I just don't know!!

[goRPaul]

I don't know if we're going to win any primaries. I know Ron's an amazing man, the most qualified and deserving of the presidency in this election, no doubt about that. Our great country has a very bleak future in front of us, maybe not in the next five years, but the next twenty or the next fifty years, we're going to see our country in a virtual collapse. Whenever I dwell on these facts, I start rethinking my disbelief of destiny- maybe this man is destined to save America?

The thing is, every once in a while I read an intelligent article that brings Ron's chances into perspective. Even though we're doing great, the most passionate campaigns have often endured tough defeat. We may only be a small yet vociferous group of people, destined for the footnotes of the history books. I love us; we're the best supporters ever. We're doing so well, and all the one-liners of history's past make our revolution so much fun. But I just don't know if it'll be enough to topple the establishment. I just don't know.

[steph3n]

goRPaul,

It can be depressing, but press on. be a 1%er :)

[pdavis]

Get out of here with your negativity!:mad:

[wgadget]

Um....Did you get to watch the NewsHour PBS interview RP just had?

It was utterly awesome. And long. And uninterrupted.

[kylejack]

I used to think I was indecisive, but now I just don't know.

[bbachtung]

We will win primaries . . . so many of them that you'll look back on this post and laugh.

Seriously . . . save this post so that you can see how low you got.

[skiingff]

Honestly, I believe we need to invest all our energy into Iowa and New Hampshire. They, together, encompass 85% of all media attention for the entire primaries.

If Ron Paul does poorly in Iowa, and then New Hampshire - it's ALLLLLL over folks!!!

[rp4pres]

Trust me... It's going to be the most astonishing land slide victory in GOP primary history.

[kylejack]

On a more serious note:

I still consider this campaign a longshot, but I'm encouraged that we have had slow but steady progress in the polls, and explosive financing growth.

[nbhadja]

Cheer up, Ron has a legit chance of winning. His message is really spreading rapidly. Even if he fails, it's a beautiful site to see the younger generation that I am a part of rally around Ron Paul so much. We all recognize a change in needed badly. Pretty surprising, I thought the older generation would be smarter, but they are the idiots who are captivated by lying, incest marrying, buffoon candidates that are bankrupting the country and policing the world. As Ron Paul said, they have been raised their whole life with the beliefs that these views are effective.

This young generation will grow up to run the country, and vote for our generation's Ron Paul, if this Ron Paul doesn't win.

[r3volution]

if we all thought like you , you would have a point . thank god we don't ..

[Adamsa]

Don't worry, at least any other Republican candidate can get beaten by Hillary and maybe wake the party up from it's neo-conservative crapfest.

Ron Paul will do very well though, a victory isn't impossible.

[me3]

Folks, the reason why Dr. Paul speaks in depth on the issues, and continues to hammer home the more intricate details of the system, why he doesn't dumb down the message to sound bites, is that the cause of Liberty and the sanctity of the Constitution are not one man causes.

It's all of our cause.

Even when this Presidential campaign is over, Dr. Paul is going to need help. We're going to need to be smarter about who we pick for the Senate and Congress. We need to keep an eye on the GOP to make sure that the neocons never regain the balance of power. We need to maintain the network and activism for the next election in 4 years.

We must stay educated, and continue to educate others about the Constitution. We can't slack off and forget this experience in 2009.

We've all been changed by this in some way or another. That change is the Revolution.

[pdavis]

We will win primaries . . . so many of them that you'll look back on this post and laugh.

Seriously . . . save this post so that you can see how low you got.


Trust me... It's going to be the most astonishing land slide victory in GOP primary history.

That's the spirit!:)

[wgadget]

If you think about how the other Republicans bicker over the stupidest things, making themselves out to look asinine and incompetent, and then

you think about how the Republican voters are so divided amongst these fools, and then

you think about the huge number of Republican voters who will not vote at all, and then

you think about the comparatively massive and fervent support for Ron Paul among us....

WHO do you think will get the biggest percentage of primary votes? Hmmm? Hmmm??

[Ron Paul Fan]

It's going to be tough. All we can do is keep spreading the word and giving money. Talking about how we will fail is not going solve all of our problems. And just being optimistic like Mitt Romney says won't solve all of the problems either. Spread the word and give money. That's all we can do. It's going to be a complete shock if Ron Paul wins the Republican nomination, but it can be done. Who would have thought that the campaign would raise $5 million in one quarter when it started? Not even Ron Paul did. So there's reason to be optimistic, but it's still going to be an uphill battle.

[klamath]

Honestly, I believe we need to invest all our energy into Iowa and New Hampshire. They, together, encompass 85% of all media attention for the entire primaries.

If Ron Paul does poorly in Iowa, and then New Hampshire - it's ALLLLLL over folks!!!

Right on!


To OP we all have our down days. Try and concentrate on the objective.

[Paulitician]

No one knows. That doesn't mean you have to lose hope or feel helpless right now. There is still so much to be done, so much time left. Leave the horrible feelings to when after primaries are over and we don't get the results we want (hopefully that's never the case). Right now we have work to do.

[wgadget]

I need to tell you guys that my mother (age 70) has been watching RP all day today, almost anxiously, and has practically fallen in love with the man...(Hi, Mom, if you're reading!)

My dad, who has been watching along with her, told me today after the PBS interview that he's "warming up to the guy." He had told me earlier that he can't win because he didn't have executive experience. I asked him to go off the deep end and donate $5.

[Tratzman]

If you think about how the other Republicans bicker over the stupidest things, making themselves out to look asinine and incompetent, and then

you think about how the Republican voters are so divided amongst these fools, and then

you think about the huge number of Republican voters who will not vote at all, and then

you think about the comparatively massive and fervent support for Ron Paul among us....

WHO do you think will get the biggest percentage of primary votes? Hmmm? Hmmm??

BINGO!!

He's already winning small straw polls around the USA, some convincingly and that's with only maybe 20% (tops) knowing anything about him right now. Just wait til he starts spending some of that cash in the early states!:)

[paulitics]

We should be thinking less about will we win any primaries, and more about HOW we are going to win the primaries. We should be focused on Nh and Iowa like there is no tomorrow, and I know Im in the minority vs those who want it to just be a national campaign and spend time and money in states we can't win.

After the first few primaries, guys like McCain and Huckabee will drop out and endorse Giuliani. Instead of having to beat 20%,we will have to beat 50%.

[RP4ME]

Cheer up, Ron has a legit chance of winning. His message is really spreading rapidly. Even if he fails, it's a beautiful site to see the younger generation that I am a part of rally around Ron Paul so much. We all recognize a change in needed badly. Pretty surprising, I thought the older generation would be smarter, but they are the idiots who are captivated by lying, incest marrying, buffoon candidates that are bankrupting the country and policing the world. As Ron Paul said, they have been raised their whole life with the beliefs that these views are effective.

This young generation will grow up to run the country, and vote for our generation's Ron Paul, if this Ron Paul doesn't win.

Hmmm I am not so optomistic - with serious fiancial problems we have typically seen a rise in many a dictaorship. We have given the President right now the power to dissolve teh Constitution and declare marshall Law - if tht should happen now or with Hillary at the helm there is not alot future genrations will be enbled to do...revolt sure but with todays sophistaed weapons, taser beam ray gun etc - we have unique challenges....Im not saying its inevitable but i see thsi election as crucial.

We are rapidly becoming aware of things that were deemed conspiracy before (NAU, NWO plans, Dollr debasing , new currency uniting many countries) and so this is our window of oppty. to set thinsg right before we lose our country....with the still free interet we have so much knowledge but will it spread fast enough and in time? Think of all they evil chnges that Hillary or Guiliani would enact that would radically alter our country forever......into something of nightmare. No I say this is our best shot right here right now!

[Travis]

Here is no time or energy for doubt. We will win if we stay focused and keep working hard and passionately. We will pull this off and it will be the greatest moment in US history!

[terlinguatx]

...

[Pete]

Just go to Disney World and you'll feel better. :D


Seriously, every step of the way is fraught with disaster. Now that I think about it, many elections over the last 40 years have had candidates try to take on the establishment only to lose: Goldwater, Buchanan, Robertson, Perot, even LeRouche. I thought all these guys were geeks, but really they were savaged by the press.

This time, a lot of bright young people are on fire. Young people can accomplish a hell of a lot! RP is intelligent and so are his supporters. I cannot recall ever seeing so much forceful and persuasive discussion on behalf of a candidate. RP is the Real Deal with no baggage, no scandal. The country is ripe for his message thanks to overconfidence by Mr. G. W. Bush. The internet caught the old keepers of the information gates flatfooted. The other candidates are the most motley assortment of shills and hacks that could be conceived. Really, it looks to me like everything is aligned for an RP victory, the present challenge being to spread the word with boots on the ground. If we do that, money will follow.

To me, everything about this election feels like a major shift in history.

[wgadget]

Not to mention the good that Dr. Paul is doing for himself by doing so well in media interviews of late. This will only attract more people to his website, and to his youtubes. By then the votes are pretty much all sewn up.

[max]

But I just don't know if it'll be enough to topple the establishment. I just don't know.

With all due respect, love, and admiration....please allow me to bitch slap your inner child! SMACK!

Tough love pal!

Listen, can you imagine what the odds were of the Founding Fathers beating the British Empire? Belive me...a lot greater odds than we face.

But they did it. How? The same way we are gonna do it!

LEVERAGE! They parlayed a MINOR victory at Trenton, and then Princeton, into gaining more colonist support as well the French to take us seriously and help us win. (Without France, the revolutuion would have failed)

That's what we have to do. New Hampshire and Iowa are our "Trenton and Princeton."...Small states that can be won if we keep raising money and placing ads.

Win New Hampshire ( a libertarian state!)...and just wait and see how many fence sitters jump on our bandwagon. I personally know at least a dozen people who would LOVE to see RP win but are skeptical. If we win NH...I guarantee I'll get each of these guys to write checks to RP!

Sorry for the smack...but it was good for you!

[skiingff]

We should be thinking less about will we win any primaries, and more about HOW we are going to win the primaries. We should be focused on Nh and Iowa like there is no tomorrow

x2

[sylvania]

You also have to have faith in Ron Paul's political brilliance.

This is a man who has defeated incredible odds not once, but twice!!! He beat the incumbent candidate when running for Congress in 1978 (Gammage) and 1996 (Laughlin). Just to give you some perspective, in 2004 the retention rate for members of congress was 98.8% and it has always been extremely high. (Congressional retention rates here (http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/rodmacher/wb/88142), look at his Wiki page for details on the 1978 and 1996 campaigns.)

He is a great strategist. I have been surprised to learn of some of his tactics from previous races. Like the time he threw Eric Dondero with a yarmulke on into the middle of a press conference designed to oust Ron Paul as an anti-semite and had him shout, "I was Jewish, and was a top Campaign Staffer for Ron Paul," and continue that Ron Paul would not have hired him if he hated Jews. (Eric Dondero is Jewish, so that was not made up.) (Here for the source.) (http://adamholland.blogspot.com/2007/09/ron-paul-staffer-had-person-pose-as-jew.html)

Or the time he put a radio ad on the very morning of the election that was against George Gammage (the incumbent at the time). It pretty much cost Gammage the race. Here's the snippet from the article where I learned of this incident:


An Aggressive Campaigner

Gammage himself learned the hard way not to underestimate Paul, an obstetrician from Brazoria County.

On the morning of the runoff election, Gammage got an early dose of a tactic that, 30 years later, would become known as "swift boating." Gammage says he was jolted out of bed by a radio ad from the Paul campaign that featured a blood-curdling scream.

"The next thing I heard was this sweet girl's little voice saying, 'I hope my daddy and mommy don't vote for Bob Gammage, 'cause he wants to turn the rapists and murders loose to attack us in our beds. I hope my mommy and daddy vote for Ron Paul. He wants to put them in jail where they belong,'" Gammage recalls with a laugh.

It wasn't just the radio ads that gave Gammage fits, but also Paul's intimate relationship to so many voters in a sizable chunk of the congressional district. Especially the mothers.

"I had real difficulty down in Brazoria County, where he practiced, because he'd delivered half the babies in the county," Gammage says. "There were only two obstetricians in the county, and the other one was his partner."
Click here for full article. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15016924)

You must have faith.

I have the tendency to think of Ron Paul as this nice, honest person who tells it like it is, but who is also a bit naive because of his honesty. This is wrong; he is not naive.

He is wily and incredible intelligent, as well as charming. I'll bet he still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

[Bradley in DC]

We are going to win the DC primary.

[wgadget]

And didn't he win a difficult campaign that was stacked against him by his own party? Seems Gingrich had something to do with it...don't remember all the details. But he won it anyway.

[jnpg]

Keep telling people about Ron Paul! You don't have to explain everything. Just tell them what you like about him and ask them to go check him out. I think I converted a contractor and his helper while they were working on my house.

His honesty is enough to make people stop and take a look.

The newshour interview is awesome! Get folks to watch it.

Press on! We can do it!

[shadowhooch]

There is a BIG REASON to be optimistic....

71% of those polled have NO OPINION ABOUT RON PAUL.

This means they haven't heard of him yet. As soon as they do, we will win them over.

So quit wondering and get to work!

[Jojo]

We will win the primaries. As long as there is no funny business with the voting machines.

[BLS]

Blah, blah, blah...I didnt' read all the posts.

Ron Pau WILL WIN the POTUS in a freakin landslide.
It's happening every day.

[Paul4Prez]

I don't know if we're going to win any primaries.

It's not just our enthusiasm and organization that's going to win it for us, it's the apathy of the average American and the lack of enthusiasm for the other candidates.

Voter turnout in the primaries is usually less than 20%. If half of that is Republicans, then it only takes 5% of the population to win the nomination, assuming we get 100% turnout from Ron Paul supporters.

A political pundit might say 100% turnout is unprecedented, but then, so is the Ron Paul Revolution!

[RoamZero]

Not so worried about Paul getting enough people, Im more worried about the potential for vote fraud done against him.

[Paul4Prez]

Honestly, I believe we need to invest all our energy into Iowa and New Hampshire. They, together, encompass 85% of all media attention for the entire primaries.

If Ron Paul does poorly in Iowa, and then New Hampshire - it's ALLLLLL over folks!!!

Don't forget Michigan on January 15th. It usually has an open primary, and most of the Democrats (except Clinton and Dodd) just took their names off the ballot there, because the DP decided to penalize Michigan by taking away all their delegates for moving up their primary.

From what I've seen on YouTube, Michigan was going to be one of Ron Paul's best states, even before that mess....

[goRPaul]

Thanks everyone for commenting, but I'm not as hopeless as my post may have come off to be. "I just don't know" only means I don't know what the outcome will be. My point is pretty simple- We can win just as easily as we can lose.

Believe me, I am committed to do all I can to ensure victory. Every minute that I am awake, I am supporting Ron Paul. Like I said in my post, I often think that Ron is destined to be the president, and I'm a staunch disbeliever in predestination.

I like the point about voter turnout. That's something I've thought a lot about. It won't be 100%, as there will be some democrats who support Ron that won't register republican. But it will certainly be high, higher than 50% I think, whereas most other candidates can expect 5-15%, depending on how committed their followers are.

But again- I just don't know if it will be enough. We're doing great, and time will tell how this campaign manifests itself. I'm only saying that I don't know which way it will go.

[jointhefightforfreedom]

I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT FOR A SEC !! that is a small % of people

yeah yeah i hear how important and the historical elections, those 2 states dont speak for everyone! what if we loose those 2 and then win the next 20 in a row what then? you dont think that could happen?

[OptionsTrader]

Trust me... It's going to be the most astonishing land slide victory in GOP primary history.

I agree!