How Much Bargaining Power Does Ron Paul Have?

[ronpaulfan]

If Ron Paul asked all his followers to leave the Republican party all at once, what would happen?

No other candidate has this power. Imagine a full 5-10% of the Republican party simply walking out the door. I doubt the GOP would want that to happen.

How can we leverage this? Can we all sign a petition saying we'll leave if Ron Paul doesn't get VP or a cabinet position? :confused:

[Ron Paul Fan]

I doubt many of them were Republican to begin with. They just changed their affiliation to Republican to vote for Paul. This would have no impact whatsoever.

[FortWorth38]

I am going down with the ship...... while sipping on my cosmo's & mojitos

[Dave39168]

I doubt many of them were Republican to begin with. They just changed their affiliation to Republican to vote for Paul. This would have no impact whatsoever.

A lot of them did change affiliation to Rep to vote for Paul... but MANY, i'd guess 5%, of their base has been enlightened by Dr. Paul. Pulling 5% off their base would have huge effects.

[Fields]

I am going down with the ship...... while sipping on my cosmo's & mojitos

Mojito sounds good right now...

[Ron Paul Fan]

5% who voted in the primaries. A very small % of people vote in the primaries, unfortunately. Paul's base of supporters who are actually Republicans isn't significant enough to start making power grabs. What would happen is whoever you made this demand to would just start laughing. John McCain would never in a million years give Paul a VP or cabinet position. That's a pipedream.

[billjarrett]

I doubt many of them were Republican to begin with. They just changed their affiliation to Republican to vote for Paul. This would have no impact whatsoever.

Don't underestimate the numbers of us who have been thinking "What the hell happened to our party?" for the last 8+ years.

I really think we didn't touch alot of these folks since they are in the "older" crowd we do so poorly in. I've shown the Liberty U or CPAC speeches to several older folks who thought of him as a kook, who went "Oh my god, he's what the party is supposed to be" after they saw it. There's alot of disenfranchised Republicans that never got to hear the whole, real message thanks to the media that would be with us.

[nate895]

I doubt many of them were Republican to begin with. They just changed their affiliation to Republican to vote for Paul. This would have no impact whatsoever.

Well, I know most of the Ron Paul supporters in our area have always been Republicans.

[jrich4rpaul]

Ron paul wants us to be Republican. The whole point behind this was to change the face of the Republican party. That's why he won't change parties, that's why we shouldn't either. Why hand over the entire party to the neocons?

[billjarrett]

Ron paul wants us to be Republican. The whole point behind this was to change the face of the Republican party. That's why he won't change parties, that's why we shouldn't either. Why hand over the entire party to the neocons?

Agreed. And the Republican party (except in my damn county with Governor Ryans old guard) is weak right now, and Ron Paul knows it. Looking through the threads theres been at least a few county takeovers already, and the Revolution is just beginning. Another thread hopping around the front page now about all the GOP Reps heading for the exit. It's ripe for the taking, and he knows it.

[Goldwater Conservative]

I doubt many of them were Republican to begin with. They just changed their affiliation to Republican to vote for Paul. This would have no impact whatsoever.

Well, I think many of them, like myself, switched BACK to Republican from independent, having given up on the party in recent years. And this at a time when the GOP is rapidly shrinking. I think if something like the OP suggests could be coordinated, it'd be very effective, but I highly doubt it could be done, and I agree with Paul that we should return the party to its roots by working from within (even if we won't vote for pseudo-conservatives anymore).