Help! Please explain this to me!

[spacehabitats]

Is anyone else frustrated by the lack of support and the nonchalance toward these last few primary states? The great results in Idaho (though not unexpected) only make my frustration WORSE.

On March 26th I posted the thread,

" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1482429#post1482429) Would you like to WIN in Idaho?" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1482429#post1482429)



With the dismal showings in primaries so far, how do I think this is possible? The MSM media is still against us and will continue its national blackout. Our numbers and morale have been decimated.

1) John McCain and his supporters believe he has the nomination “sewn up”. Whether he does or not is irrelevant. The belief is enough to eliminate any reason for his followers to make it to the polls. If you thought the turn out for the Republican primaries were anemic before, they will only get worse now.

2) There is no competition for the “anyone-but-McCain” votes. The fact that Huckabee received a substantial number of votes after he quit is more of a testament to how much John is disliked than it is to his own popularity. Almost all of the votes should have gone to Ron Paul. With the right campaign strategy they will.

3) There are some red states left that have a substantial number of Republicans that would love to have someone to vote for other than John McCain.

4) Some of these states, like Nebraska and Idaho, have relatively small populations that are concentrated in a small geographical area. This would make it far easier to reach a substantial percentage of voters with far less expenditure of manpower or money.

5) On a local level, the strangle hold of the CFR-controlled media is minimized. Trust me, a speech or rally by a presidential candidate in Omaha will make the evening news.

6) The only way a Republican primary vote will have any meaning now is if it sends a message to the Republican establishment that the rank and file members are UNHAPPY with the candidate that is being forced down there throat. The only way to send that message effectively is to vote for Ron Paul. We can communicate that if we are given the right tools.

So what’s the catch? We need to change our strategy. And by “we”, I mean Ron Paul.
Since the beginning of this campaign he has been far too detached. He spent fewer days in Iowa than any other candidate and it cost him dearly (maybe even the nomination if you consider that he was within 3% of beating both McCain and Thompson). Regardless of his rationale for that decision, he needs to understand the importance of changing his ways, at least temporarily. He has never seemed to appreciate the importance of retail politics to this campaign. That means public appearances, speeches, and rallies by HIM, not a surrogate or a band of supporters. THAT will get him in the news and nothing less. But what I’m talking about is little more than the time an author would spend on a book tour.

And that brings us back to the tipping point. Combustion occurs not from the amount of heat, but the concentration of heat. If the campaign can convince just 50,000 voters between now and May to vote for Ron Paul he could WIN the primary in Nebraska. Spread that same number over five states and you might not even be able to detect the percentage change. Even put them all in Pennsylvania and it probably wouldn’t make the front page.

But I need your help. Dr. Paul is not going to do this just for fun. He will respond to us IF WE ASK HIM TO DO THIS. Otherwise it will be business as usual and we will have lost a golden opportunity to gain invaluable credibility for our entire movement.This is NOT to bash Ron Paul. This is not even to say "I told you so" (but I did tell you so:cool:.)

But can somebody pleeeeeeease tell me what I am missing here?

Why in the name of God's Green Earth would it have NOT BEEN A GOOD IDEA TO MAKE 3 OR 4 MORE APPEARANCES IN IDAHO!

What is he THINKING?

[Jeremy]

I would agree with you that he should have gone there more... but then again after the PA primary the Pennsylvanians were complaining that he didn't go to their state enough. And he had like 5 rallies!

[MozoVote]

We're a mosh pit compared to Huck's Army right now.

[WRellim]

You mean the last 48, right? ...all of the ones after Iowa and New Hampshire?

[spacehabitats]

I would agree with you that he should have gone there more... but then again after the PA primary the Pennsylvanians were complaining that he didn't go to their state enough. And he had like 5 rallies!

And Pennsylvania was one of his best primaries!

Not just because he was a native son, not because he went to school there, and not even because he had a lot of hardworking supporters there.... it was because he went there.

I am not a resident in any of the states I was lobbying for. (I live in Iowa.)
I will admit, I wanted to see him come to Nebraska because I am close enough that I did canvas there.

And I found out that there were way too many people who thought that he had dropped out.
You can blame the MSM all you want, but RP has to share some of the blame for just not being there.

[Jeremy]

Well the reason I brought up PA is that it seems like people will complain no matter what happens.

[Sally08]

And I found out that there were way too many people who thought that he had dropped out.

I'm in the Chicago suburbs and I've been shocked at how few people have ever even heard his *name* before, let alone in the Presidential context:(

And as others have posted, those that do recognize his name start laughing due to the reputations earned by the RP supporters (as reported by MSM).

I just hope that people in "RP's name" (legitimate or plants) don't trigger riots at the RNC.

[yaz]

He would have gotten 3rd in Iowa if he made more stops.

[spacehabitats]

Well the reason I brought up PA is that it seems like people will complain no matter what happens.

But this isn't just complaining about the quality of hot lunch at school, and I wouldn't even be here if I did not care about the future of this movement.

The question is valid. Why won't he at least try to pretend to be a candidate "in the conventional sense" for at least one state?

I guess maybe I should explain that I think a major flaw in this campaign has been the very few personal appearances that Ron has made.

I think he missed coming in third or possibly even second in Iowa because of how little he campaigned here.

He just doesn't seem to want to put his feet on the ground in the states where he could make major news and possibly take a primary.

When he comes in poorly WE were very quick to blame the MSM bias (true)and the MSM was quick to dismiss him as a fringe candidate with an unpopular message (NOT true).

But nobody wanted to acknowledge the elephant in the room... That Ron Paul made (and continues to make) fewer personal appearances than any other presidential candidate, BY FAR.

Don't believe me? Then compare the numbers.

http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/schedules/pastevents.html#candidate15


I swear that Thompson still has a higher total number of campaign appearances than RP even though he started later and dropped out months ago.

WHY?

[Jeremy]

Don't ask me... maybe he's just tired (he's 72 remember)... idk...

[spacehabitats]

I'm in the Chicago suburbs and I've been shocked at how few people have ever even heard his *name* before, let alone in the Presidential context:(

And as others have posted, those that do recognize his name start laughing due to the reputations earned by the RP supporters (as reported by MSM).

I just hope that people in "RP's name" (legitimate or plants) don't trigger riots at the RNC.

If nothing else I think that this is a legitimate concern for any future presidential campaign that we (meaning the Ron Paul/Freedom/Liberty movement, whatever we are) might want to undertake.

In 2012, even if Ron Paul, at age 76, wanted to run (which I highly doubt) WE CAN NOT AFFORD TO SUPPORT A CANDIDATE WHO IS NOT WILLING TO GIVE IT ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. There is a reason why presidential candidates organize and attend rallies; Because they work!

And a candidate that is being ignored by the media needs that "up close and personal", feet on the ground, whistle-stopping, baby-kissing, hand-shaking, PERSONAL appearance type of campaigning more than anyone!

Any candidate (not blessed by the MSM and the Conspiracy) who will not do that in Iowa and New Hampshire might as well save everybody a lot of time and money and just stay home.

[spacehabitats]

He's afraid.

Even at this point maybe he thinks that if he makes too big of a splash, he would be a target for assassination.

I honestly can't understand it otherwise.

[Cowlesy]

I know there are a lot of varying opinions on Mark Sanford, but I see him as one of our better shots of running someone who at least shares some principles with Ron Paul as President in 2012.

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

In fact, if there are any South Carolinians on the board, he apparently holds appointments for any constituents after 4pm (5 minute blocks) to discuss whatever is on their mind. I wish I could find the citation for this.

Getting activists like the Grassroots of Ron Paul is every politician's dream. I am sure it'd be some sort of influence on his thinking 4 years from now especially if our (R) party goes down in flames in November.

Just throwing that out there while brainstorming

[satchelmcqueen]

from what i understand, he does make alot of speeches and lots of rallies, only the media doesnt cover them.

[wowabunga]

I'm in the Chicago suburbs and I've been shocked at how few people have ever even heard his *name* before, let alone in the Presidential context:(


Solve that problem and win a prize...

[WRellim]

WE CAN NOT AFFORD TO SUPPORT A CANDIDATE WHO IS NOT WILLING TO GIVE IT ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. There is a reason why presidential candidates organize and attend rallies; Because they work!

And a candidate that is being ignored by the media needs that "up close and personal", feet on the ground, whistle-stopping, baby-kissing, hand-shaking, PERSONAL appearance type of campaigning more than anyone!

Any candidate (not blessed by the MSM and the Conspiracy) who will not do that in Iowa and New Hampshire might as well save everybody a lot of time and money and just stay home.

Oh absolutely. And to be honest, I personally feel *ripped off* -- you know, fraud, bait-and-switch, the whole shebang.

If I hadn't been convinced by Ron's OWN statements that he WAS in this 100% to win (with at LEAST the old "college try" for "the Gipper") -- then I *never* would have been so stupid as to join the 2300 club last summer.

But the SAD truth of the matter... is that Ron Paul never really WAS in this to win... in fact he never really viewed it as HIS campaign. He agreed to let a small group of people (Snyder, Moore & Co.) to use his name and start a campaign FOR him... but it was THEIR campaign from day one through now. It was the "Snyder, Moore & Co Libertarian/Republican Campaign with occasional guest appearances by Ron Paul!" -- and since he wanted to limit his travel (especially to COLD parts of the country in WINTER) and limit the time he missed from Congress... well there you have it.

Sad, but very much closer to the truth than any of us WANTS to believe.

Problem is that NOT wanting to believe something does NOT make it disappear... there it sits, like the proverbial elephant in the room... waiting for you to come to the realization that it does in fact, exist.

:(

And in a certain sense... he pretty much did follow your statement, he *DID* just stay home, didn't he? Only problem was that they didn't shut down the campaign when (I surmise) they had planned to... after the NH failure... in part because they had all of that extra money laying around... and all of the supporters... thus we have this long, dragged out torturous, insane "Waiting for Godot" campaign. :eek:

[wowabunga]

Oh absolutely. And to be honest, I personally feel *ripped off* -- you know, fraud, bait-and-switch, the whole shebang.

I feel the same way.... about the GOP...!!! :D

Ron gets no credit for having a number one best seller book ? To me that is kick ass.

[Sally08]

I think this Newsweek article explains a lot of what we have noted.

I think that RP was the one who has been most surprised that enough monies were raised to keep him in the race for this long. In the few interviews I watched, RP always seemed to express surprise about how well his campaign was going.

As I recall, he also indicated how he was basically talked into running in the first place, as well.

RP also realistically prioritized his "bird-in-hand" Congressional seat over his Presidential campaign.

At this point of his career, the driving desire to become President simply was not there; it probably had never been there. A little different than Hillary and Bill!

I suspect that RP is doing the "honorable" thing in honoring his word to keep campaigning so long as people are supporting him and the money is there. RP also wanted to use the campaign as a bully pulpit for his views.

If my hypothesis is correct, the last thing RP wants/expects would be to get the GOP nomination by stealth tactics and a "coup" at the RNC.

And if, by any combination of events, RP were to become President, it would tear apart his whole lifestyle/quality of life with Carol and their large extended family. It might even get him killed-

Is that the sacrifice we expect RP to make for *us*?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/124451
Mar 20, 2008 | Updated: 10:00 a.m. ET Mar 21, 2008

‘I Feel Badly About Just Quitting’
Ron Paul on why he's still running for president.

I think what I've done over the years is different from other people running for office, because most of the time people run for only one reason, which is to win a political office. They go out and they take polls and figure out what they need to say because the goal of winning comes before anything else. In my case, winning is important, but I need to win on principles that are important to me. If I win on other peoples' principles, I lose.

OK, but at some point you've got to think "enough is enough." When do you decide it's time to throw in the towel?

I will keep campaigning for as long as people are supporting me and the money is there and that's what they want. I feel badly about just quitting. We have 30,000 voters on our list in Pennsylvania, and if I just quit tomorrow--and people can make a case for that: how long should I do this?--I would feel badly. I would feel as though I had let them down. So for me, it's indefinite.

[Tarzan]

Is anyone else frustrated by the lack of support and the nonchalance toward these last few primary states? The great results in Idaho (though not unexpected) only make my frustration WORSE.

This is NOT to bash Ron Paul. This is not even to say "I told you so" (but I did tell you so:cool:.)

But can somebody pleeeeeeease tell me what I am missing here?

Why in the name of God's Green Earth would it have NOT BEEN A GOOD IDEA TO MAKE 3 OR 4 MORE APPEARANCES IN IDAHO!

What is he THINKING?

To paraphrase an Eisenhower mantra; Determining someone's motivation is hard... judge their actions instead.

Based on RPs actions there was never a serious attempt to win the presidential nomination. The final phases of this campaign are little more that a book tour. There is no serious effort to take the real and necessary steps to continue and grow this "revolution". But the actions speak clearly. Either there is NO plan to make a real difference... or the plan is a REALLY bad one.

Why didn't RP make a real effort to win the nomination... why doesn't he take effective action to continue this movement... why have we all been left out to dry... I wish I could tell you. You would have to climb into RPs head to get an answer. I don't expect we will ever get a real answer... just loads of speculation from those who can never know for certain... and false bravado from those who can't see the obvious and desperately and falsely believe we are making a difference.