tons of people just ride along anyway. Some background is here:

http://www.ragbrai.org/

Beyond that, try this link to find ALL the events in Iowa this year. Search the events calendar - there's over 400 listed events in July alone. This would be a good place to start, too.

http://www.traveliowa.com/

[Dave]

I was on the RP HQ conference call yesterday and I asked "what's planned for the Iowa Straw Poll?" One of the staff responded that they will be contesting it vigorously, and that further instructions will be forthcoming from the campaign.

I hope that is true, but as has been said above, the instructions better start coming much quicker. I think HQ has just been a bit unprepared for organizing all of the grassroots support that has mushroomed. It might be that they never imagined they'd have this much to do this soon. They said they'd been working 20 hour days, and I believe them.

Let's just hope a lot more direction will be coming. Undirected grassroots activity is great in theory, but if it has no direction from HQ there will be a lot of wasted energy spent by people who haven't been involved in national campaigns before. Believe me, I've been there and reinvented the wheel too many times. Thinking I was saving the world when actually I was doing the equivalent of screaming at a wall.

Great post. I, too, hope those instructions are coming soon - there's less than 10 weeks to the straw poll. I hope the HQ organization is growing so we can get some more direction/coordination. I hear you loud and clear on wasted energy.

That said, my hat's off to the people at HQ. I know they're on their heels with the explosion of activity in the last few months. I'm confident with Dr. Paul's leadership that the right people will be put into the right places and we can start turning this energy into momentum.

[ksuguy]

There's never enough room for everyone who wants to ride but tons of people just ride along anyway. Some background is here:

http://www.ragbrai.org/


Do you know of any Motorcycle rallies? I'm not into bicycling, but I would be up for a weekend trip up to Iowa on my Motorcycle.

[Dave]

Do you know of any Motorcycle rallies? I'm not into bicycling, but I would be up for a weekend trip up to Iowa on my Motorcycle.

I don't ride those bikes, either - but I've often thought about it. I think you're really onto something since that's a big 'freedom' crowd, too. Iowa is one of very few states without a helmet law and motorcycles are HUGE here. I know there's all kinds of rallies all over the state but I don't have info on them.

I'm sure you could google 'Iowa motorcycle rally' or maybe call the Harley dealer (or your favorite) in Des Moines and they could point you in the right direction to get information.

I think you've got a great idea, ksuguy. People could really build on this.


The diversity of the Ron Paul crowd shows you the power of the message.

[ksuguy]

Yeah, I think it could work too. Another great place would be Sturgis. It happens at the beginning of August and hundreds of thousands of people show up from all over the country.

I've never been myself, but I think it would be a great place to get the word out. If we can set something up, I'd definitely look into going. I'd probably be a bit out of place riding my Kawasaki KLR650 wearing all my safety gear, but it should be fun anyway. Maybe we could get some help from the ABATE people that oppose helmet laws and other restrictions on motorcycling? I always wear a helmet when I ride, but that is by personal choice. I don't think other people should be forced to do so if they don't want to.

[lonestarguy]

Dave,

Paul here in Austin. Are you familiar with Aaron Russo's, "America From Freedom to Fascism"? I believe it is definitely online, viewable with a high speed connection. I'd like to get your opinion on that as to whether that could be a primary dvd handout. I'm hearing others use that to great effect. I believe Aaron has cleared it for duplication. He is a huge RP supporter. I'd also like to get your opinion on the brochures in this post from sparx about the flyers and other materials created by chordchaser. The brochures can be modified for each locale as to city specific contact numbers, etc, for voters requesting even more data..........

Tell me what you think. Below, the post from sparx.

Campaign Literature - Printable Fliers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You may or may not have seen these, but just for everyones reference...

Free downloadable brochures and door hangers made by Chordchaser may be found here:

http://www.myspace.com/chordchaser

Direct blog and links from chordchaser:

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

FREE RON PAUL CAMPAIGN LITERATURE!
Category: News and Politics

Listed below are links to full-color and grayscale versions of Ron Paul campaign brochures and three different door hanger files I created using Adobe Illustrator. The door hanger files each contain 5 different door hangers and instructions for printing. All files are print-ready Adobe Acrobat PDFs. They have Ron's bio, a list of his principles and his views on important issues—and they are 100% free! If you are a Ron Paul support organization and you request it I will customize them with your organization's name, address and URL.

Brochures:
http://www.mediafire.com/?4mxmxxnm3wu
(Full Color File)

http://www.mediafire.com/?3wnkdmokmmz
(Grayscale File)

Door Hangers:
Desktop Printers
http://www.mediafire.com/?3t5dytvdgez
(for desktop printers)

Commercial Printers
http://www.mediafire.com/?azginjzncwy
(for commercial printers—offset)

Commercial Printers with Bleed
http://www.mediafire.com/?60zjmjwoj3d
(for commercial printers—offset with bleed)

P.S. I made a campaign video, posted on youtube, check it out:
Campaign Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Y_I0sxeoc

[lonestarguy]

Ksuguy and others interested in the Biker Rally community and Iowa Biker activities,

The annual Republic of Texas (R.O.T.) motorcycle rally just concluded today, 3 June, in Austin, Tx. 50,000 bikers spent time and big money, estimated economic activity in the several dozens of millions.

We have people in the Austin biker community who are big supporters of RP. As a matter of fact, RP had a motorcycle escort thru Austin on his way to the 19 May fundraiser here at the Texas State Museum.

Lessons learned over the just concluded ROT rally and other notes:

--As is the story across the nation, RP name recognition is low. Not insurmountable, but it's something you'll be dealing with. To be sure, there are factions within the biker community that are familiar with RP and are with the movement. But it appears small, so there is huge room for improvement.

--We deployed large 4x8' RP for president signs and Ron Paul Revolution Banners along the Friday nite parade route that in the downtown area upwards of 200,000 people congregated. The question we most encountered over the weekend was, "who is Ron Paul?"

--What is of great help in talking with bikers, so many of who are former military is that RP is a Vietnam era Flight Surgeon. So, boom, right off the bat, there can be an instant bond. I'm an ol' air force guy myself, so at the rally I sought out other vets, heck the bikers leather vests and/or T-shirt are often dead giveaways as to who is a vet.
My lead-in after extending my hand and saying, 'hey, your a marine veteran, I'm Mr. air force. (Very short chit-chat, you served where? and then I'd say:) I got a couple of questions for ya. How would you feel if the feds came out with a national mandatory helmut law because they thought it was in your best interest and that of the children? You'd prefer personal choice in the matter, wouldn't ya? (nearly 100% reply, personal choice indeed. Then I'd launch into.) Sir, in my mind, there is only one Presidential candidate who identifies with the open road, personal freedom philosophy of the biker community. His name is Ron Paul. Former air force veteran and 9-term congressman from Texas. He is a huge supporter of the military veteran community. And a huge supporter of you living your life as you see fit, not as some bureaucrat in DC. (I'd hand him a flyer or whatever material one has available during these brief 'personal evangelism' situations). I'd shake his hand firmly, thank him for his/her time, emphasize RP, that he needs us and we need him.......... next!

--In a perfect world, we would have had one of the bikers best friends, the proverbial red oil rag overprinted with Ron Paul, a pithy comment about Freedom of the Open Road.......All roads lead to www.RonPaul2008.com We could of handed those out like hot cakes. I got one of the rags that the CMA (Christian Motorcycle Association) hands out at these rallies. Great for creating an instant brief bond and conversation starter by handing a biker something functional he/she can use.

--Set up a booth if you can inside the rally with a sign with RP for President and a banner or some such that quickly makes the point of how RP's message meshes with that of the lifestyle of the biker community.

--Place Signage along the heavily traveled thorofares that the bikers use.

--When you hear people say, 'its a biker rally' as if bikers only purpose is to rally for beer and xxx, just let it roll off your back. Because there's always a small ignorant few no matter what. I mean, the biker community really grew up and coalesced around state helmut laws that they've been fighting for years. I heard that as we paraded our 4x8 signs through the crowds and our yard signs on ax handles, whooping it up for RP. We got some eyeballs on those signs no doubt.

--Your always gonna encounter a certain percentage across any group who are just gungho when the troops are in the field as ours is across the globe. I waste little time with those people. Hey, give it a try, maybe you can turn one. But even within the biker community, many realize they'v e been bamboozled by W.

--Now truly, in a perfect world, we would have large teams of RP supporters following around the biker rallys all over the country. They are prime pickin', no doubt. Get those rags, flyers and dvd's (freedom to fascism) handed out.

It truly is fun mixing it up with these fellow Americans, the average age group of the biker is definitely in the mid-forties. I can't wait to hear how others fare with this group.

[ARealConservative]

Does Iowa have a state fair (of course) and other large events where we could set up a booth with banners, lit, DVDs, etc?

I'm still looking for a way to come down with some other Minnesotans to help out in Iowa. If anyone feels the slightest breeze of direction from the campaign and can point others of us in the right direction, do share.

Our area (Davenport IA) is creating a ride list of people that want to go to Ames to vote for Dr. Paul in the straw poll. As the list grows - we coul use some more drivers.

Also - check to see if anybody in your area is going to the 10,000 lakes festival. I'm going with my family and would like to meet other activists.

Eric

[Dave]

Dave,

Paul here in Austin. Are you familiar with Aaron Russo's, "America From Freedom to Fascism"? I believe it is definitely online, viewable with a high speed connection. I'd like to get your opinion on that as to whether that could be a primary dvd handout. I'm hearing others use that to great effect. I believe Aaron has cleared it for duplication. He is a huge RP supporter. I'd also like to get your opinion on the brochures in this post from sparx about the flyers and other materials created by chordchaser. The brochures can be modified for each locale as to city specific contact numbers, etc, for voters requesting even more data..........

Tell me what you think.

Paul,

Disclaimer - I've NOT seen the film so I'm stretching here...

I've read about the film. While I'm sure this film is very effective for some people I think it may be too overwhelming for many audiences - so I guess it depends on whom you're trying to reach. I think 'mainstream' GOP caucus-goers might warm up better to more of a 'Ron Paul 101' approach - something that doesn't put people on their heels right away. I really think videos of Ron Paul speeches would be a better place to start for most beginners. We don't want people to think we're promoting Russo instead of Dr. Paul. I need to watch the film.

I couldn't open the brochures but the door hangers look great.

[Dave]

It truly is fun mixing it up with these fellow Americans, the average age group of the biker is definitely in the mid-forties. I can't wait to hear how others fare with this group.

This is just wonderful, Paul. I have this visual image of 10,000 freedom-loving motorcyclists rolling into Ames for the straw poll. Tell me that wouldn't turn some heads. Need lots of Iowans, of course, to actually do the voting.

I think you guys are onto something great with pursuing the motorcycle enthusiasts. Why don't you or ksuguy start a new thread to get this topic 'rolling'?

[ARealConservative]

Do you know of any Motorcycle rallies? I'm not into bicycling, but I would be up for a weekend trip up to Iowa on my Motorcycle.

We have a huge Sturgis on the River type of event in Eastern Iowa in a couple of weeks.

I have ridden RAGBRAI for many, many years when I was younger. Now adays taking a week of vacation to bust my ass up and down hills seems kind of stupid.

I am going to try to get Eastern Iowans to head slightly north and give out free water and ice cold watermelon along the course (very popular when you get hot riding) - and then talk to the flock of riders that pull in about Dr. Paul. This will be on Friday. On Saturday we have the Bix fest which is also a huge event.

[Bradley in DC]

I'm thinking a more wholesome film with good biographical information about Dr. Paul would be a better intro than Russo's film. We don't want to scare them away as a first impression.

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Also - check to see if anybody in your area is going to the 10,000 lakes festival. I'm going with my family and would like to meet other activists.


Eric, When/where is the 10,000 Lakes Festival? We can probably get some MN RP supporters there.

Marianne

[ARealConservative]

Eric, When/where is the 10,000 Lakes Festival? We can probably get some MN RP supporters there.

Marianne

http://10klf.com/

July 18th - 21st. Detroit Lakes, MN.

It will be my first trip to the Western portion of your state. I usually head straight north to the boundary waters.

[ksuguy]

This is just wonderful, Paul. I have this visual image of 10,000 freedom-loving motorcyclists rolling into Ames for the straw poll. Tell me that wouldn't turn some heads. Need lots of Iowans, of course, to actually do the voting.

I think you guys are onto something great with pursuing the motorcycle enthusiasts. Why don't you or ksuguy start a new thread to get this topic 'rolling'?

I think I'll take your suggestion. I'll make a thread about it in the Strategies for Success section.

[Dave]

I got a fund-raising letter from Dr. Paul in the mail today. My mailbox has been littered with debris from the other candidates and the GOP so it's nice to see this.

I'm sure I got this because I'm already a donor - I don't think HQ is blanketing Iowa with these.

I'll happily reward this effort.

[Dave]

Rudy is skipping the Ames Straw Poll. This is huge news and shows that the writing is on the wall - Giuliani can not win here. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up pulling out of Iowa entirely but that would really expose his weakness and be too big of a gamble at this point.

Giuliani is crumbling!

Read it here:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070606/NEWS/70606012/1001&lead=1

What will be the Ron Paul strategy for Iowa and the Ames Straw Poll?

[Patrick Henry]

The good Dr. is opposed to the Un-American Animal ID. That should be used to help convert some farmers.

[Dave]

The good Dr. is opposed to the Un-American Animal ID. That should be used to help convert some farmers.

I didn't know that but it's a logical position for Dr. Paul. If the govt can track all this livestock it should be easy to track all of us people next.

Note that most Iowans don't know anything about farming. Lots of farms (especially livestock production) are big corporate entities now. The small family farm just doesn't work like it used to.

[LibertyEagle]

I'm thinking a more wholesome film with good biographical information about Dr. Paul would be a better intro than Russo's film. We don't want to scare them away as a first impression.

I frankly agree for the general populace. Is someone actively working on putting this together?

However, the Russo film will work for some audiences. Especially some of the younger set. Just my opinion though.

[Dave]

I just heard a prominent Iowa radio host say he's heard a rumor that Brownback and Thompson (he didn't say Tom or Fred) may bail out on the Ames Straw Poll, too.

Tancredo's Iowa guy just said that Tancredo WILL do the straw poll. Romney plans on sticking with it, too.

I'm not sure what it means to 'skip' the straw poll. Is you name taken off the ballot? I can't remember if there's ballots or if you just write in you choice. The Tancredo guy thinks that your name will still be on the ballot. If that's true, maybe Dr. Paul should 'skip' the straw poll but we still try to turn out all the Iowans we can. That way:

The campaign saves the $ on this silly event
There's no chance to do worse than expectations
There's still a chance to do better than expectations.Hmmmmm...

[Dave]

Brownback just announced that he WILL participate in the Aug. 11 GOP straw poll in Ames.

I've also learned that skipping the straw poll doesn't mean your name comes off the ballot that day.

[JoshLowry]

How are the meetup groups doing with all of this?

Are things getting organized on local levels? Are people hitting the streets this weekend?

Door knocking, sign holding, flyer passouts etc...

[ARealConservative]

How are the meetup groups doing with all of this?

Are things getting organized on local levels? Are people hitting the streets this weekend?

Door knocking, sign holding, flyer passouts etc...

3-6 of us our meeting tonight at 5:30 in Eastern Iowa to hand out flyers.

I have gotten 3 yard signs placed so far - in high traffic areas. Every week I go around to various grocery stores and repost flyers.

More importantly, my meetup group has doubled in size in a week.

[lonestarguy]

Now according to WiKipedia, the Iowa Republican aspect of the caucus in January (possibly December 07), appears to consist of voting on a slip of paper. No forming up in groups of a favorite candidate to see if your guy is "viable", as the Democrats do, and speaking for or against other candidates.

If I were in Iowa (or any state for that matter) I'd work with my team mates and start gridding out your city, town, village, as to what streets or grid section you determine to tackle first, so no households are left untouched.

If I were in Iowa (or any state for that matter) I'd be deciding soon which doorhanger or brochure you want to handout door to door. Have it overprinted with contact information, or a sticker that you can attach to your brochure of doorhanger, so Iowans could contact ya for more info, yard signs, bumper stickers, where to sign on to the campaign, etc.

I would suggest that people carry around a legal size clip board with a legal pad or pre-printed form that allows you to data mine: check-off what streets and addresses you've worked; the name of the person you talked to if possible and definitely a phone number and email addy; a check-off if they are true believers and do they need a yard sign, check, bumper sticker, check, willing to put up out-of-state volunteers, check, stuff like that, from the ready to go RP believer. With name, phone, address, and email as key data.

I would not wait until a "dream" video is ready to go. I would suggest Hitting the streets now in early states like Iowa and like a machine your team start meticulously going door to door, house to house, apt to apt. Though I do know some are using Freedom to Fascism......

Even part time, a group of volunteers can make serious progress in getting info into peoples hands and raising the name recognition of RP.

[lonestarguy]

As noted on this and other forums and lists:

Free downloadable brochures and door hangers made by Chordchaser may be found here:

http://www.myspace.com/chordchaser

Direct blog and links from chordchaser:

FREE RON PAUL CAMPAIGN LITERATURE!

Listed below are links to full-color and grayscale versions of Ron Paul campaign brochures and three different door hanger files I created using Adobe Illustrator. The door hanger files each contain 5 different door hangers and instructions for printing. All files are print-ready Adobe Acrobat PDFs. They have Ron's bio, a list of his principles and his views on important issues—and they are 100% free! If you are a Ron Paul support organization and you request it I will customize them with your organization's name, address and URL.

Brochures:
http://www.mediafire.com/?4mxmxxnm3wu
(Full Color File)

http://www.mediafire.com/?3wnkdmokmmz
(Grayscale File)

Door Hangers:
Desktop Printers
http://www.mediafire.com/?3t5dytvdgez
(for desktop printers)

Commercial Printers
http://www.mediafire.com/?azginjzncwy
(for commercial printers—offset)

Commercial Printers with Bleed
http://www.mediafire.com/?60zjmjwoj3d
(for commercial printers—offset with bleed)

P.S. I made a campaign video, posted on youtube, check it out:
Campaign Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Y_I0sxeoc

[Dave]

News today that Jim Gilmore will also skip the August 11 Ames Straw Poll, joining McCain and Giuliani.

Des Moines Register reports that there's no decision yet from Ron Paul, Huckabee, and Hunter.

Campaigning in Iowa today: Clinton, McCain, Obama, Tancredo.

[Quantumystic]

I'm trying to rally Texas to Iowa, like Patton's Army to the seige at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Here is what I posted to my Austin meetup of over 100 and growing. Let it apply to you from wherever you are reading this. The future of our country, I believe hinges hugely on Iowa. Wherever you see the word Texas below, insert your state unless of course your way closer to New Hampshire:

From my Austin Meet-up Post of Tuesday 22 May.

Knowing how important the Great State of Iowa is to nearly every prez candidacy, (though the well-monied McCain in 2000 skipped Iowa to win in NH), I was scanning around Monday (21 May) on the meetup site snooping zip codes and towns in Iowa and found nary a meetup, and my heart sunk. But I did find about 20 interested persons spread across the state but no one had pulled the trigger to start a group. Lo and behold, Des Moines has it's first group as of 21 May, with 15 members and meets for the first time 4 June. And just today group number two pops up to the east towards the Illinois line in Iowa City with 3 members and a 5 June scheduled meeting. There is life in Iowa!!!

As the great person that started this person indicated, the Iowa Strawpoll is 11 August, a test of a candidate's field operations, is just over eleven weeks away. I think it's possible to finish in the top 5, but it will take work, and lets be honest, reality check time, between June and late December, it is going to require, imho, a significant volunteer base transiting between here, Texas, and there, Iowa. Just rough guessing it but anybody who can spend on the ground only a couple of solid days to those that can spend weeks, it's gonna be worth it. We can't hope that others will do the job, we have to ensure the job gets done. If RP is the nations's gem, it is only fitting that Texans are there on the ground in a crucial state and doing whatever it takes.

Iowa is where the rubber meets the road and the dance begins in this labor intensive person to person operation, and heck, Des Moines from Austin is only 923 miles, from Dallas only 690. This is the summer of our life. And if Iowa is to be sweet to RP, then some of us are gonna have to do the heavy (though fun in a serious way) lifting.

Logistics and what not will need to be explored soon as well as quick education of this thing known as the 'caucus system'. I do not see us waiting "until" campaign hq is on the ground in Iowa, we have to get in the game and soon, Iowans have to stand up and get in the game, but Texas may have to lead side by side. Communicating and talking and meeting people in a significant way has to commence soon. The latest Des Moines Register Poll simply indicates we have our work cut out, but ultimately with the good leadership from the quality of people in Austin, Dallas, etc, we can do anything. I have studied the calender and I will spend my 10 days on the ground the last two weeks of July and another 6 days in the Fall or Winter in sunny Iowa.

One final note, Florida is moving up its primary to around 26 January. Iowa to remain number one, is considering moving her caucus in mid to late December! How about that one

We're here in Central Florida, and will happily do whatever we can on the ground about that one! In the meantime, we're firing up the 'Net, making calls, and sending money.

Welcome to the Revolution!

[Bradley in DC]

News today that Jim Gilmore will also skip the August 11 Ames Straw Poll, joining McCain and Giuliani.

Des Moines Register reports that there's no decision yet from Ron Paul, Huckabee, and Hunter.

Campaigning in Iowa today: Clinton, McCain, Obama, Tancredo.

Ron Paul is contesting the straw poll.

Anyone interested in helping out with the straw poll should contact Jason Stoddard at 512.925.0921 or at stoddard.jason@gmail.com. While the new Iowa state coordinator for the campaign will be running the show, several voluteers from different places have come together to organize and assist the campaign with this one endeavor

[RJB]

I live in Central Missouri just north of Columbia. If you could use my help up there for a weekend-- Saturday - Monday, give me a couple weeks notice and I'll try to be there.

RJ

[RJB]

I just sent an email to Jason. If anyone is interested in carpooling up there for an event PM me.

[Dave]

The Iowa Republican State Central Committee voted Saturday on the slate of candidates whose names will be on the ballot for the Aug. 11 Ames Straw Poll.

There are 11 names on the ballot - the 10 that you're familiar with from the debates (including Dr. Paul, of course) plus John Cox (a businessman who's running and focusing almost exclusively on Iowa).

So you can 'drop out' of the Ames Straw Poll if you wish but your name will still be on the ballot.

[R_Harris]

Folks,

This is what really matters. We can talk email this, internet that, YouTube this, virtual/cyberspace that - in the end all that will matter is REAL people casting REAL ballots on a REAL election day.

Having worked on the Ron Paul campaign for US Senate in 1984 (I plan to post a lengthy comment on that later), he DESPERATELY needs to get organized and running in Iowa. Seeing comments like "he has no campaign manager" and "I perceive no organization" bring back painful memories.

Dave, I truly appreciate your efforts and you are to be commended.

[mikelovesgod]

Hello. I'd like your input on whether or not to bother with placing ads in Iowa newspapers?

Thanks!

MsD in Texas

:)


If you are think about using the Pennysaver Magazines. Here is a national company for pennsavers:

http://www.americanclassifieds.com/index.cfm

It's cheaper to use regular classifieds rather than text ads. It's also best to do what is called an advertorial. It looks like news but it isn't. A sample would like look:

Breaking News: Des Moines, IA (Title bold-faced)
Millions Curious about Leading Candidate Against the Iraq War and the IRS. (then finish with a story, a place where they can look, i.e. website, or call and repost it at the end to solidy it)

Advertorials make you read it because it looks like news and it appears to be news, but it informs you and sells you something. It's the most effective ads you can run. I run them for my business all the time.

[JohnGalt]

is AVAILABILITY! I am in Oregon. How can I help?
John Galt

[Dave]

National campaign manager Lew Moore was at the Des Moines meetup last night, along with the new Iowa Coordinator Joe Seehusen (misspelled, I'm sure).

Their message is that Ron Paul WILL compete in the Aug. 11 Ames Straw Poll and the goal is to WIN!

It was exciting to hear the commitment. They indicated that plenty of money will be coming to Iowa soon and that we have to focus our efforts on spreading the word and finding Iowans to commit to going to Ames. They know we are behind the others and don't have as much money as some but we have the most important thing - something they don't have - passionate energy.

Ames is now ground zero. WE ONLY HAVE 60 DAYS. Other campaigns have been preparing for this event for months.

What can you do to help?

Please send donations to the campaign so they can direct funds toward this effort.
Please join a Meetup. Even if you can't attend all the meetings you will be in the loop with emails and message boards. The Meetup leaders ARE in contact with HQ so they are the best source of information and will be coordinating the efforts.
Come to Iowa. Get here if you can and just start hitting the streets – posting signs, passing out information, and knocking on doors.
Keep spreading information about Ron Paul in every way you can imagine - commit to do this AT LEAST one hour offline for every hour you spend online.

[Dave]

Pat Buchanan says Giuliani and McCain dropped out of the Ames Straw Poll to avoid a humiliating defeat to Romney...and that this opens the door for a second-tier candidate to break into the limelight.

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56079

Let's make that candidate Ron Paul.

[Dave]

Tommy Thompson just had a news conference stating that he WILL participate in the Ames Straw Poll. Last week he had said he was going to re-evaluate.


Huckabee said today that he will participate, but could change his mind if he decides the contest would be a wast of time and money.

"We do recognize that with McCain and Giuliani kind of blowing it up and walking away from it, it may change it," Huckabee told The Des Moines Register after a campaign appearance in Ames. "I don't want to spend all the time and money that we would have to spend and then have someone say, 'Yeah, but it doesn't mean anything because the big guys didn't participate'. So that's what we're having to evaluate, whether it still has the juice."

So he's in it but maybe not if he changes his mind. How's that for leadership and commitment? What he means is the moment he thinks he can't score well on Aug. 11 he'll pull out and blame it on McCain and Giuliani. I kind of like Huckabee but this is timid.

[GoRonPaul]

With McCain and Julie-Annie out, this is big for Paul. If he can come in second, never mind first, that would be friggin huge... great momentum!

[beermotor]

We need a way to distribute letter writing duties to the various meetups around the country. We need to letter bomb all those without internet access in Iowa, whether they are democrats or not, with a pamphlet or a hand-written letter. And we need to email everyone else (but NOT 5000 times). We need some way to organize this! Someone who is smarter than me want to chime in?

[poppop_schell]

I am presently a full-time Senior Mormon Misionary at Nauvoo, IL so until Dec, 2007 I have limited time to help. I am a retired University Business Professor. Until Dec, I can help out in Keokuk, Ft. Madison, and Burlington.

Who should I contact?

[poppop_schell]

I am presently a full-time Senior Mormon Misionary at Nauvoo, IL so until Dec, 2007 I have limited time to help. I am a retired University Business Professor. Until Dec, I can help out in Keokuk, Ft. Madison, and Burlington.

Who should I contact?

FYI, I am speaking up for Ron Paul on two larger BLOGS: The Conservative Voice where he is very well received and the progrewssive Alternet where many Dems ar growing to like Ron Paul. In fact many say that Ron is the ONLY GOPer that they would vote for.

[poppop_schell]

FYI, I have assisted in running several statewide campaigns and have run for NC Governor in 2000 of the Reform Party ticket. I am a retired University Business Professor. I cannot, however, help out a great deal until after Dec 15, 2007 because I am currently serving a fulltime Senior Mission for thge Mormon Church in Nauvoo, IL.

Contact me, however, for any free advice you might find useful.

[Dave]

I am presently a full-time Senior Mormon Misionary at Nauvoo, IL so until Dec, 2007 I have limited time to help. I am a retired University Business Professor. Until Dec, I can help out in Keokuk, Ft. Madison, and Burlington.

Who should I contact?

FYI, I am speaking up for Ron Paul on two larger BLOGS: The Conservative Voice where he is very well received and the progrewssive Alternet where many Dems ar growing to like Ron Paul. In fact many say that Ron is the ONLY GOPer that they would vote for.


There are meetups in Fairfield, Iowa City, and the Quad Cities. I'd say join one or more of these to get your feet wet and then jump to one in the extreme southeast of Iowa when someone starts one down there. Or...start a new meetup yourself!

p.s. How many in the Mormon community do you think will pass on Romney? You're welcome here in the big Ron Paul freedom tent.

[poppop_schell]

Folks,

This is what really matters. We can talk email this, internet that, YouTube this, virtual/cyberspace that - in the end all that will matter is REAL people casting REAL ballots on a REAL election day.

Having worked on the Ron Paul campaign for US Senate in 1984 (I plan to post a lengthy comment on that later), he DESPERATELY needs to get organized and running in Iowa. Seeing comments like "he has no campaign manager" and "I perceive no organization" bring back painful memories.

Dave, I truly appreciate your efforts and you are to be commended.

I would be glad to work with a Iowa Campiagn Committe organizaed by major regions to organize the state as long as it is realized that I can only give some limited help until Dec 15, 2007 when I will be released from my fulltime Senior Mormon Misison in Nauvoo, IL. I have had quite a bit of practical state wide expwrince both as a Manager and as a candidate for NC Governor in 2000 on the Reform Party ticket.

Let me know ASAP.

[poppop_schell]

There are meetups in Fairfield, Iowa City, and the Quad Cities. I'd say join one or more of these to get your feet wet and then jump to one in the extreme southeast of Iowa when someone starts one down there. Or...start a new meetup yourself!

p.s. How many in the Mormon community do you think will pass on Romney? You're welcome here in the big Ron Paul freedom tent.


Sorry but I can really only travel about an hour from Nauvoo,IL because I am tied up as a missionary everyday but Friday. That will change in mid December when I will be released from my mission. Of course, I can help out sevral hours a day vis the internet.

There is a growing distatse for Romney because he seems to be ashamed of his Mormon faith by answering questions in an evasive and sometimes inaccurate way. Truthfully, however, most Mormons will probably vote for Romney because he is a "conservative" Mormon. FYI, there are NOT that many Iowa Mormons and they tend to be rather laidback politically. I am trying to educate my Mormon associates here in Nauvoo, IL and am making some headway. BUT most of my friends here are from the Mountain West so it won't make a difference in the Iowa polls.

[LibertyEagle]

Ron Paul is contesting the straw poll.




What do you mean he's contesting it? Why?

[angrydragon]

Where's this?

[Bradley in DC]

What do you mean he's contesting it? Why?

The campaign is competing to win.

[Marc Scott Emery]

Industrial hemp isn't pot and according to Wikipedia hemp was Canada's most profitable crop in 2006.

Cannabis Marijuana for the black market is Canada's largest cash crop. Industrial hemp is largely centred in Manitoba, though every province has a few hemp farms, and its mostly seeds, seed oil, and cereals based on hemp. There is not more than 10,000 acres of non-THC hemp in Canada, and its value is about $50,000,000 vs. $7 - $14 billion for THC cannabis.

[poppop_schell]

I posted this earlier in another forum but thought it would be a good place to begin with "News from Iowa". The Iowa GOP Straw Poll in August is being talked about in the local media.

The Paul campaign will have to decide soon whether to commit to this event. It's outrageous, very expensive, non-scientific, and I'm not sure if we (yet) have the kind of grassroots support in Iowa that would allow us to light up Ames like we light up the internet. To skip this event might be a risky strategy but there may be better ways to use our limited money and unlimited energy. I trust the judgment of Dr. Paul in this regard.

fwiw, Today I offered to serve as Iowa Chair with NO pay. We MUST start a strong organizational effort NOW. IF they accept my offer, I ask that all jump on board with both feet. My management style is one of heavy delegation and high accountability.

[poppop_schell]

I talked to campaign HQ. They would like me to ask if anyone here would like to become a campaign coordinator for Iowa. I imagine it would need to be someone with the time to organize things as well as having the job freedom to do something like this.

They are very busy at HQ trying to organize all across the US, so please send us a resume including how much time you have available to help out. I will forward it on to the e-Campaign Manager at HQ.

Please pass this information onto those two new Iowa meetup groups and anyone in the Iowa area that would be suitable for managing and coordinating some efforts.

Please send this information to: RonPaulForums@gmail.com


Based on your post, I contacted the Campaign in DC and volunteered to be Iowa Coordinator. Ask me questions about my expereince, etc and I will answer. I cannot do this alone and beleive in strong delegation and a high level of accountability.

[angrydragon]

Based on your post, I contacted the Campaign in DC and volunteered to be Iowa Coordinator. Ask me questions about my expereince, etc and I will answer. I cannot do this alone and beleive in strong delegation and a high level of accountability.

Cool I'm sure you'll do awesome.

[poppop_schell]

For a list of all newspapers in the state of Iowa, see this link:

http://www.usnpl.com/ianews.php

I have already called the first listed paper.

I am happy to spend a few days calling these papers and compiling the costs for ads in the different ones. I have lots of free time during the day, and a phone plan that allows unlimited free long distance calling. :D

The questions I've been asking so far are:

How many papers do you publish?

How often do they come out?

How many subscribers/circulation for each?

Which day is highest subscriber/circ?

Do you have a "combo deal" where I get a cut rate if I do more than one of your papers?

What is the cost of the following:

1/4 page

1/2 page

Full page

What are the combo deals you offer?

If anyone can think of other questions we would need answered, please post them!

I would really like input on whether to bother with Iowa or if another state should take precedence.

Thanks

MsD

THIS IS A BIG IF... IF I AM SELECTD AS IOWA COORDINATOR WOULD YOU BE INTERETSED IN HEADING A MEDIA COMMITTEE?

[poppop_schell]

Have any ideas been pitched regarding Texans actually going to Iowa?

I know I am definitely interested, and I'm sure the rest of my "Paul-supporting" family (mom, brother, etc) would be interested as well.

I am from Houston and I would bet others from our meetup would be willing to go. Anyone out there have ideas? Let's make it happen!


a BIG if... iF i AM APPOINTED IOWA COORDINATOR, WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN COORDINAING GROUPS FROM HOUSTON TO COME TO IOWA?

[poppop_schell]

I am from Austin, eager to devote my life full-time to Dr. Paul... I had been thinking of moving to New Hampshire since this election cycle may be New Hampshire's most influential primary ever... Maybe Iowa instead, who knows? I am willing to go anywhere that I can do the most good for Dr. Paul's movement!

THIS UIS A BIG IF... IF I AM APPOINTED IOWA COORDINATOR, WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN COORDINATING THE AUSTIN TROOPS TO COME TO IOWA?

[poppop_schell]

The 5/23 Des Moines Register has results from an interesting poll about where Iowans get their info about candidates for president and their involvement in the campaigns.

Here's the % of Iowa caucusgoers who say they have done the following or are likely to do so. Read the list and imagine your roles, keeping an eye toward the '% reach' to prioritize:

94% Watch candidate debates
93% Read newspaper stories about the campaigns
87% Watch or listen to candidates' ads on tv/radio
86% Read newspaper opinion pieces or letters to editor
83% Watch mainstream political news shows (e.g. Meet the Press, Face the Nation)
79% Go to candidate events
69% Give money to campaigns
58% Visit candidate web sites
58% Volunteer to work for a campaign
56% Search the internet for candidates' stands on issues
44% Read onling forums/blogs written by experts
41% Watch satirical shows with fake newscasts (e.g. The Daily Show, SNL)
22% Read online forums/blogs written by non-experts
19% Contribute to online forums or comment on blogs
11% Post pictures/videos of political events on the internet

Draw your own conclusions but it seems to me that laypeople working the internet with postings can only hope to affect up to 22% of Iowans' views.

Dr. Paul is doing his part in the debates and working top-down to get into the media. We need to find ways to get into the Iowa newspapers through the columnists and letters to the editor (preferably written by local Iowans themselves). It would seem to help for Dr. Paul to spend more time in Iowa to host 'candidate events' but I leave those decisions to HQ where they have the whole picture.

It seems that Iowans will go to the internet for information but are most likely to head to the candidates' web sites rather than blogs/forums. This suggests that the Ron Paul 2008 website is key. Maybe those of us with internet skills (not me) can donate their talents to HQ to make the web site the best it can be, whatever that means. The rest of us need to donate $ (I do) to help facilitate this (and the other campaign efforts).

I think an important conclusion to draw from this is that we all need to be spending as much if not more of our time OFF the internet building old-fashioned bottom-up grassroots support.


THIS IS A BIG IF.... IF I SHOULD BE APPOINTED IOWA COORDINATOR, WOULD YOU CONSIDER HEADING UP A cOMMITTE TO DO MORE OF THE QAULITY REASERCH YOU'VE POSTED. THIS WAS INVALUABLE INFORMATION IN TERMS OF DTERMINING THE CAMPAIGN STRATEGY.

[poppop_schell]

I don't know how to decide which communities are more important than others. If you're trying to turn out GOP members, there are more of them west of Des Moines than east of Des Moines. The homes of the 3 state universities (Ames, Iowa City, and Cedar Falls) are the most liberal. I'm sure they'd appreciate Dr. Paul's stand on Iraq but I don't know if they'd go for much else. I don't know what else to offer so maybe it's not so important as just getting the message out.

I think the Ames straw poll in August fits your definition of 'slimey' but the caucus in January is no more slippery than any other political contest and by-passing Iowa has historically been a losing strategy. The party insiders only get one vote on caucus night, just like everyone else who shows up. The good thing about the caucus system is that many people go there undecided and there's an opportunity before the vote for people to give a short speech in support of their favorite. This can sway people at the last minute.

A BIG IF.... IF I AM APPOINTED IOWA CHAIR, WE MUST FOCUS OUR RESOURCES ON PRECINCT WHICH HISTORICALLY HAVE HAD HIGHER VOTER TRUNOUTS. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO GET THIS INFORMATION FROM EACH COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSION.

[poppop_schell]

I think Ron Paul would go over *great* with the farmers of Iowa and I wouldn't recommend leaving the college-aged 'liberal' out of our efforts. Think about it. Many 'liberals' are crossing over to repub just to vote for this guy

Also, a college-aged youth is more likely to be informed of the internet functions and features, especially including the content. I propose rallying on both sides of the isle.

Paul is very appealing to Democrats not only because of Iraq but he is seen as a stright shooter and a strong defender of the Constitution. Any Iowa strategy would be foolish to ingnore this switchover people. They could make it a win for Paul.

[poppop_schell]

The Des Moines Register today releases results of an Iowa poll of 400 reps and 400 dems asking how important various issues were to them and the issues on which they want more information from the candidates.

GOP Issues that stand out to me as high in importance AND needing more information are tax policy, national security, and immigration.

You can look at the table below or go here if you want the whole feature:
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070527/NEWS09/70525025/-1/iowapoll07&lead=1

What does this suggest to you?


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/graphics/07may/m0525pollinfogap.jpg

A BIG IF... IF I AM APPOINTED AS IOWA COORDINATOR, WE WILL NEED MORE OF THIS QUALITY RESEARCH IFORAMTION AND FROM IT DETERMINE VERY SPECIFIC ISSUE STARTEGIES TO REACH OUT AND INFORM.

[poppop_schell]

Are you going to go and ask him something?

Please do go TO THE MEETING and ask him about what he is planning to do about the Secret Combinations mentioned in Ether 8 of the Book of Mormon? This is NOT a religious but a political issue. Don't let him squim away from giving you an answer.


Ether 8

22 And whatsoever anation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not.
23 Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.
24 Wherefore, the Lord COMMANDETH you, (THAT INCLUDES ROMNEY VERY MUCH) when (NOT IF) ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up.
25 For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of ALL lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of ALL people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.
26 Wherefore, I, Moroni, am commanded to write these things that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved.

[poppop_schell]

"ya Mitt. I lived much of my life in missouri - you sure the garden of eden is really in that state?"

oh - serous questions only - sorry.

"Mitt - Why did Brigham Young kill all those innocent people? Was it blowback or something?"


Please keep your mocking remarks from the campaign. Being a Mormon, I don't appreciate them nor will many fair minded people. Best way to turn off Mormon voters to Paul.

[poppop_schell]

Dave,

Paul here in Austin. Are you familiar with Aaron Russo's, "America From Freedom to Fascism"? I believe it is definitely online, viewable with a high speed connection. I'd like to get your opinion on that as to whether that could be a primary dvd handout. I'm hearing others use that to great effect. I believe Aaron has cleared it for duplication. He is a huge RP supporter. I'd also like to get your opinion on the brochures in this post from sparx about the flyers and other materials created by chordchaser. The brochures can be modified for each locale as to city specific contact numbers, etc, for voters requesting even more data..........

I would strongly suggest that this fine film NOT be shown until cleared by National Campaign. We musty be acreful to ccoordinate the Iowa message with the National message.


Campaign Literature - Printable Fliers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You may or may not have seen these, but just for everyones reference...

Free downloadable brochures and door hangers made by Chordchaser may be found here:

http://www.myspace.com/chordchaser

Direct blog and links from chordchaser:

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

FREE RON PAUL CAMPAIGN LITERATURE!
Category: News and Politics

Listed below are links to full-color and grayscale versions of Ron Paul campaign brochures and three different door hanger files I created using Adobe Illustrator. The door hanger files each contain 5 different door hangers and instructions for printing. All files are print-ready Adobe Acrobat PDFs. They have Ron's bio, a list of his principles and his views on important issues—and they are 100% free! If you are a Ron Paul support organization and you request it I will customize them with your organization's name, address and URL.

Brochures:
http://www.mediafire.com/?4mxmxxnm3wu
(Full Color File)

http://www.mediafire.com/?3wnkdmokmmz
(Grayscale File)

Door Hangers:
Desktop Printers
http://www.mediafire.com/?3t5dytvdgez
(for desktop printers)

Commercial Printers
http://www.mediafire.com/?azginjzncwy
(for commercial printers—offset)

Commercial Printers with Bleed
http://www.mediafire.com/?60zjmjwoj3d
(for commercial printers—offset with bleed)

P.S. I made a campaign video, posted on youtube, check it out:
Campaign Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Y_I0sxeoc

THIS IS A BIG IF... IF I AM APPONTED IOWA CHAIR, WOULD YOU CONSIDER TAKING ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CONTINUED BROCHURE DESIGN BUT ALSO FIND PAUL SUPPORTERS WHO ARE PRINTERS. THEY CAN TAKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEIR COSTS AND NORMAL PRICIMG AS A CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION AND REALLY HELP WITH COSTS HERE IN IOWA?

[poppop_schell]

We're here in Central Florida, and will happily do whatever we can on the ground about that one! In the meantime, we're firing up the 'Net, making calls, and sending money.

Welcome to the Revolution!

May I suggest that you place your effrots in South Carolina where it will be easier to coordinate activities?

[Dave]

Yesterday I received a nice mailing from Tancredo offering to provide my transportation to Ames for the Aug. 11 Straw Poll and to pay for my ticket to get in.

Tonight I had an automated phone call from Tancredo.

A couple days ago I received my 2nd call on behalf of Brownback. He is apparently using real, live supporters (or perhaps paid marketers, who knows?) to make his calls rather than a recording. This kind of makes those calls stand out since everyone else is just a recording.

[ARealConservative]

Please keep your mocking remarks from the campaign. Being a Mormon, I don't appreciate them nor will many fair minded people. Best way to turn off Mormon voters to Paul.

I'm sorry it came off that way. I was actually mocking the stupid questions the media has asked him so far.

My apologies!

[Dave]

A BIG IF... IF I AM APPOINTED AS IOWA COORDINATOR, WE WILL NEED MORE OF THIS QUALITY RESEARCH IFORAMTION AND FROM IT DETERMINE VERY SPECIFIC ISSUE STARTEGIES TO REACH OUT AND INFORM.

Poppop - an Iowa coordinator has been named - Joe Seehusen. I'd suggest contacting the heads of the Iowa meetups to figure out where to work your valuable skills into the effort. Maybe you could start a meetup for southeast Iowa out of Burlington or somewhere nearby? Just a thought.

[ARealConservative]

Poppop - an Iowa coordinator has been named - Joe Seehusen. I'd suggest contacting the heads of the Iowa meetups to figure out where to work your valuable skills into the effort. Maybe you could start a meetup for southeast Iowa out of Burlington or somewhere nearby? Just a thought.

Joe is looking to delegate various aspects of his duties to interested parties in the Iowa area. We have 57 days left until the straw poll so motivated individuals in our area are encouraged to contact him if they wish to help more (and have no meetup group)

If interested you can call the HQ number and tell them to have him contact you - or pm me and I can forward his email to you.

[poppop_schell]

I'm sorry it came off that way. I was actually mocking the stupid questions the media has asked him so far.

My apologies!

APOLOGY GLADLY ACCEPTED!!!

[poppop_schell]

Poppop - an Iowa coordinator has been named - Joe Seehusen. I'd suggest contacting the heads of the Iowa meetups to figure out where to work your valuable skills into the effort. Maybe you could start a meetup for southeast Iowa out of Burlington or somewhere nearby? Just a thought.

I will await instructions from Joe Seehusen before taking any further steps. I hope he jumps on this with BOTH FEET and does so IMMEDIATELY. Do you know where he will be headquartered and how to contact him?

I am curious why he hasn't made this announcement on this forum???

[Dave]

Here's a fun humor piece about Rudy dropping out of the Ames Straw Poll:

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070615/OPINION01/706150354/1036

[Dave]

I will await instructions from Joe Seehusen before taking any further steps. I hope he jumps on this with BOTH FEET and does so IMMEDIATELY. Do you know where he will be headquartered and how to contact him?

I am curious why he hasn't made this announcement on this forum???

I suspect that campaign staff don't post here to maintain an arms-length relationship between these forums and the official campaign - to satisfy the FEC, perhaps.

I think the campaign is scouting for an Iowa headquarters right now. Someone else here suggested you call campaign HQ to get an email address for Joe.

[rep111]

Google Is censuring the search results, check this out

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/656126/is_google_censoring_ron_paul/

[Dave]

Here's a very good primer on the Ames Straw Poll from race42008.com:


With the Ames Straw Poll version 2007 coming up in roughly 100 days, now is as good of time as ever to look at what this massive political event is, what it means, and what it takes to win it.
History of the Poll
The Ames Straw Poll began in 1979 and has continued every year preceding a competitive election (1987, 1995, and 1999) for a total of four times. The upcoming poll on August 11, 2007, therefore will be the fifth Ames Straw Poll held.
Even though the poll dates back nearly three decades, it was only in 1999 that it began to take on the significance it has now. Until that most recent straw poll, charges of cheating ran rampant at the event (voters would have their hands stamped, run into the bathroom to wash the ink off, and go vote again), meaning that no one took the results too seriously. In 1999, the Iowa GOP officials began using indelible ink that couldn’t be washed off as well as posting voting monitors at the voting areas and in all the bathrooms to ensure more reliable results.
At the last straw poll, George W Bush won with 31% of the vote. He would, of course, go on to win the nomination, but such foretelling is not a historical definite at the event. For instance, Bush 41 won the first straw poll in 1979 and Reagan ended up with the nomination, and in 1987 Pat Robertson won the contest but lost the nomination to Bush. Now that the voting is fairer and more reliable, though, some people argue that the results are a more significant barometer of a candidate’s success.
What it Means and How to Win
It’s the first real test of candidates on two different levels: organization and support. A win in Ames generally means you’ve succeeded in both of those arenas. And it also means you’ve succeeded in raising extravagant amounts of cash prior to the event.
Consider these statistics: Dubya spent $825,000 on the event in 1999 and walked away with first place. Steve Forbes spent over $2 million for his second place finish. What did they spend the money on?
A better question might be what didn’t they spend the money on. Tickets to the event in 1999 were $25 apiece, which all the campaigns gladly paid for in return for a vote. Parking cost money, which again, the campaigns paid for - if you even drove your own vehicle and didn’t take one of the free buses the campaigns chartered. Each campaign had tents outside the main hall for which they paid money - increasing in price the closer to the hall the tent space was (the apex being Bush’s tent, which was closest to the hall and cost him $63,000). At each tent, the campaigns offered food and drinks as well as live music from famous musicians, all free. Steve Forbes even hosted a carnival of sorts, complete with children’s rides that he rented and set up. All in the quest to attract voters.
Truth be told, the real winner of the Ames Straw Poll is the Iowa GOP which hosts the event as its annual fundraiser.
This should be instructive when thinking about how to win the poll now, in 2007. If Bush spent nearly a million dollars and Forbes nearly two million eight years ago, one can only imagine how much the campaigns will spend on the event this year. That does not bode well for poorly funded campaigns such as Tommy Huckback, Gilmore, Paul, or Tancredo. And it says something to the chances of a late-comer such as Fred Thompson succeeding in such an environment.
Of course, there are always going to be the die hards that will pay their own tickets, drive their own cars, vote, and go home all without being tied to a campaign, but the vast majority of the voters there will be there thanks to candidates’ generosity.
But, as mentioned above, organization is only one half of the coin. You can’t very well pay for people’s tickets to the event if you can’t find people who support you enough to go in the first place and sit through hours of speeches and give up their entire Saturday just to throw your name in a box - and for a poll, nonetheless, not even a real election. This is where all the grassroots campaigning leading up to the event pays off. You’ve gotta have a voter base to turnout in the first place before you can start paying for tickets and bus rides and the like.
So it takes both to emerge victorious in Ames: support from people who want to go and vote for you, and the organization to get more of them there than your opponents can. And in 1999, the results did mean something - after disappointing finishes at Ames, Alexander and Quayle both dropped out of the race; after his first place showing, Bush’s frontrunner status was cemented (at least until McCain got in the race a month later).
Roughly a hundred days from now, we will watch the hoopla and extravagance with great excitement and great anticipation, because the Ames Straw Poll is the first real test of the candidates’ strength in this campaign.

[poppop_schell]

I will call DC Headquarters as you suggest. I did e-mail them about my specific ideas of how to get the organization going and win. I suggested that ratrher than having a fixed headquarters that they rent a Class A RV and equip it with all the internet technologies needed. That way, key Iowa people could be contacted personally at their home locations and have rallies.

So far, I have heard no response.

[poppop_schell]

Google Is censuring the search results, check this out

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/656126/is_google_censoring_ron_paul/

Please do not post rumors like this as they will be picked up and used against Ron Paul, calling him paranoid and even worse things. It was easy to go to Google.com and find many links to Ron Paul.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND DON'T GIVE OUR "ENEMIES" ANY AMMUNITION. ok?

[Dave]

I will call DC Headquarters as you suggest. I did e-mail them about my specific ideas of how to get the organization going and win. I suggested that ratrher than having a fixed headquarters that they rent a Class A RV and equip it with all the internet technologies needed. That way, key Iowa people could be contacted personally at their home locations and have rallies.

So far, I have heard no response.

I like your idea of a headquarters-on-wheels. It would need to be first-class, of course.

[DavyDuke17]

I think there should be a pointed effort to convince anti-war Iowa Democrats to switch over and vote for Paul in the primary elections. It is a great way for them to make sure that the Iraq war will come to an end, we should run ads in newspapers targeting these people giving them the idea that its a way to "hedge your bets" and make sure we have two anti-war candidates in the general election.

[Dave]

Fred Thompson may announce as early as this week if he will participate in the Aug. 11 Ames Straw Poll.

I just got an automated call from a local supporter of Tommy Thompson inviting me to an event with Thompson at someone's house.

I was in a pizza place about an hour outside of Des Moines over the weekend and saw a couple fliers posted about Brownback, who was going to be in town today for an event.

Tickets for the Ames Straw Poll are $30. I think someone (maybe me) reported that they are $35 but that's not right.

Remember that voting at the Ames Straw Poll takes place all day long. You don't listen to the speeches and then go vote - I'd say most votes are cast before any candidate speeches even begin.

Also remember that the democrats don't have a straw poll.

There will be a GOP debate in Ames on August 5, the Sunday before the Ames Straw Poll. ABC is doing this one and George Stephanopoulos will moderate. There are also debates in Iowa on November 6 in Ames (MSNBC) and January 5 in Iowa City (Des Moines Register and Iowa Public TV).

[ARealConservative]

Please do not post rumors like this as they will be picked up and used against Ron Paul, calling him paranoid and even worse things. It was easy to go to Google.com and find many links to Ron Paul.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND DON'T GIVE OUR "ENEMIES" ANY AMMUNITION. ok?

pm me - I will pass Joe's cell # on to you.

[poppop_schell]

I sent an outline for a plan to win in Iowa. IF you are interested in seing it, email me privately.

[Dave]

I just received my first communication from the Rudy campaign - a fundraising letter. The outside of the envelope says "1st Edition 'Rudy' Bumper Sticker". I think that's a trick to get you to open it. You only get a sticker if you send in a donation. Rats.

A few quotes you'll enjoy:

"I promise to remain on the offense in the terrorist's war on America. We must stop radical terrorists before they attack. We must continue taking the fight to them."

"We must look toward the future and reassert our core values of individual freedom, fiscal discipline, respect for the rule of law, and a commitment to defeating terrorists at home and around the world."

[poppop_schell]

I think there should be a pointed effort to convince anti-war Iowa Democrats to switch over and vote for Paul in the primary elections. It is a great way for them to make sure that the Iraq war will come to an end, we should run ads in newspapers targeting these people giving them the idea that its a way to "hedge your bets" and make sure we have two anti-war candidates in the general election.

I think that is a great idea. What would your plans for doing that in order of priority? REmeber that campaign funds are limited.

[Patrick Henry]

"I promise to remain on the offense in the terrorist's war on America. We must stop radical terrorists before they attack. We must continue taking the fight to them."

"We must look toward the future and reassert our core values of individual freedom, fiscal discipline, respect for the rule of law, and a commitment to defeating terrorists at home and around the world."

Oh my! He really is a creep isn't he?!

[Dave]

The Des Moines meetup met tonight at a popular pizza place. The organizer even spent his own money to buy pizzas for the group (Thanks!).

Iowa Coordinator Joe Seehusen visited again tonight. He was really impressive. He worked the room all night, visiting one-on-one with supporters or in small groups. He was figuring out what everyone's background was and what their skills were. Then he'd paint a picture of how different people could contribute to the effort. He was really motivating and did a good job of getting people to take responsibility for different pieces of the puzzle. Everything revolved around winning the Ames Straw Poll on August 11.

Time is extremely tight and funds are limited but I think Joe is going to do a great job motivating the troops in Iowa.

[ChicagoLawyer]

Great news Dave! Let people know there's some of us in Illinois who are willing to come and help, and I'm sure the same goes for other neighboring states.

[BLS]

The Des Moines meetup met tonight at a popular pizza place. The organizer even spent his own money to buy pizzas for the group (Thanks!).

Iowa Coordinator Joe Seehusen visited again tonight. He was really impressive. He worked the room all night, visiting one-on-one with supporters or in small groups. He was figuring out what everyone's background was and what their skills were. Then he'd paint a picture of how different people could contribute to the effort. He was really motivating and did a good job of getting people to take responsibility for different pieces of the puzzle. Everything revolved around winning the Ames Straw Poll on August 11.

Time is extremely tight and funds are limited but I think Joe is going to do a great job motivating the troops in Iowa.

I live in Southern MN (about 1hr from Rochester) and am willing to come down for a weekend, etc if you guys need any extra help. I obviously cannot vote for RP in Iowa, but I'll do what I can.

PM me if you need to contact me.

[Spirit of '76]

Hey, Dave, sounds like things are going great out there in Iowa! Keep up the good work and do all you can to spread the word.

Dr. Paul needs to pull Iowa to his side, and I know he can do it with your help!

[JoshLowry]

Thanks for the update Dave!

[UCFGavin]

this thread makes me want to go to Iowa and help

[lucky]

I just received my first communication from the Rudy campaign - a fundraising letter. The outside of the envelope says "1st Edition 'Rudy' Bumper Sticker". I think that's a trick to get you to open it. You only get a sticker if you send in a donation. Rats.

A few quotes you'll enjoy:

"I promise to remain on the offense in the terrorist's war on America. We must stop radical terrorists before they attack. We must continue taking the fight to them."

"We must look toward the future and reassert our core values of individual freedom, fiscal discipline, respect for the rule of law, and a commitment to defeating terrorists at home and around the world."


Way to go Rudy. 70% of Americans hate the war and you are sounding like the biggest booster for war.

[Dave]

One of the dedicated people at the Des Moines meetup last night has gotten all the official info on the Ames Straw Poll from Iowa GOP HQ. He made a PDF and posted it in the 'files' section of the Des Moines meetup site and he's sending it to the other Iowa meetups and state groups outside of Iowa.

There's 4 pages of extensive rules and 8 pages of maps/info. I see tickets are $35 so I'm corrected on the cost yet again - sorry.


http://files.meetup.com/507643/2007%20straw%20poll%20rules%20maps%20and%20brochur e.pdf

[ARealConservative]

One of the dedicated people at the Des Moines meetup last night has gotten all the official info on the Ames Straw Poll from Iowa GOP HQ. He made a PDF and posted it in the 'files' section of the Des Moines meetup site and he's sending it to the other Iowa meetups and state groups outside of Iowa.

There's 4 pages of extensive rules and 8 pages of maps/info. I see tickets are $35 so I'm corrected on the cost yet again - sorry.


http://files.meetup.com/507643/2007%20straw%20poll%20rules%20maps%20and%20brochur e.pdf

Thank you Dave. You are an extremely informative individual!

[poppop_schell]

The Des Moines meetup met tonight at a popular pizza place. The organizer even spent his own money to buy pizzas for the group (Thanks!).

Iowa Coordinator Joe Seehusen visited again tonight. He was really impressive. He worked the room all night, visiting one-on-one with supporters or in small groups. He was figuring out what everyone's background was and what their skills were. Then he'd paint a picture of how different people could contribute to the effort. He was really motivating and did a good job of getting people to take responsibility for different pieces of the puzzle. Everything revolved around winning the Ames Straw Poll on August 11.

Time is extremely tight and funds are limited but I think Joe is going to do a great job motivating the troops in Iowa.

Dave:
It's wonderful to hear that the meeting went very well. How many showed up? Is Joe going to contact volunteers this week that have signed up on the ronpaul2008.com website? How can I and others get in touch with Joe? Does he want resumes? How is he planning to communicate with those who aren't in the DesMoines area?

FWIW, here is the skeleton plan I sent to DC last week.

Dear Mr. Moore and Snyder:

It is my understanding that you are seeking a person to Chair the Iowa Campaign? I would be honored to do that if I receive financial and people support. My biggest drawback is that I am presently serving with my wife as full-time Senior Missionaries with the Mormon Church at Nauvoo, IL, right across the Mississippi River from SE Iowa. That mission will be competed in mid-December 2007. On the positive side, I am excellent at delegation.
I am a retired University Business Professor from the North Carolina system. I have run or co-Chaired several statewide candidate campaigns as well as running myself for NC Governor in 2000 on the Reform Party ticket. I have a comfortable retirement income; therefore, I don’t need any type of salary. My only financial requirement would be for out of pocket traveling expenses.

A PRELIMINARY PLAN BY PRIORITY FOLLOWS:

1. Recruit high quality, experienced, nonpaid Chair volunteers for each county
2. Contact and develop quality relationships with all County GOP Chairs and key members of the County Committee
3. Contact and develop quality relationships with all Media outlets
4. Recruit aggressive and experienced, nonpaid Chairs for each Congressional District
5. Contact all institutions of higher education and recruit student volunteers

RESOURCES NEEDED

1. Paid fulltime Executive Secretary
2. Rent a Class A RV with internet wiring capability
3. Purchase a notebook computer with satellite internet access
4. A GPS
5. Cell Phones
6. List of all known volunteers from Iowa, Houston, Texas, and all states immediately surrounding Iowa especially the counties that directly border Iowa.
7. Formal announcement of my appointment to all key campaign people and the Iowa media.
8. A media, travel budget to be negotiated based on an agreed upon strategic campaign plan

KEY STAFF ADVISORS

1. Director of Media Relations
2. Director of volunteer recruitment ad coordination
3. Director of Finance and Campaign Contributions
4. Internet Coordinator
5. Executive Secretary who would act in my stead when travel is needed and for day-to-day operations out of the RV.

I look forward to hearing from you and what your suggested plan are for the soon upcoming and visible Iowa polling.

For a Return to Constitutional America,

[Dave]

Dave:
It's wonderful to hear that the meeting went very well. How many showed up? Is Joe going to contact volunteers this week that have signed up on the ronpaul2008.com website? How can I and others get in touch with Joe? Does he want resumes? How is he planning to communicate with those who aren't in the DesMoines area?

Poppop- someone on these forums posted his email as Joe@RonPaul2008.com. That might get you to him. I'd suggest you contact the heads of the various Iowa meetups.

[Dave]

The action has been in the other threads so I haven't posted here in a while.

Obviously there's lots going on here with the exclusion of Dr. Paul from the ITR/ICA forum. The Des Moines Meetup has planned an event at the site of that forum. The meetup organizer is getting tons of email form people planning to come to Des Moines to rally for Dr. Paul.

Romney sent me a slick mailer all about fighting illegal immigration. He's not my guy, of course, but I'd say from all his time on the ground here in Iowa he has learned that illegal immigration is a HUGE issue here right now, especially with GOP. I give him credit for figuring this out and trying to take a firm stand on it (though I have a hard time believing him).

[ARealConservative]

Poppop- someone on these forums posted his email as Joe@RonPaul2008.com. That might get you to him. I'd suggest you contact the heads of the various Iowa meetups.

Poppop, check your hotmail account you gave me. I sent you Joe's cell number on Monday.

[Dave]

The Aug 5 (Sunday) GOP debate in Des Moines will be at Drake University. It will start at 8 a.m. (morning!) since it's part of the ABC "This week with George Snuffleuppagus" show. It will be 90 minutes and televised live. Ron Paul will be there - it will be the usual 10 who will be part of it - McCain has not yet confirmed but I'm sure he will.

Des Moines Register political honcho David Yepsen will assist with the questioning.

[poppop_schell]

Poppop- someone on these forums posted his email as Joe@RonPaul2008.com. That might get you to him. I'd suggest you contact the heads of the various Iowa meetups.

Thank you for the e-mail address. It seems to me, however, that Joe should be using this thread to post information since this is for Iowans or those like myself who wish to help in Iowa??? Is Joe even in Iowa or is he trying to run this from DC???? I have run state-wide campaigns so I know what works and what doesn't. Communication and delegation is key. The groups are fine in they are working twoarfds common agreed upon goals.

I am NOT purposely subscribed to any other of the Paul forums so I can laser focus my time on Iowa which IMO MUST be the prime objective for the summer, along with NH and SC. No excuses will justify a poor showing in Iowa!!!!

I would strongly recommend that all Paul supporters join Downsizer.org because they are "informally" supporting Ron Paul. Their FFF.org website constantly has articles written by Congressman Paul. They are strong libertarian conservatives. They have asked their 30,000+ members to e-mail the June 30th debate leaders to get Ron Paul in the debate. They have been leaders in the fights against illegal immigration and for open government. Great organization. BTW, I donate $20/month to their budget.

YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO POST THIS E-MAIL ANYWHERE YOU FEEL WOULD BE HELPFUL.

[poppop_schell]

The Aug 5 (Sunday) GOP debate in Des Moines will be at Drake University. It will start at 8 a.m. (morning!) since it's part of the ABC "This week with George Snuffleuppagus" show. It will be 90 minutes and televised live. Ron Paul will be there - it will be the usual 10 who will be part of it - McCain has not yet confirmed but I'm sure he will.

Des Moines Register political honcho David Yepsen will assist with the questioning.

What is your "read" on David Yepsen? Is he allowing questions submitted via e-mail? If NOT, why not?

[poppop_schell]

Poppop, check your hotmail account you gave me. I sent you Joe's cell number on Monday.

Thank you but I never received it. You may contact me at poppop_schell@hotmail.com at any time.

[poppop_schell]

Poppop, check your hotmail account you gave me. I sent you Joe's cell number on Monday.

Thank you but I never received it. You may contact me at poppop_schell@hotmail.com at any time. My telephone number with answering machine is 217- 453-2093. Best time to contact is from about Noon to 1:30 pm during the weekdays. I don't do any politicing on Sundays.

[ARealConservative]

Thank you for the e-mail address. It seems to me, however, that Joe should be using this thread to post information since this is for Iowans or those like myself who wish to help in Iowa??? Is Joe even in Iowa or is he trying to run this from DC???? I have run state-wide campaigns so I know what works and what doesn't. Communication and delegation is key. The groups are fine in they are working twoarfds common agreed upon goals.

I am NOT purposely subscribed to any other of the Paul forums so I can laser focus my time on Iowa which IMO MUST be the prime objective for the summer, along with NH and SC. No excuses will justify a poor showing in Iowa!!!!

I would strongly recommend that all Paul supporters join Downsizer.org because they are "informally" supporting Ron Paul. Their FFF.org website constantly has articles written by Congressman Paul. They are strong libertarian conservatives. They have asked their 30,000+ members to e-mail the June 30th debate leaders to get Ron Paul in the debate. They have been leaders in the fights against illegal immigration and for open government. Great organization. BTW, I donate $20/month to their budget.

YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION TO POST THIS E-MAIL ANYWHERE YOU FEEL WOULD BE HELPFUL.

Hi again.

The campaign is officially using ronpaul.meetup.com to facilitate grass roots organization. I wouldn't anticipate anyone other than Justine from HQ to join here. I mentioned previously you should join one of the Iowa meetup groups - they are being provided with mass quantities of materials to distribute. Even if you are to far too meetup, they will keep you in the loop better than you can expect on this site on what is going on in Iowa...although Dave does a great job relaying info here.

Joe is in Iowa. In fact, He will be meeting with my local meetup group tommorow night.

I'm going to PM Joe's cell phone to you on this message board because my records show it was sent previously to email address you reference. I see no reason to expect different results this time. :confused:

[dspectre]

are we still calling and emailing the Iowans For Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance?

[Spirit of '76]

are we still calling and emailing the Iowans For Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance?

Yes.

[jj111]

I contacted one of the corporate sponsors of the event, Mr. Shaw of

Light Expressions by Shaw

http://www.lightexpressions.com/staff.html

Owner shaw@lightexpressions.com
Steve Shaw – Manager of Coroville Store…….. he is the owner’s son

Coralville, IA Branch
319-358-8311

I politely asked him if he knew about the controversy and upon his inquiring, explained a little bit about what has been publicized. I talked with him for five minutes yesterday, and again for five minutes today, but he has yet to make any statement or come to any decision about his stance about this.

I certainly think that if anybody were to contact him, they should be polite, professional, nice, and considerate, but it is possible that somebody else on this board might want to call him tomorrow to see if he has any statement to make regarding whether he wants Ron Paul invited to the event, or whether or not he is going to continue to co-sponsor the forum if they continue to exclude Ron Paul.

[ARealConservative]

are we still calling and emailing the Iowans For Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance?

Please do.

Also, we will be hand delivering a petition to their office in Muscatine early next week.

http://www.petitiononline.com/rp063007

[JoshLowry]

Please do.

Also, we will be hand delivering a petition to their office in Muscatine early next week.

http://www.petitiononline.com/rp063007

You do realize there are two petitions floating around?

The one you posted has 7000+ signatures

The other one has 4800+ signatures

Here: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?rpwi2008

I only signed one of them though. Not sure if anyone double signed or not.

[ARealConservative]

You do realize there are two petitions floating around?

The one you posted has 7000+ signatures

The other one has 4800+ signatures

Here: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?rpwi2008

I only signed one of them though. Not sure if anyone double signed or not.

My understanding is they were going to merge them at some point. Our groups didn't create them, but we are the closest ones to hand deliver them.

So I figured go with the one with the most sigs - and deliver them both, unless they merge.

[V-rod]

Would be funny if Ron Paul rejected the stupid Iowa forum(when they break down) for being so disrespectful,. Ghouliani and McCain are not even going, and Paul shouldn't either. I consider Paul a first tier candidate not in National notoriety, but in passionate, growing support.

[poppop_schell]

Anyone interested in helping in any these three cities and their two counties, should sign up and/or contact Dr. Doug Schell at poppop_schell@hotmail.com

[stevedasbach]

I would strongly recommend that all Paul supporters join Downsizer.org because they are "informally" supporting Ron Paul. Their FFF.org website constantly has articles written by Congressman Paul. They are strong libertarian conservatives. They have asked their 30,000+ members to e-mail the June 30th debate leaders to get Ron Paul in the debate. They have been leaders in the fights against illegal immigration and for open government. Great organization. BTW, I donate $20/month to their budget.



I believe that the organization you are referring to is www.DownsizeDC.org. I agree -- they are a great organization.

Also, www.FFF.org is not connected in any way with www.DownsizeDC.org.

[poppop_schell]

I believe that the organization you are referring to is www.DownsizeDC.org. I agree -- they are a great organization.

Also, www.FFF.org is not connected in any way with www.DownsizeDC.org.

Thanks for the important correction. Downsizer and FFF may NOT be legally connected in anyway but Jim Babka heads both.

[poppop_schell]

Hi again.

The campaign is officially using ronpaul.meetup.com to facilitate grass roots organization. I wouldn't anticipate anyone other than Justine from HQ to join here. I mentioned previously you should join one of the Iowa meetup groups - they are being provided with mass quantities of materials to distribute. Even if you are to far too meetup, they will keep you in the loop better than you can expect on this site on what is going on in Iowa...although Dave does a great job relaying info here.

Joe is in Iowa. In fact, He will be meeting with my local meetup group tommorow night.

I'm going to PM Joe's cell phone to you on this message board because my records show it was sent previously to email address you reference. I see no reason to expect different results this time. :confused:

I wrote an e-mail to Joe yesterday informing him of the Meetup Group for Ft.Madison/Keokuk/Burlington. Also sent him a copy of the Iowa Campaign plan sent before to DC. Is Joe being paid a full-time salary or is he an unpaid part-time volunteer? Given the short time frame we have for the strawvote, I am puzzled why I haven't been contacted????

HOW MANY COUNTIES HAVE MEETUP GROUPS? HOW MANY OF THESE GROUPS ARE CONTACTING AND DEVLEOPING GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE COUNTY GOP CHAIR AND COMMITTEES?

[ARealConservative]

I wrote an e-mail to Joe yesterday informing him of the Meetup Group for Ft.Madison/Keokuk/Burlington. Also sent him a copy of the Iowa Campaign plan sent before to DC. Is Joe being paid a full-time salary or is he an unpaid part-time volunteer? Given the short time frame we have for the strawvote, I am puzzled why I haven't been contacted????

HOW MANY COUNTIES HAVE MEETUP GROUPS? HOW MANY OF THESE GROUPS ARE CONTACTING AND DEVLEOPING GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE COUNTY GOP CHAIR AND COMMITTEES?

I gave you his cell phone #. Call him if you have concerns. He is a good guy.
My understanding is he has a paid position.

[poppop_schell]

I gave you his cell phone #. Call him if you have concerns. He is a good guy.
My understanding is he has a paid position.

I have found from a lot of experience that it is best to have a "paaer trail" when under the heavy pressure of political campaigns. To easy to forget promises, etc. made which causes major breakdowns in communications.

But... I will call Joe if that's waht it takes.

[poppop_schell]

I have found from a lot of experience that it is best to have a "paaer trail" when under the heavy pressure of political campaigns. To easy to forget promises, etc. made which causes major breakdowns in communications.

But... I will call Joe if that's waht it takes.

I am pleased to say that Joe e-mailed me and put me in contact with key players coordinating the straw vote this Saturday. Our Meeting group was also set up as "border state one" since I live in Nauvoo, IL which is right across the Miss. River from Ft. Madison and Keokuk.

I'm sorry but I will NOT be able to be at the strawvote as I have to do senior Mormon missionary work in Nauvoo that day.

[poppop_schell]

I have found from a lot of experience that it is best to have a "paaer trail" when under the heavy pressure of political campaigns. To easy to forget promises, etc. made which causes major breakdowns in communications.

But... I will call Joe if that's waht it takes.

I am pleased to say that Joe e-mailed me and put me in contact with key players coordinating the straw vote this Saturday. Our Meeting group was also set up as "border state one" since I live in Nauvoo, IL which is right across the Miss. River from Ft. Madison and Keokuk.

I'm sorry but I will NOT be able to be at the strawvote as I have to do senior Mormon missionary work in Nauvoo that day. BTW, Fridays are my "day off". I don't do any politicing on Sundays.

[GoRonPaul]

This just in, ain't much, but something:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19464524/from/RS.1/

Didn't see it posted yet...

[lynnf]

This just in, ain't much, but something:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19464524/from/RS.1/

Didn't see it posted yet...

I got a "page not found" error from this link. What was in it?

lynn

[GoRonPaul]

Weird. They took the story down... It was that Associated Press piece: GOP's Paul to crash Iowa forum

You can see that headline in the politics section of their homepage. But when you click the link, it says 'page not found'...

EDIT: Works now for me...

[poppop_schell]

How About A Detailed Report Of What Happened Saturday At The Paul Meeting?

[Dave]

How About A Detailed Report Of What Happened Saturday At The Paul Meeting?

You got it - I just posted this in a new thread - "What I Saw in Des Moines - June 30".

[poppop_schell]

Hopefully, some of our folks taped NOT only Paul's talk but also taped so we could see the size of the Paul aduience and the size of the Forum audience. Did anyone get an interview of the Forum organizers and their "excuses" about why Paul was NOT invited?

We need to develo a working staretgy to nurture Iowa media types so they will give better coverage. The key people ar NOT the reporters but the Political Editors who make the assignments and edit any writeups. We need to at least neutralize IF NOT get these folks favorable to covering Paul.

[poppop_schell]

We should have an assigned proactive but diplomatic person assigned to nurture EACH of these Political Editors especially of the major Radio, TV and Newspapers in Iowa. Learn from our expereeinces this past Saturday.

[Roxi]

Hey, do we want to make a convoy?

We can rent a 7 passenger van in Dallas for 60 bucks a day, less with my military discount. At 15 MPG, we could get there and back with a $400 dollar bill. We could leave on the 10th and return on the 12th. For $100 a head we shouldn't have any problems getting there. At $100 a night, we can use two rooms per van load. You can put up to four adults in every room.

I am used to sleeping in tents with a lot of people (Iraq for 14mos) so it wouldn't bother me. Anyone else like the idea?

If we could get several convoys going from all over the country we may get an even better rental rate from a national car rental company and the hotel where we can all meet.

Lets talk seriously about this.

Sid



Im up for this depending on our money situation
coming from Tulsa

[Dave]

Tancredo opened his Iowa headquarters today. He put it in the campustown area of Ames - he must be planning on having a lot of help from the college students. The Register said there were 60 people there and they had a barbeque.

[kylejack]

Is it time for Ron to get an Iowa HQ?

[LibertyEagle]

I think he has one, doesn't he? He has an Iowa campaign coordinator.

[Spirit of '76]

This weekend was awesome, but he/we have got to capitalize on the momentum it generated.

This is not the time to rest on our laurels.

[poppop_schell]

Is it time for Ron to get an Iowa HQ?

FWIW, I 've suggested to Joe to rent a Class A RV and equiping it to be a movable communications cenetred state headquarters with live in facilities going wherever it is most needed. Also have banners on side, etc to advertise the Ron Paul Campaign. The GOP County headquarters can be used to distribute Paul Material on a regular basis.

Anyone see any major difficulties to this approach? Anyone have a good friend in the REV business or have an RV that they would rent for a few months?

[poppop_schell]

I think he has one, doesn't he? He has an Iowa campaign coordinator.

If Joe does, why haven't we heard about it? Seems pretty basic to me that we all should know where it is and how to contact???

[Dave]

I think he has one, doesn't he? He has an Iowa campaign coordinator.

There is no Iowa HQ facility. There may be one in the future but I'm really not sure it's needed - who's going to sit in it all day? We all have cell phones so it's not like we need a building with banks of phones.

I kind of like poppop's idea of an Iowa HQ on wheels.

[Dave]

Bill and Hillary are in Des Moines tonite at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. It's being broadcast live on c-span.

Barf.

[nayjevin]

I have taken much of the content from this thread and started a high content thread for Ames strategy in 'strategies for success' here:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=48171#post48171

Hope this is helpful.

[MozoVote]

Romney may be blanketing the state with DVDs and mail, but how much passion can small town midwesterners have for a Massachusetts Mormon? (And I bet people in Iowa are dog lovers too. :))

We've seen that Ron Paul is a *spark* that ignites the dry kindling of lies that have been laid for years. Since Iowa endures this process every 4 years, people should know "slick" when they see it. No wonder Clinton did poorly. Romney probably does not have this sewn up as easily as it might first appear.

[Lord Xar]

Romney may be blanketing the state with DVDs and mail, but how much passion can small town midwesterners have for a Massachusetts Mormon? (And I bet people in Iowa are dog lovers too. :))

We've seen that Ron Paul is a *spark* that ignites the dry kindling of lies that have been laid for years. Since Iowa endures this process every 4 years, people should know "slick" when they see it. No wonder Clinton did poorly. Romney probably does not have this sewn up as easily as it might first appear.

well, we better get those DVD's out there cause it looks like others are gonna be copying what others are gonna try to do here!

I just feel Ron is not doing enough....

[Dave]

I saw an unrelated article today that said the Iowa Christian Alliance (co-sponsors of the infamous ITR/ICA forum) was formerly known as the Christian Coalition of Iowa.

I never realized before today that ICA was the Christian Coalition in a new wrapper.

[cajuncocoa]

Can someone from Iowa get phone lists to those of us who can't make it up there, but would like to help from afar?

[Dave]

Can someone from Iowa get phone lists to those of us who can't make it up there, but would like to help from afar?

Some heroes have been working on this. Go here - post #13.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=5106

[LibertyEagle]

Can someone from Iowa get phone lists to those of us who can't make it up there, but would like to help from afar?

Here is a contact for you to join the people calling Iowa. They are asking for more help....

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=5537