3rd Quarter Fundraising

[bobmurph]

When the 3rd quarter numbers are released I'd really be interested in finding out the total number of donators to the campaign. As well as other statistics i.e. % that donated $2300, the % that donated $25, and everything in between. Also, would be nice to know what the average donation is.

These stats will speak volumes about how much support Ron Paul actually has. Sure, the "top tier" candidates raise tens of millions, but what percentage of their donators donated $2300? What percent donated $25? My guess is that very few people donate small dollar amounts to the top tier campaigns becuase they're not really enthusiastic about the candidates...or not nearly enough as RP supporters.

If say Obama or Romney each raise $10 million with an average donation of $1000, that is only 10,000 donators...but if Ron Paul raises $5 million with an average donation of $200, that is 25,000 people.

Exciting times. Regardless of the total 3Q fundraising, we need to get good stats to put the best possible spin (for lack of a better term) on the quarterly results.

[hard@work]

What % of their individual donations came pooled together from a lobbyist? That's what I want to compare.

[ItsTime]

What % of their individual donations came pooled together from a lobbyist? That's what I want to compare.

RP = 0%

[Stealth4]

Washington post did this in their sunday paper - online version didnt include the graphic, but they included 4 Dems and 4 Republicans (Ron Paul was one of the 4 listed).

Of Ron Pauls donations thru the 2nd quarter only ~25% came from maxed out donations, the least % of the 4. Romney was had the highest with ~68% maxed out donors. This means RP has much more potential to raise money. Romney needs to attract a lot more new blood and I dont see that happening. (Same goes for Guiliani and McCain, the other 2 repubs listed.

[ronpaulyourmom]

Barack Obama has put up some huge numbers in terms of small donations as well:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0907/Money_update.html#comments

[ThePieSwindler]

Barack Obama has put up some huge numbers in terms of small donations as well:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0907/Money_update.html#comments

Thast because barack is really the only other candidate with grassroots support. Most people see him as a moderate democrat, or a fresh face, or something of that sort. People don't realize he is as far left as hillary on most issues, and his health care plan isn't good at all, even as far as government-backed nationalized health care plans go. He also has this wonderful knack for saying so much so eloquently, without actually saying anything of substance at all. (though i actually think he almost sounds too mechanical, but peolpe find him charismatic for some reason)

[LibertyEagle]

Obama for some reason is drawing a lot of young people. :( Not to mention, a lot of women, because of the Oprah factor.

[libertythor]

Obama is another race baiter that at the same times says he doesn't race bait. Remember when his rhetoric changed its tone after Jesse Jackson said he doesn't "act black".

[Chester Copperpot]

Barack Obama has put up some huge numbers in terms of small donations as well:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0907/Money_update.html#comments

Barack Obama counts EVERY purchase of material Like a $5 keychain as in individual contribution just fyi

[Blowback]

Obama for some reason is drawing a lot of young people. :( Not to mention, a lot of women, because of the Oprah factor.

Damn you Oprah.

[libertythor]

Remember when Bush kissed Oprah just days before the election and got a 3-4% boost in the polls.....?

Sad...truly sad. Not that Gore would have been any better.

[mport1]

I'm pretty sure we have the highest number of young donors and probably the highest average donations with them. It is incredible to see young people donating hundreds of dollars (or even maxing out) to donate to a campaign. Glad I can be a part of it :)

[richard1984]

Obama for some reason is drawing a lot of young people. :( Not to mention, a lot of women, because of the Oprah factor.

The thing about most all of the Obama supporters that I've met (including a few of my friends) is that they don't know squat about the issues. The general mentality that I've picked up on is, 1.) a tendency to project one's own ideas, views, etc. onto Obama, and then to feel as if he actually supporters their general, vague, half-hearted ideas (so they project just enough of themselves onto Obama to keep pacified), and 2.) when the "supporter" is engaged in discussion about his/her candidate, they tend to either cop-out and claim that Obama's positions on the issues are just too complicated for us "normal" folk to understand, or they just discuss the issues using their own ideas, and assume that Obama thinks the same way.

Mainly, though, I've encountered the first mentality. My friend, for example, came back from Summer break with it in his mind that Obama was his candidate (my friend also has a black father and a white mother, so there was that "connection"). Of course, I start in asking if he knows anything about Ron Paul. He didn't, but he said he was supporting Obama. So I talked to him. He had no idea that Obama isn't really an anti-war candidate. He didn't even know that Obama didn't vote against going into Iraq, because he was still just a state senator at the time. So there was absolutely no substance, no research, no knowledge of Obama's stances on the issues at all (or at least for the most part). But my friend still felt a "close connection" with Obama. But these feelings of "connection" that so many young people have are totally superficial. They don't really support their candidate. They just feel like they can relate to him or something unsubstantiated like that.
Of course, in my experience, all Obama "supporters" actually like Ron Paul's stances on the issues, but they already feel so committed and emotionally attached to Obama...they just can't let him down...!

So that's my perspective on Obama "supporters." They consider him a celebrity--like the new hottie on their favorite TV show! (or something equally as ridiculous as that...)


Remember when Bush kissed Oprah just days before the election and got a 3-4% boost in the polls.....?

Sad...truly sad. Not that Gore would have been any better.

And this quote just supports/gives an example of exactly what I'm talking about. So many people go through their lives like moths to a flame--where the flame is their television set. They allow themselves to drift drearily down the toxic bend in the river.

I largely blame the phenomenon on our education system, which beats people down all day, every day, until they're only conscious enough to continually go through the conditioned motions.

We need to realize that we're human beings--not computers or robots. We need to have more faith in significance of that fact--in the innate potential of the human being.


:D Ron Paul supporters are the best!!! :cool:

[Blowback]

So how can we break that. I almost feel bad when I pop someones little bubble that they live in.

People get really emotionally attached to a candidate like Obama because he is cool and they feel like they are the ones running against the mainstream.

Has anyone discovered a really effective, yet sensitive, way of gettting someone to realize the candidate that truly is Obama (mainstream and status-quo in every respect)?

It's kind of like telling someone that they have been fooled before they figure it out for themselves.

[The Good Doctor]

Yeah, wait until Oprah decides she will give anyone the max donation that will donate it! Is that possible and/or legal?


Barack Obama has put up some huge numbers in terms of small donations as well:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0907/Money_update.html#comments

[JosephTheLibertarian]

its good that dems are maxing out their donations... it'll blow up in their faces when Obama loses the nomination ;) Hillary is like 25 points ahead, or so, and she has the support of the democratic establishment

[Richandler]

There is a misconception that Obama is a good public speaker. He looks down, pauses more times a minute than his heart beats. Obama can't win. Anyway we need to get more people, with more money. 75,000 donors for Obama. More than all Republicans combined. The real factor he is is a leech pool of people who supposedly want change. Steal his voters.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

There is a misconception that Obama is a good public speaker. He looks down, pauses more times a minute than his heart beats. Obama can't win. Anyway we need to get more people, with more money. 75,000 donors for Obama. More than all Republicans combined. The real factor he is is a leech pool of people who supposedly want change. Steal his voters.

Ron Paul is good at making dems ex-dems ;) Obama, a socialist, doesn't have that luxury. There's also a high likelihood that Ron Paul will be the nomination of the CP and the LP... a first three party nomination? That means that RP could be on the ballots, weather he gets the gop nomination, or not

[richard1984]

As we know, a lot of voters haven't really been paying attention to the presidential race yet (I guess they want the media to pick their candidates for them...:confused:)--especially, I would guess, Republican voters (like my parents, my fiancée's parents, and all of their friends), since the party is disillusioned.
This doesn't just hold true for the GOP base, though, but probably most voters (even "Obama supporters"). Again, like we've said, most of his "supporters" don't really know anything about him--they're just caught-up in the hype and the publicity.
Now that the primaries are really getting underway, I think that we very well may be joined by an exodus of voting Americans who are (almost) as dissatisfied with the way things are going as we are.

I think that we have a LOT to look forward to! :D

[Corydoras]

At this point, Obama basically is running for veep, since his poll numbers are half Hillary's.

One guy I know is backing Obama because he doesn't want the country to be passed between two families (Bushes and Clintons) for an entire generation-- but he also is die-hard Democrat.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

a woman and a biracial uhh supposedly "black" guy...interesting ticket