A little confussed...Can you help me out...

[Billy Baro7]

So I can not figure this out! I'm really having a hard time with this! Let me get straight to the point!!!! Where the fuck did all the McCain supporters come from??? I have not seen one sign in Illinois for McCain! I have not heard of one person speak his name in Illinois! When you drive a 30 mile radius of my home there are over 15-20 signs for Ron Paul! I have never been a part of a movement like this and find it extremely odd how McCain has all these supporters! I feel like I just woke from a 4 month bad dream. How stupid is this country? I thought we as Americans were tired of the War. 80% of America wants out of the middle east. McCain???? FUCKEN McCain!!!! The American people want McCain to lead the Republican party??? Not to mention he is for the War, hell even another 100 years if that what it takes!!!! Please please help me understand this cause I just can't? Maybe I'm the stupid American!. OK so I'm Stupid.........can you please explain it to me!!!! You have a movement Like Ron Paul's and than You have McCain. McCain......I'm really lost for words! How did all these people find out about McCain cause with so many people voting for him I feel like I'm missing something here. Right were talking about McCain. What is it that the American people like about him? Really Really missing it here not to mention about to lose it! :D

[bcreps85]

Signs don't translate into votes as well as idiots watching the TV does unfortunately.

[tomveil]

The magic box gave him the votes.

Follow the magic box.

[Paul10]

...

[Wingman]

it is jut the begining. old folks who see the signs think "huh? more crazy ron paul supporters"

well, we need to go out and meet more of these people and get to know them. they are often small people, small ordinary people, less educated than ourselves, less worldly, and quite unsociable. but we need to reach out to them and show them that there is a future worth fighting for.

because these people who voted for mccain have given up.

[2BFree]

They don't post signs, attend meet-ups or read up on the issues. They sit in front of their boob tube and semi-blindly vote for whomever and whatever they hear of that has some resonance with their lives. It doesn't even have to be a significat resonance -

They've never heard Ron Paul - and if they do - he requires them to think - so it just won't work.

Sound bites work.
Attack adds / Fear works.

Ron Paul is not selling - so they're not buying. This campaign needs help. An outside entity to go on the offensive - not selling - but exposing - Romney, McCrazy and Huckelberry for what they are.

[Billy Baro7]

They don't post signs, attend meet-ups or read up on the issues. They sit in front of their boob tube and semi-blindly vote for whomever and whatever they hear of that has some resonance with their lives. It doesn't even have to be a significat resonance -

They've never heard Ron Paul - and if they do - he requires them to think - so it just won't work.

Sound bites work.
Attack adds / Fear works.

Ron Paul is not selling - so they're not buying. This campaign needs help. An outside entity to go on the offensive - not selling - but exposing - Romney, McCrazy and Huckelberry for what they are.

Its really sad at what this country has become!!!!

[westmich4paul]

Which is exactly why the camapign should have taken it's 20 million and put it into non stop t.v. ads. Good t.v. ads. Hell they could have used the ones off from youtube for free I am sure. This has been the biggest bumble from H.Q.

[LizF]

Which is exactly why the camapign should have taken it's 20 million and put it into non stop t.v. ads. Good t.v. ads. Hell they could have used the ones off from youtube for free I am sure. This has been the biggest bumble from H.Q.


While non-stop ads are helpful, they don't guarantee success. Case in point: Mitt Romney ran ads in NH ad nauseum before the primary and he still came in second.

Too many folks are influenced by the talking heads and the news exposure given to the candidates.

[nodope0695]

Its because of THIS:

http://emetindustries.com/Working%20Images/sheeple.jpg

[nodope0695]

And here are John McCain's supporters:

http://www.realclimate.org/images/Sheep.jpg

[expatinireland]

I don't want you to take this the wrong way but you know how Clinton coined the phrase "It's the economy, stupid".

Well in this case,

It's the Republican Party, Stupid

What we took as support in many cases was coming from independents and democrats who could not vote in the Republican primary.

[ronpaulbillboards]

What we took as support in many cases was coming from independents and democrats who could not vote in the Republican primary.

This why in Texas we are crafting our billboards to target the Dems, Indy, and Lib voters. Texas is an open primary and anyone registered can vote, in the 2006 Governor race the Independents beat Rick Perry. We need to go after the support we can get, the Republican base is just unreachable and follow Fox news and the pundents I guess. Rick Perry first endorsed Giuliani and now he switched to McCain.


Chris Bell Democratic 101,989 45.09%
Rick Perry Republican 59,794 26.44%
Carole Keeton Strayhorn Independent 31,090 13.75%
Richard 'Kinky' Friedman Independent 30,519 13.49%

[westmich4paul]

While non-stop ads are helpful, they don't guarantee success. Case in point: Mitt Romney ran ads in NH ad nauseum before the primary and he still came in second.

Too many folks are influenced by the talking heads and the news exposure given to the candidates.

Mitt Romney isn't winning because he isn't trustworthy and people even the dumbest of the sheep can see right through him. He reminds me of a used car salesman. T.V. ads did wonders for mc puke and huckleberry. For the general population that do not want to follow politics until next august t.v. ads are vital to get the politicians message in their homes right into their face(there not going to turn off the t.v. because of a poitical ad to risk maybe missing a segment of csi or house ect. Not one person here cannot tell me that more t.v. ads wouldn't have help Ron because we all know they would have.

[expatinireland]

This why in Texas we are crafting our billboards to target the Dems, Indy, and Lib voters. Texas is an open primary and anyone registered can vote, in the 2006 Governor race the Independents beat Rick Perry. We need to go after the support we can get, the Republican base is just unreachable and follow Fox news and the pundents I guess. Rick Perry first endorsed Giuliani and now he switched to McCain.


Chris Bell Democratic 101,989 45.09%
Rick Perry Republican 59,794 26.44%
Carole Keeton Strayhorn Independent 31,090 13.75%
Richard 'Kinky' Friedman Independent 30,519 13.49%

Well it looks like Texas might be the best test of our overall support then. Is Texas winner take all?

Please read my thread on how Proper Canvassing Can Grow This Campaign Exponentially (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=113612), and if you like it please give it a bump as I believe it is important for people to engage more about the nuts and bolts of building a successful campaign.

All the best, and good luck.

[LizF]

Mitt Romney isn't winning because he isn't trustworthy and people even the dumbest of the sheep can see right through him. He reminds me of a used car salesman. T.V. ads did wonders for mc puke and huckleberry. For the general population that do not want to follow politics until next august t.v. ads are vital to get the politicians message in their homes right into their face(there not going to turn off the t.v. because of a poitical ad to risk maybe missing a segment of csi or house ect. Not one person here cannot tell me that more t.v. ads wouldn't have help Ron because we all know they would have.

A few things:

I agree with you on the "used car salesman" assessment, but I believe the media/talking heads propping up McCain & Huck with extra coverage & discussion on their newscasts did much more to give them the edge, rather than the ads they ran. (I'm basing this mostly on my observations here in southern NH...YMMV.)

Moreover, what may have also made the difference for McCain in NH--and what helped him build momentum :

--reports of the surge working (based on the Petraeus report in September) ==> this helped McCain regain some credibility from the disastrous way he had been running his campaign in the late spring/summer, as well as the fallout from the amnesty vote.

--McCain spent lots of time on the ground in NH, especially in the last few weeks before our primary. His campaign scheduled a tons of appearances (which were well-promoted in advance) throughout the state. This certainly gave him the edge over RP, as RP didn't "appear" to be doing as much retail-politicking here (and sadly, his appearances weren't always as well-publicized as they could have been), which is a must to gain votes here. This, coupled with fond memories of the McCain of 2000 (from what I gathered from folks), and the semblance he gives of "straight talk", helped put McCain over the top. While McCain's ads were effective (particularly the focus on his war record & footage of him as a POW), I don't think they sealed the deal; rather, his presence on the ground did + media- and govt-generated credibility did.


As for Huck, I see him more as the political equivalent of a "studio creation"; he was propped up & propelled, seemingly from nowhere (a bit like Obama a couple of years ago), and the MSM decided to go along with it. We didn't see so many ads from him in NH; he didn't have to, as he got a lot of free play and discussion about his ads because of the whole "cross controversy". Another thing to keep in mind is that much of the positive press he received occurred while he was paying for the press corps to travel with him. A lot of that "attention" dried up after SC when he had to cut back on expenses.


You make a valid point about people watching ads because they don't want to miss a segment of a program, although with the increasing use of recording devices (VCRs, Tivo, etc), people can now fast-forward through the "junk", so political ads probably have less importance / influence than they once did, unless one is predisposed to watching them (e.g. political junkies, supporters of a particular candidate, misplaced remote control).

My $ 0.02.

Cheers