Romney campaign: Mitt OUT of Ames and ALL other straw polls.

[RileyE104]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68G-cRCaeWA&feature=feedu

Does this mean he wont be in the SRLC one either?

I think someone is getting cold feet because they know they're going to horribly lose this time around...

**** I can only hope this means GOOD NEWS for us and Ames.

[sailingaway]

Last time he 'wasn't at SRLC' yet won it. I expect him to be 'humbled by the results given that he wasn't there'. This is expectation management for if someone else wins, and so he doesn't have to spend money on these things. It means he knows he's vulnerable in them, but without him in them they also mean less to everyone, so winning them will be even more spun as not meaning anything. This hurts Ron most.

[anaconda]

I don't see why he doesn't simply bus a thousand people to Ames like he did last time...

[Lucille]

I saw this on HotAir earlier. (He who shall not be named was not named anywhere in the post.)

hxxp://hotair.com/archives/2011/06/09/wow-romney-to-skip-iowa-straw-poll/


Update: That didn’t take long. Over/under on Romney’s finish in the caucuses: Fourth place.
[...]
Update: Really good question from Twitter user analogkid2112 about something that had completely skipped my mind. If Romney was planning to write off Iowa, why on earth did he come out in favor of ethanol subsidies 10 days ago? He’s thrown away any political benefit he might have gotten from that pander and ended up with nothing but downside.

Everything about Romney is a downside.

[acptulsa]

(He who shall not be named was not named anywhere in the post.)

:) I'm glad that caught on with us.

:mad: I'm really peeved we're still having to use it three years later.

[Vessol]

I don't see why he doesn't simply bus a thousand people to Ames like he did last time...

And if they are all late, they'll just delay the deadline for the poll. Just like at CPAC 2011.

[parocks]

I don't think Ron would've directly benefitted by a win if Romney was in it, at least not to the extent we'd expect. The media is not simply waiting for an opportunity to treat Ron Paul as a front runner and to give him press. A win would prevent anyone else from gaining much. Pawlenty wins, Pawlenty gets a huge story. Bachmann wins, Bachmann gets a huge story. Paul wins, the others don't get huge stories. Hopefully a Ames win would force everyone to at least mention him in any "looking at the race" stories.


Last time he 'wasn't at SRLC' yet won it. I expect him to be 'humbled by the results given that he wasn't there'. This is expectation management for if someone else wins, and so he doesn't have to spend money on these things. It means he knows he's vulnerable in them, but without him in them they also mean less to everyone, so winning them will be even more spun as not meaning anything. This hurts Ron most.

[robertwerden]

All this says to Iowa is Romney does not want their vote.
Iowans depend on events like this for their economy, and for a candidate to play down the significance of the straw poll tells Iowans that they are not important to him.

[cindy25]

means he expects favorite daughter Bachmann to win Iowa anyway, and by staying away makes it a Pyrrhic victory (except for the delegates)

he wants to shift focus to NH, force others to battle there.

[kah13176]

Prepare for media downplaying Paul's victory. They'll say "it's because Mitt wasn't there".

Basically the media can now "invalidate" every straw poll we're preparing for.

[FreedomProsperityPeace]

This is a foolish strategy by Mitt (but I'm glad he's making the mistake :D).

The GOP is a party that values tradition and hard work. If he thinks he can skip the straw polls, phone it in and collect his nomination at the end, he's got another thing coming. These snubs won't be taken well, and he will pay for it. Hell, he's already got some strikes against him with Republicans. He should be working his ass off to make it up.

[trey4sports]

its not a snub, its damage control. He knows he can't win the straw polls without putting major $ into it.

[FreedomProsperityPeace]

^ I think that's how they will be perceived, and voters will be pissed.

[speciallyblend]

This is a foolish strategy by Mitt (but I'm glad he's making the mistake :D).

The GOP is a party that values tradition and hard work. If he thinks he can skip the straw polls, phone it in and collect his nomination at the end, he's got another thing coming. These snubs won't be taken well, and he will pay for it. Hell, he's already got some strikes against him with Republicans. He should be working his ass off to make it up.

exactly!!! anywho romney should drop out of debates that might help him hide his flip flops! /s

[Sentinelrv]

If he's attempting to use this to discredit a Ron Paul win at Ames, then we need to spin his move as weakness. Tell everybody that you talk to online and offline that this move prooves that Romney doesn't even believe he can win. He dropped out of Ames so he doesn't get painted a loser by the media. Spin it! They do it to us. This is our chance to hit Romney where it hurts. He's afraid he's going to lose.

[sailingaway]

its not a snub, its damage control. He knows he can't win the straw polls without putting major $ into it.

This.

[sailingaway]

If he's attempting to use this to discredit a Ron Paul win at Ames, then we need to spin his move as weakness. Tell everybody that you talk to online and offline that this move prooves that Romney doesn't even believe he can win. He dropped out of Ames so he doesn't get painted a loser by the media. Spin it! They do it to us. This is our chance to hit Romney where it hurts. He's afraid he's going to lose.

Spin, nothing it's the absolute truth, Huntsman, too.

But part of this is also about money. To do it right traditional candidates who don't have mega grass roots have to spend a lot of money. To do it right, even Ron has to spend money. Romney wants to have a daunting war chest at the end so he can wear everyone else down, when people are more focused on the race. Particularly with media saying 'the race doesn't start until labor day' by which time they hope some establishment candidate has actually developed a following, he is trying to keep the Ames straw poll and Presidency 5 from mattering.

[Napoleon's Shadow]

Underpromise and over deliver. He's trying to lower the bar and lower the expectations.

[Chieppa1]

Can Ron bring this up at the debate?

[acptulsa]

Can Ron bring this up at the debate?

I doubt he will. He'll be too busy trying to be heard on the issues.

Slinging mud is our job, and as I've said before, this makes sense not only because it allows Ron Paul to do what he does best--occupy the high ground--but because the grassroots are handier to the mud anyway.

If we're good, we can paint this diss of Iowa as a complete disregard for the entire Heartland. But we had better get on it.

[Chieppa1]

I doubt he will. He'll be too busy trying to be heard on the issues.

Slinging mud is our job, and as I've said before, this makes sense not only because it allows Ron Paul to do what he does best--occupy the high ground.

If we're good, we can paint this diss of Iowa as a complete disregard for the entire Heartland. But we had better get on it.

Agreed. And since we know Ron is too much a stateman to "throw mud", I wouldn't be surprised if at the debate they waste some of his time by asking him about Romney.

[Badger Paul]

"He knows he can't win the straw polls without putting major $ into it. "

And if he does put major money into it it looks like he's trying to "buy" victories. He can't win either way so I don't blame him for doing this. Hell I wouldn't do it either if I had his budget and I'm in first place in Iowa in the polls without so much as lifting a finger in the state.

And that's fine with me. Mitt's the frontrunner, I understand that. Let him be that. Somebody's got to be his opposition and with Gingrich in the tank it's going to come down to Pawlenty, Bachmann, Cain, Paul and Santorum. Four ideological conservatives against a real conseravtive/libertarian with the ability pull in independents and liberals. I like our chances now in Ames.

[FreedomProsperityPeace]

Slinging mud is our jobSounds like a good job for Rand! In August, when it's too late for Mittens to change his mind. :D

[swiftfoxmark2]

I'm so glad Mitt Romney made his views clear on global warming climate change animal sky spirits. He's basically shot himself in the foot with that remark as most likely primary voters don't agree with the tyrannical measures the government has taken to address it.

[AGRP]

Fortune Teller says: Fox News will proclaim at a much higher rate that straw polls are meaningless (unless the establishment such as Cain wins)

[UtahApocalypse]

All this says to Iowa is Romney does not want their vote.
Iowans depend on events like this for their economy, and for a candidate to play down the significance of the straw poll tells Iowans that they are not important to him.


This is a foolish strategy by Mitt (but I'm glad he's making the mistake :D).

The GOP is a party that values tradition and hard work. If he thinks he can skip the straw polls, phone it in and collect his nomination at the end, he's got another thing coming. These snubs won't be taken well, and he will pay for it. Hell, he's already got some strikes against him with Republicans. He should be working his ass off to make it up.

^^ This needs to be OUR Message ^^

We also really should tier this in a viseo clip with that of him refusing questions:

[Video Theme] -- Romney refuses to take your questions, Romney feels that Iowans don't matter, Romney snubs Republican tradition --

[AGRP]

4:20: The Bachmanns, Cains, Santorums...on the abortion stuff.

He who shall not be named.

[pacelli]

It is called disinformation. This is the time to REALLY take ames seriously.

[BlackTerrel]

This is a foolish strategy by Mitt (but I'm glad he's making the mistake :D).

The GOP is a party that values tradition and hard work. If he thinks he can skip the straw polls, phone it in and collect his nomination at the end, he's got another thing coming. These snubs won't be taken well, and he will pay for it. Hell, he's already got some strikes against him with Republicans. He should be working his ass off to make it up.

Objectively I disagree. And if I was advising Romney I'd tell him to do what he's doing.

Same reason top picks in the draft rarely do private work outs. Everyone knows they're the best - there is nothing but downside. Kyrie Irving is only working out for the Cavs. Romney is polling #1 - that's the highest you can poll - he's got nothing to gain. Kyrie Irving is only working out for the Cavs.

Objectively it's Romney's to lose. And Ron Paul and the others need to double down to gain momentum.

[Napoleon's Shadow]

Let's see if he is going to do well at all this time at the SRLC?