Badger Paul
08-14-2007, 06:34 PM
First off and most importantly, I want to give my best wishes to Carol Paul for a speedy recovery. Hopefully this won't scare the Pauls off the campaign trail. The good thing is, it gets cooler from here on in. Last week the heat was just brutal in Iowa and I can see why she had health problems. The Bali Satay House where Ronstock was held was a sauna even with the AC on.
Secondly a big thanks to our Iowa hosts for all they work they did to get RP over 1,300 votes. Someone should give them Tommy Thompson and Duncan Hunter's scalps as trophies. Considering that no one had any idea how many Iowans would vote for us, getting over a thousand to come to Ames with little spent on the effort (like buses for example) on a Saturday in 96 degree heat was a big accomplishment.
A big thanks to all those who came from out-of-state or who called Iowans or mail letters to them. These made a difference as well. In the past the straw poll was open to out-of-state voters and if that were true this year we would have won hands down.
We can second guess ourselves that if we done more earlier we might of done better, but that just goes to show that if people hear what RP has to say, they like it and support it. We've proven that in Iowa. Now we have to figure out how to get the word out without the help of the MSM.
Actually, from watching the news on local Iowa TV, reading blogs and what not during the day, RP's coverage was pretty good. Those of you who put up signs and or held signs like I did in the blazing sun pat yourself on the back and those of you who shouted themselves horse for RP, pat yourself on the back. It had the attended effect. Many media people were impresed by how passionate and enthusiastic we were compared to the other candidates.
Yet right now we're a campaign that's a mile-wide and an inch deep. We have support across the country but just not enough of it state by state. Being a national camapaign with plenty of money means that we can survive a fifth place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll whereas Huckabee, Brownback and Tancredo will still struggle. But it also means we have to raise our national poll numbers to rise those in the states we wish to target to win.
Make no mistake what we're trying to do is very difficult. No sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives has been elected President, much less nominated by their own parties, since James Garfield in 1880 and that was only because he was a compromise choice of a deadlocked GOP convention. Not even two Speakers of the House, Champ Clark of Missouri in 1912 and John Nance Garner of Texas in 1932, could win their party's nomination nor a powerful committee chairman like Wilbur Mills of Arkansas in 1972.
To win the GOP nomination (and any talk of non-major party efforts is verboten) RP has to place at least in the top three in Iowa (which I think will be rescheduled to Jan. 7) and then win the following:
New Hampshire - Jan. 12
Nevada - Jan. 19
South Carolina - Jan. 19
Wyoming - Jan. 22
Hopefully the wins in the small states will sling shot us to first or second in Florida on Jan. 29 and the momentum there carry us to Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 the way Kerry used momentum to win the Democratic Party nomination in 2004. It's the only way it can be done.
I talked to one Iowan RP supporter who told me she personally polled her fellow Iowans in Brownback's tent and said RP's name recognition was still an issue. So how can raise RP's profile when we face an indiffiernt media?
First we can quit bitching about RP's lack of press coverage. It's a waste of time and energy (unless some writer has posted something completely stupid or snarky about Paul or he's blatantly ignored as Fox News did to him in reporting the Ames resulsts). Look, here's the reason why the press is wary of RP despite his internet following: Howard Dean. Four years ago they got burned by Dean, thinking his internet support was going to carry him to the nomination. Now granted RP is not Howard Dean but Dean's flameout means that reporters are going to be skeptical of any internet based candidate from now on until one wins a major party nomination. Until RP's numbers rise in the traditional polls, they won't pay much attention to him like it or not. And before anyone complains ask yourself would you give equal time to a candidate like Duncan Hunter at this point? Neither would I.
So how do we get attention for RP outside of the MSM or that will eventually draw in coverage?
1). Becoming the new youth movement on campus this fall. The GOP is literally becoming the party of grandma and grandpa. Romney and Tancredo had to cart their Iowa supporters to the polls to keep them from walking across the parking lots of the Iowa State Center in the heat. If RP can develop a strong following on campuses across the country, then such youth will be in nice contrast to the other GOP candidates and be a good angle for reporters to cover and good way to sell RP to the GOP establishment (Want to keep having a Republican Party in the furture? Vote for Ron Paul!). As Eugene McCarthy, Barry Goldwater and George McGovern proved, youthful energy draws people. I had a College Republican come up to me from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa who said RP had a lot of supporters there. And what better way to draw that support than to raise the specter of the draft. Our "war czar's" comments about the draft last weekend were like manna from heaven and must be exploited to motivate support for RP.
2). Meetup.com groups, keep doing what you're doing. Sign waving, signs on overpasses, parades, leafletting, videos, letters to the editor, street theater. Keep at it. Don't wait for commands from HQ, JUT DO IT!
3). Advertising. If it wasn't for Lord Xar and our ads just before the straw poll I don't think we get over 1,000 votes. Our efforts made a huge difference. I see others are thinking along similar lines. Setting up PACs and Pay Pals to pay for local advertising will reap huge benefits and help the national camapagn save their resources until January approaches. But we must target the January and Super Tuesday states. I will be more than happy to spread the world via email if any group needs money to place newspaper or radio ads and happy to contribute because I think it is an effective form of campaign donation. Let's get to it.
I think if we would have finished fourth or higher we would have been estatic but fifth in the context of trying to accomplish a year's worth of work in four month's time, is still solid. We are a guerrilla army and what does a guerrilla army do? It lives to fight another day until time and conditions warrant an all out attack. That's what Ames was in the end, we live to fight another day.:)
Secondly a big thanks to our Iowa hosts for all they work they did to get RP over 1,300 votes. Someone should give them Tommy Thompson and Duncan Hunter's scalps as trophies. Considering that no one had any idea how many Iowans would vote for us, getting over a thousand to come to Ames with little spent on the effort (like buses for example) on a Saturday in 96 degree heat was a big accomplishment.
A big thanks to all those who came from out-of-state or who called Iowans or mail letters to them. These made a difference as well. In the past the straw poll was open to out-of-state voters and if that were true this year we would have won hands down.
We can second guess ourselves that if we done more earlier we might of done better, but that just goes to show that if people hear what RP has to say, they like it and support it. We've proven that in Iowa. Now we have to figure out how to get the word out without the help of the MSM.
Actually, from watching the news on local Iowa TV, reading blogs and what not during the day, RP's coverage was pretty good. Those of you who put up signs and or held signs like I did in the blazing sun pat yourself on the back and those of you who shouted themselves horse for RP, pat yourself on the back. It had the attended effect. Many media people were impresed by how passionate and enthusiastic we were compared to the other candidates.
Yet right now we're a campaign that's a mile-wide and an inch deep. We have support across the country but just not enough of it state by state. Being a national camapaign with plenty of money means that we can survive a fifth place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll whereas Huckabee, Brownback and Tancredo will still struggle. But it also means we have to raise our national poll numbers to rise those in the states we wish to target to win.
Make no mistake what we're trying to do is very difficult. No sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives has been elected President, much less nominated by their own parties, since James Garfield in 1880 and that was only because he was a compromise choice of a deadlocked GOP convention. Not even two Speakers of the House, Champ Clark of Missouri in 1912 and John Nance Garner of Texas in 1932, could win their party's nomination nor a powerful committee chairman like Wilbur Mills of Arkansas in 1972.
To win the GOP nomination (and any talk of non-major party efforts is verboten) RP has to place at least in the top three in Iowa (which I think will be rescheduled to Jan. 7) and then win the following:
New Hampshire - Jan. 12
Nevada - Jan. 19
South Carolina - Jan. 19
Wyoming - Jan. 22
Hopefully the wins in the small states will sling shot us to first or second in Florida on Jan. 29 and the momentum there carry us to Super Tuesday on Feb. 5 the way Kerry used momentum to win the Democratic Party nomination in 2004. It's the only way it can be done.
I talked to one Iowan RP supporter who told me she personally polled her fellow Iowans in Brownback's tent and said RP's name recognition was still an issue. So how can raise RP's profile when we face an indiffiernt media?
First we can quit bitching about RP's lack of press coverage. It's a waste of time and energy (unless some writer has posted something completely stupid or snarky about Paul or he's blatantly ignored as Fox News did to him in reporting the Ames resulsts). Look, here's the reason why the press is wary of RP despite his internet following: Howard Dean. Four years ago they got burned by Dean, thinking his internet support was going to carry him to the nomination. Now granted RP is not Howard Dean but Dean's flameout means that reporters are going to be skeptical of any internet based candidate from now on until one wins a major party nomination. Until RP's numbers rise in the traditional polls, they won't pay much attention to him like it or not. And before anyone complains ask yourself would you give equal time to a candidate like Duncan Hunter at this point? Neither would I.
So how do we get attention for RP outside of the MSM or that will eventually draw in coverage?
1). Becoming the new youth movement on campus this fall. The GOP is literally becoming the party of grandma and grandpa. Romney and Tancredo had to cart their Iowa supporters to the polls to keep them from walking across the parking lots of the Iowa State Center in the heat. If RP can develop a strong following on campuses across the country, then such youth will be in nice contrast to the other GOP candidates and be a good angle for reporters to cover and good way to sell RP to the GOP establishment (Want to keep having a Republican Party in the furture? Vote for Ron Paul!). As Eugene McCarthy, Barry Goldwater and George McGovern proved, youthful energy draws people. I had a College Republican come up to me from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa who said RP had a lot of supporters there. And what better way to draw that support than to raise the specter of the draft. Our "war czar's" comments about the draft last weekend were like manna from heaven and must be exploited to motivate support for RP.
2). Meetup.com groups, keep doing what you're doing. Sign waving, signs on overpasses, parades, leafletting, videos, letters to the editor, street theater. Keep at it. Don't wait for commands from HQ, JUT DO IT!
3). Advertising. If it wasn't for Lord Xar and our ads just before the straw poll I don't think we get over 1,000 votes. Our efforts made a huge difference. I see others are thinking along similar lines. Setting up PACs and Pay Pals to pay for local advertising will reap huge benefits and help the national camapagn save their resources until January approaches. But we must target the January and Super Tuesday states. I will be more than happy to spread the world via email if any group needs money to place newspaper or radio ads and happy to contribute because I think it is an effective form of campaign donation. Let's get to it.
I think if we would have finished fourth or higher we would have been estatic but fifth in the context of trying to accomplish a year's worth of work in four month's time, is still solid. We are a guerrilla army and what does a guerrilla army do? It lives to fight another day until time and conditions warrant an all out attack. That's what Ames was in the end, we live to fight another day.:)