Ideas for winning the Ames strawpoll

[Eric21ND]

Should we be posting our strategy in open forums like this?

[GunnyFreedom]

Should we be posting our strategy in open forums like this?

I would like to help come up with an executable plan also, but like you will stand down until we now the level of privacy/security we want to employ on this operation.

[Eric21ND]

I have several ideas I'd like to discuss.

[Maximus]

Think we should post away... throwing out tons of ideas can't hurt

[One Last Battle!]

We need a blimp.

[james1906]

We need a blimp.

Yes, but to appeal to the people of Iowa, it must be shaped like an ear of corn.

[Agorism]

The Corn blimp. Maybe we can rent this one.

http://www.goodcleantech.com/images/personal%20blimp.bmp

This one is yellow too but I think it's for dumping water.
http://gliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/skycat-01.jpg

[robertwerden]

The key to winning AMES is converting voters away from the competition and to Paul. It can not be who is the loudest again.
Most of the Romney voters did not even know anything about Romney, they just voted for him because they were paid to.

[Agorism]

Ron Paul had little support at time of straw poll compared to actual caucus I think. Even if we have our existing support we will get top 2-3 I think. It's just a matter of actually winning it.

[erowe1]

The key to winning AMES is converting voters away from the competition and to Paul. It can not be who is the loudest again.
Most of the Romney voters did not even know anything about Romney, they just voted for him because they were paid to.

I don't think we're liable to get many people who were bused in and paid to vote for Romney or anyone else to vote for RP. I think we need to, and can, beat them at their own game. We need to provide transportation to and from Ames and places to stay there for RP supporters from all over the state. We need to draw them there with some incentives to make it an experience of a lifetime worth taking time off work and traveling to do, with a big Ron Paul party with live music and speakers, etc., kind of like an outdoor Rally for the Republic, only where RP supporters who are legal residents of Iowa are the guests of honor. We should shoot for 10,000 votes for RP. And we need to have every RP meetup group, Facebook group, etc., in Iowa, and the statewide structure of CFL all participating in a big way recruiting people to go and cooperating with an organized support group of out-of-state help that will step in to help provide them with the funds they need to be able to get people to Ames without any out-of-pocket expenses on their part.

[Agorism]

Busing requires money...so whether we get busing just depends on whether C4L and Paul has that.

Also thre is a point of diminishing returns with busing. You need a good chunk of money to do it, but that's all you need. Say 300K or so. You can put 100 million into busing, but your return is going to go down very quickly after the initial amount.

[erowe1]

Busing requires money...so whether we get busing just depends on whether C4L and Paul has that.

Also thre is a point of diminishing returns with busing. You need a good chunk of money to do it, but that's all you need. Say 300K or so. You can put 100 million into busing, but your return is going to go down very quickly after the initial amount.

Buses should be booked according to need. The details of how many buses and where they leave from could be something the local groups in Iowa figure out with their knowledge of how things look on the ground across the state. The campaign could pay for it. But it doesn't have to be the campaign. We could do it separately, as long as we don't collude with the campaign.

It's also not out of the question that we could get Mitt to pay for our busing again (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/paul-camp-may-catch-romneys-bus/). Although it's perhaps not wise to bank on that.

[RPgrassrootsactivist]

Doug Wead's comments from December 2008 on the Ames straw poll: http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/how-ron-paul-wins-in-2012-step-one/

[Bergie Bergeron]

Doug Wead's comments from December 2008 on the Ames straw poll: http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/how-ron-paul-wins-in-2012-step-one/
I love that guy.

[jake]

first of all , we need a website to organize carpooling, buses etc. that way we can tally the numbers to ensure victory..

[RPgrassrootsactivist]

first of all , we need a website to organize carpooling, buses etc. that way we can tally the numbers to ensure victory..

If Ron runs (and I suspect he probably will), the campaign itself should be responsible for this.

I just hope Ron brings some new people into his campaign staff; people who really know how to organize the grassroots and social networks.

[Imperial]

Anybody know when the exact date yet? I am now only a few hours north, so....

[libertybrewcity]

Doug Wead's comments from December 2008 on the Ames straw poll: http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/how-ron-paul-wins-in-2012-step-one/

Paul/Weed 2012? Weed/Paul 2012?

[Eric21ND]

The key to winning AMES is converting voters away from the competition and to Paul. It can not be who is the loudest again.
Most of the Romney voters did not even know anything about Romney, they just voted for him because they were paid to.
Ames isn't about converting so much. For the most part people already know who they like.

Ames is about turning out your base to the polls.

[Eric21ND]

Anybody know when the exact date yet? I am now only a few hours north, so....
Early August....like the 7th or around there.

[Eric21ND]

first of all , we need a website to organize carpooling, buses etc. that way we can tally the numbers to ensure victory..
We need buses running from the major cities in Iowa....both East and West parts.

Let's not forget Ron actually won southern Iowa county...perhaps we should bus from that county as well.

[Nathan Hale]

Ames isn't about converting so much. For the most part people already know who they like.

Ames is about turning out your base to the polls.

This is an important point. Forget about education, our money should be spent getting our people to the polls. Let the activists on the ground work on education with their own money and efforts - the organized effort should be to get those activists and supporters to the event.

[Elwar]

We, the grassroots, need to do all that we can do outside of the official campaign to get people there.

We want people to go to Ames and vote for Ron Paul. The means can vary quite a bit.

I've been considering putting together a website to help strategize and coordinate information that we don't want the other candidates to know (such as potential voters, phone numbers, etc).

We should still keep the ideas flowing in open forums but coordinate amongst veteran supporters...

[raystone]

With the number of us that will make the trip, it will be one hell of a liberty party.

[Eric21ND]

With the number of us that will make the trip, it will be one hell of a liberty party.
I have an idea to draw the college crowd since school won't be in session yet....we should have a concert. And I don't mean Billy Jim Bob and his pick up band, I'm talking booking some respectable musicians.

And Sara Evens is not getting booked this time around. :mad:

[garyallen59]

I have an idea to draw the college crowd since school won't be in session yet....we should have a concert. And I don't mean Billy Jim Bob and his pick up band, I'm talking booking some respectable musicians.

And Sara Evens is not getting booked this time around. :mad:

i definitely agree with this idea.

[Badger Paul]

We need to provide transportation to and from Ames and places to stay there for RP supporters from all over the state. We need to draw them there with some incentives to make it an experience of a lifetime worth taking time off work and traveling to do, with a big Ron Paul party with live music and speakers, etc., kind of like an outdoor Rally for the Republic, only where RP supporters who are legal residents of Iowa are the guests of honor. We should shoot for 10,000 votes for RP. And we need to have every RP meetup group, Facebook group, etc., in Iowa, and the statewide structure of CFL all participating in a big way recruiting people to go and cooperating with an organized support group of out-of-state help that will step in to help provide them with the funds they need to be able to get people to Ames without any out-of-pocket expenses on their part.

I think we have a strategy here.

It's just like the caucus. You find and ID supporters and you commit them to showing up and provide the means to do. But you have to start early. We can't wait until two months before the straw poll to get a local campaign cranked up. You can't just say, let the Iowans do it on their own because they were swamped with work and there was no overall organization until almost the start of August. Everything must get started by March 2011 after winter passes.

AND THE CANDIDATE MUST COME TO IOWA AND MEET WITH VOTERS. Ron Paul cannot make just a couple of appearances in state or do a single tour the week before the Straw Poll. If he's going to run, he must commit himself fully. How else can we ID potential supporters if the candidate isn't on the ground speaking or meeting small groups so people can come away with say "Hey, I want to support Ron Paul. Let me know how I can help"?

Aside from Mitt Moneybags trying to buy the poll, I think we know how we can win and I think we can do so (or at least finish in the top three). Organization is actually quite easy. But it's up to the candidate to bring the voters. We as supporters cannot do this on our own. We can demonstrate our support for RP, but to bring people over the line, they're going to want to meet him and size him up for themselves.

[Elwar]

I've set up a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) site that should help to build leads and track the progress of each lead along with maps and plenty of other info. I could use some help with getting it tested and tweaked, especially anyone who knows SugarCM (http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/node/10024/task%3DdemoSales/tmpl%3Dsecure) well.

We'll be able to have people outside of Iowa call people all over Iowa and get information on them as far as their level of support for Ron Paul and how willing they would be to go vote at the Straw Poll.

We should have a list of people who are willing to vote with their address and phone numbers and have some means of getting them either picked up or get them to the polls to vote for Ron Paul. We can work on that list all year long and worry about the rest as August gets closer.

[Eric21ND]

Ron Paul needs a fully decked out campaign bus roaming Iowa.

It will probably cost $300,000 but we need a war room and Ron to needs to get around the state easily. We can't allow him to be packed in someone's minivan and carted around. We go in style this time around and take this to the next level. No more bush league campaigning, we want to be taken seriously.

[JeremyDahl]

ok I am located in Iowa... the campaign for liberty is pretty large here, you can bet on large turnouts and carpooling...

the rest of the nation and surrounding areas need to get their vote out

[Eric21ND]

ok I am located in Iowa... the campaign for liberty is pretty large here, you can bet on large turnouts and carpooling...

the rest of the nation and surrounding areas need to get their vote out
We need more Iowans to give input on this....what works and what doesn't. Carpooling is a nice side project for sure, but we need buses to take droves of people to Ames just like Romney did.

As for other states, so much depends on a strong showing in Iowa and New Hampshire, otherwise we'll be relegated to a "spoiler" or long shot" candidate again. We want front runner status so they can't dismiss us.

[libertybrewcity]

The Ron Paul campaign should start booking buses soon. Eric 21ND's idea about the concert is brilliant. You would have to figure out a way to get the concert goers to vote though. Many times kids just go to the concert at night and then go home.

A music festival might work, but then again we are talking about lots of money. You might be able to get a major band or two for 100k. If they like Ron Paul, you might be able to get a discount..but I don't know many groups that like Ron Paul.

[Eric21ND]

The Ron Paul campaign should start booking buses soon. Eric 21ND's idea about the concert is brilliant. You would have to figure out a way to get the concert goers to vote though. Many times kids just go to the concert at night and then go home.

A music festival might work, but then again we are talking about lots of money. You might be able to get a major band or two for 100k. If they like Ron Paul, you might be able to get a discount..but I don't know many groups that like Ron Paul.
From what I understand of the Ames strawpoll, most serious campaigns just eat the cost of trasportation, providing entertainment, and buying "dinner tickets" to vote in the straw poll. I think each ticket costs around $35 which the campaign should buy and provide to supporters. Of course supporters I'm sure could buy their own ticket, but thats a dangerous gamble the campaign should not take. If we want to shoot for 5,000-10,000 votes we need the campaign to buy these tickets.

10,000 x 35.00 = $350,000

5,000 x 35.00 = $175,000

[eok321]

From what I understand of the Ames strawpoll, most serious campaigns just eat the cost of trasportation, providing entertainment, and buying "dinner tickets" to vote in the straw poll. I think each ticket costs around $35 which the campaign should buy and provide to supporters. Of course supporters I'm sure could buy their own ticket, but thats a dangerous gamble the campaign should not take. If we want to shoot for 5,000-10,000 votes we need the campaign to buy these tickets.

10,000 x 35.00 = $350,000

5,000 x 35.00 = $175,000

We could pledge to vote for Mitt and get him to buy our tickets;)

[Eric21ND]

The Ron Paul campaign should start booking buses soon. Eric 21ND's idea about the concert is brilliant. You would have to figure out a way to get the concert goers to vote though. Many times kids just go to the concert at night and then go home.

A music festival might work, but then again we are talking about lots of money. You might be able to get a major band or two for 100k. If they like Ron Paul, you might be able to get a discount..but I don't know many groups that like Ron Paul.
Perhaps you need a ticket to attend the concert and before you get it you have to go vote for Ron in the straw poll or similiar gimmick.

Aside from the college kids, we need to focus on social/religious conservatives and economic conservatives. The evangelicals won Iowa for Huckabee in 2008.

[Eric21ND]

We could pledge to vote for Mitt and get him to buy our tickets;)
I admire the subterfuge, but how do you organize that on a massive scale to actually win the strawpoll? If a few hundred people do this, great less money the campaign has to spend. But I want our organization to strike fear into the other campaigns, I want to win the damn thing.

Leaching off other campaigns makes us look second-rate and weak if we can't even provide the means to get our supporters to the polls ourselves we might as quite and go golfing.

[S.Shorland]

The Ron Paul campaign should start booking buses soon. Eric 21ND's idea about the concert is brilliant. You would have to figure out a way to get the concert goers to vote though. Many times kids just go to the concert at night and then go home.

A music festival might work, but then again we are talking about lots of money. You might be able to get a major band or two for 100k. If they like Ron Paul, you might be able to get a discount..but I don't know many groups that like Ron Paul.

I did see one very beautiful blonde endorsing Ron Paul on youtube for 2008.I didn't know who she was but from the comments she was a very famous American 'rock chick' as far as I remember.She would be the person to ask about bands in favour of Ron. She's a former baywatch actress. Donna D'Errico.Was aparently married to 'Nikki Sixx' so must know people in that World.

[Eric21ND]

blimp

[dbill27]

I have an idea to draw the college crowd since school won't be in session yet....we should have a concert. And I don't mean Billy Jim Bob and his pick up band, I'm talking booking some respectable musicians.

And Sara Evens is not getting booked this time around. :mad:

Great idea

[Badger Paul]

I think a concert is a good idea as well, perhaps some outdoor venue close by. I don't think you'll be able to book the Hilton Colesum the night before the Straw Poll. Perhaps something in the nearby football stadium, or a field per chance if the weather is nice just like the RFR did in Blaine at the National Sports Center.

[nayjevin]

I have http://www.libertymusicians.com and a Facebook group for liberty musicians. Would gladly use it for this.

[libertybrewcity]

Four words: Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga

[leonster]

John Mayer is a Ron Paul fan... as is Aimee Allen of course. Doesn't Chuck Norris lean his way lately, too? Yeah not a concert, but if he spoke there that would bring out people.

[Mark37snj]

I posted this on another thread,

And he hits the nail on the head as usual! I wish there was a way to get Jack a wider audience.


Ok, so lets do it.

“The Southern Avenger” Jack Hunter is a conservative talk radio host and columnist living in Charleston, South Carolina. Jack is a popular personality at Charleston’s WTMA 1250 AM talk radio, a weekly columnist for the Charleston City Paper, a regular contributor to The American Conservative and is known all over the web for his thought provoking and popular You Tube video commentaries.

So how does one increase the exposure of a:
1) Conservative talk radio show host
2) A weekly columnist for a local paper
3) Posts You Tube video commentaries

One thought that comes to mind is to visit as many political forums, online news sites, etc and post links to his youtube videos and websites. How often does someone click links to see what that person is talking about. I know I do alot and I prefer a video over something that I have to read.

Since he posts a weekly column for a newspaper what about getting it reprinted in college newpapers, websites, etc.

I remember when our meetup group had a table at a sporting jamboree. If one can get it all together, it would be nice to have a tv/monitor with his You Tube vids on it so people could see for themsleves and it would attract attention just by having it. People would want to see what its about and stop by to check it out. I don't know about you but it didn't take alot of listening to Paul to get hooked. Hunter's vids seem to be short, to the point, and interesting enough to want to finish watching it. Its also third party and not a blatent political commercial sponsered by the canidate.


This thread: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?259611-Ideas-for-winning-the-Ames-strawpoll

They talked about how to win the Ames strawpoll in Iowa. One strategy was organizing the college campuses. We should include getting Hunter's column reprinted in their paper and posting flyers of his column. Some have their own radio station. Rebroadcast Hunter's broadcasts. Some schools have their own tv channel. Can we get his You Tube vids broadcast on them? And if they have their own webpage they can post everything.