Agorism
02-09-2011, 03:26 PM
At CPAC, the race for second place as Paul goes all out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nRPE1wFtf4
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0211/At_CPAC_the_race_for_second_place_as_Paul_goes_all _out.html?showall
The Conservative Political Action Conference's annual straw poll typically indicates three things: Whom CPAC's segment of the conservative base prefers for president; who bought tickets for their supporters; and whether Ron Paul is really trying.
The evidence so far this year is that Paul -- who won big in 2010, and whose energetic core of supporters have proven a lot better at winning him beauty contests than primaries -- is in it to win it.
"It will tell the country a whole lot about the enthusiasm the young people have for liberty," Paul said in a video exhorting his supporters to flood the conference.
Paul's Campaign for Liberty, the a 501(c)4 organization he founded after ending his '08 campaign, has in fact put together an extensive, and expensive, campaign for the conference. A source close to the conference said the Paul group bought 1,000 tickets to the conference, and a Paul aide told another Republican that they'd recruited at least 700 supporters to vote for him. Another Paul aide wrote to supporters back in November:
We have just begun selling tickets to Campaign for Liberty's events at CPAC and hope you will not delay in taking part. The Conference will take place in Washington, DC from February 10-12.
We are able to offer special deals on tickets and discounted hotel rooms to all Campaign for Liberty members. However, we anticipate an even greater response to our plans for CPAC this year and do not expect tickets or hotel rooms to last for very long. We WILL sell out! So, I hope you will take advantage of this special offer now before it is too late.
Last week, John Tate, Paul’s '08 political director and the president of the Campaign for Liberty emailed the group’s listserv on January 22, 2011 to push recruitment:
CPAC 2011 is only a few weeks, and we are falling short of our recruitment goal. Last year, our movement shocked the establishment when Ron Paul won the Presidential Straw Poll with the largest vote total in its history. This year, they are aware of our presence, and they are planning to bus in hundreds of their blind followers to counter our grassroots energy. If you and I do not redouble our efforts in these last few weeks, I am afraid we will be outnumbered.
One group of libertarians who aren't on board with this: Supporters of former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, a Paul ally who hopes to inherit his support. Republican Liberty Caucus Chairman Dave Nalle drew denunciations from Paul supporters for a Facebook comment saying, "Ron is not going to run for president. Period. I have sources. That being the case why aren't all the C4L people getting onboard with Gary Johnson?"
That suggestion drew a strong rebuke from Paul aide Jesse Benton:
r. Paul is strongly considering a run, and we are taking steps to assess his overall viability. Public and private polling shows Dr. Paul holding fourth place in the national race, a virtual first tier candidate, with strong positives and near universal name ID. Mr. Nalle is certainly welcome to back whomever he pleases, but we should insist he tell the truth.
Paul isn't the only 2012 hopeful organizing around CPAC; indeed, the chairman of Students for Romney, Garrett Sweitzer, emailed this morning promising a "'visible' presence at CPAC."
But Paul's commitment to, and experience at, winning these events is hard to beat, so I suspect the race will be for second place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nRPE1wFtf4
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0211/At_CPAC_the_race_for_second_place_as_Paul_goes_all _out.html?showall
The Conservative Political Action Conference's annual straw poll typically indicates three things: Whom CPAC's segment of the conservative base prefers for president; who bought tickets for their supporters; and whether Ron Paul is really trying.
The evidence so far this year is that Paul -- who won big in 2010, and whose energetic core of supporters have proven a lot better at winning him beauty contests than primaries -- is in it to win it.
"It will tell the country a whole lot about the enthusiasm the young people have for liberty," Paul said in a video exhorting his supporters to flood the conference.
Paul's Campaign for Liberty, the a 501(c)4 organization he founded after ending his '08 campaign, has in fact put together an extensive, and expensive, campaign for the conference. A source close to the conference said the Paul group bought 1,000 tickets to the conference, and a Paul aide told another Republican that they'd recruited at least 700 supporters to vote for him. Another Paul aide wrote to supporters back in November:
We have just begun selling tickets to Campaign for Liberty's events at CPAC and hope you will not delay in taking part. The Conference will take place in Washington, DC from February 10-12.
We are able to offer special deals on tickets and discounted hotel rooms to all Campaign for Liberty members. However, we anticipate an even greater response to our plans for CPAC this year and do not expect tickets or hotel rooms to last for very long. We WILL sell out! So, I hope you will take advantage of this special offer now before it is too late.
Last week, John Tate, Paul’s '08 political director and the president of the Campaign for Liberty emailed the group’s listserv on January 22, 2011 to push recruitment:
CPAC 2011 is only a few weeks, and we are falling short of our recruitment goal. Last year, our movement shocked the establishment when Ron Paul won the Presidential Straw Poll with the largest vote total in its history. This year, they are aware of our presence, and they are planning to bus in hundreds of their blind followers to counter our grassroots energy. If you and I do not redouble our efforts in these last few weeks, I am afraid we will be outnumbered.
One group of libertarians who aren't on board with this: Supporters of former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, a Paul ally who hopes to inherit his support. Republican Liberty Caucus Chairman Dave Nalle drew denunciations from Paul supporters for a Facebook comment saying, "Ron is not going to run for president. Period. I have sources. That being the case why aren't all the C4L people getting onboard with Gary Johnson?"
That suggestion drew a strong rebuke from Paul aide Jesse Benton:
r. Paul is strongly considering a run, and we are taking steps to assess his overall viability. Public and private polling shows Dr. Paul holding fourth place in the national race, a virtual first tier candidate, with strong positives and near universal name ID. Mr. Nalle is certainly welcome to back whomever he pleases, but we should insist he tell the truth.
Paul isn't the only 2012 hopeful organizing around CPAC; indeed, the chairman of Students for Romney, Garrett Sweitzer, emailed this morning promising a "'visible' presence at CPAC."
But Paul's commitment to, and experience at, winning these events is hard to beat, so I suspect the race will be for second place.