A PROBLEM: What will the Ron Paul campaign do with the December 16th money bomb?

[Second_Tier_My_Ass]

What I mean by this is, will they be able to put that money to good use between that date and when the first primary votes take place? I have doubts. It is widely known that getting money to the campaign faster is always better. I mean, just because it will allow us to break through $12 million for the quarter (their quarterly goal) doesn't mean we've given them everything they need to win. Just like if we raised $12 million on the final day of the quarter and had never raised a single dime previously, they wouldn't be able to do anything. It would be a worthless $12 million in that case. Are we in any similar danger here? I think if they somehow received the full $12 million before December even started, then that would be way better for the campaign. It would give them time to create new advertisements and to get them out there and into the minds of the voters. Does anyone think December 16th will be too late for all of that?

[Naraku]

It would certainly help because the early primaries are not the only ones to look at.

[Edward]

Does anyone think December 16th will be too late for all of that?I don't. Representatives from the campaign have stated that the publicity they received on November 6th was worth as much if not more than the $4.3 million contributed on November 5th. Getting another round of publicity a week before the holidays will be good. Anyway, they will still need money for the Super Tuesday states.

[SeanEdwards]

We're playing a long game here. Paul's already buying media in the early states, Dec 16 money will be useful for subsequent contests. Paul will need deep pockets to make ad buys in expensive markets like California.

We're getting setup to stay in it for the long haul. A bunch of guys will drop after Iowa and New Hampshire. Paul won't be one of them, no matter where he places.

[Paulite5112007]

I think the publicity alone from a big day will do as much or more than anything they can spend it on before Jan. 3rd. Then, the money left over can be used to push SUper Tuesday.

[ronpaulyourmom]

What I mean by this is, will they be able to put that money to good use between that date and when the first primary votes take place? I have doubts. It is widely known that getting money to the campaign faster is always better. I mean, just because it will allow us to break through $12 million for the quarter (their quarterly goal) doesn't mean we've given them everything they need to win. Just like if we raised $12 million on the final day of the quarter and had never raised a single dime previously, they wouldn't be able to do anything. It would be a worthless $12 million in that case. Are we in any similar danger here? I think if they somehow received the full $12 million before December even started, then that would be way better for the campaign. It would give them time to create new advertisements and to get them out there and into the minds of the voters. Does anyone think December 16th will be too late for all of that?

It's up to the campaign to atleast make a basic assumption that they'll be getting a few million and to spending accordingly.

As stated by others though, it's important to point out that the fundraising event itself is just as important as the ads that the money would buy. It looks like November 5th has given Ron Paul a 4-5% boost in national polling. That in itself would normally cost like $15 million.

[Menthol Patch]

The fact if the matter is that there will be primaries in 50 STATES!

Ron Paul will need TONS of money for advertising in all of those states!

[Second_Tier_My_Ass]

Alright, points taken. I hadn't thought of it like that before. I've got faith that the campaign will do what is necessary to eventually secure victory.

[Cindy]

Television comercials with good production and spots cost a fortune. it would be easy to burn through that money. Many states primaries are not until late January and thereafter.

To put some perspective on this, Mitt has already spent 11 million dollars on TV comercials alone.

[Shaun]

10M on Dec 16th = $40,000,000 in FREE media exposure = Another 20,000 Voulenteers= Approx 150,000 Voulenteers in total = Millions of man hours of FREE promotion for RP = National Poll rise of 8-10% between Dec 16th and Jan 3rd.
Get it now?
One day, one chance, one media explosion and one Hannity expression..

FRANK? Yeah, you...**** YOU LUNTZ..

[smtwngrl]

What I mean by this is, will they be able to put that money to good use between that date and when the first primary votes take place? I have doubts. It is widely known that getting money to the campaign faster is always better. I mean, just because it will allow us to break through $12 million for the quarter (their quarterly goal) doesn't mean we've given them everything they need to win. Just like if we raised $12 million on the final day of the quarter and had never raised a single dime previously, they wouldn't be able to do anything. It would be a worthless $12 million in that case. Are we in any similar danger here? I think if they somehow received the full $12 million before December even started, then that would be way better for the campaign. It would give them time to create new advertisements and to get them out there and into the minds of the voters. Does anyone think December 16th will be too late for all of that?

I think RP's rule of thumb must be that he spends no more than the donations he received the previous quarter. The first quarter he spent only 20% of what he received. The second quarter he spent the rest of the money from the first quarter. The third quarter, he spent most of what he received in the second quarter. Despite his expenditures recently, I think he is still spending the 5,4 million COH from the last quarter. I'll bet he hasn't even started on the $8 million we've raised this quarter yet.

And, since it's the 4th quarter, if he needs to, he can start on that. But he's not going to spend it all before December 31 anyway. He will still need to be campaigning and running ads in Jan/Feb, too. They can get ads ready ahead of time, if they need to, even before they are ready to run them.

At least, thats how it is IMHO. :D

[Primbs]

Early money is always better. With the internet, the campaign can make use of the money quickly.

The campaign can order and buy one hundred thousand signs for Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina. This is what we need to plan for. We will need thousands of volunteers to help distribute the signs.

There are all sorts of grassroots projects that are effective that they can purchase.

[nathanmn]

It's up to the campaign to atleast make a basic assumption that they'll be getting a few million and to spending accordingly.

As stated by others though, it's important to point out that the fundraising event itself is just as important as the ads that the money would buy. It looks like November 5th has given Ron Paul a 4-5% boost in national polling. That in itself would normally cost like $15 million.

Yeah, I think if the campaign people are smart they will spend all of the money on hand on advertising before the 16th. If anything, they could go into debt and probably still be fine. That money needs to be spent to help in the early states.

[bolidew]

Yeah, I think if the campaign people are smart they will spend all of the money on hand on advertising before the 16th. If anything, they could go into debt and probably still be fine. That money needs to be spent to help in the early states.

Agree.

[Thomas Paine]

The campaign had $5 Million plus cash on hand at the end of the 3rd Quarter and has now raised another $8 Million in the 4th Quarter for a total of $13 Million. The campaign will probably raise another $2 Million through end of November so $15 Million raised before December 16 should be sufficient to provide the campaign with sufficient financial ammunition to do what it needs to do until the foregoing date (although more money is always appreciated).

[Menthol Patch]

Lets be frank.

The more money Ron Paul has the more support the campaign can gather.

FACE REALITY! Only a TINY minority of people have heard about Ron Paul. I doubt most people even know who the main candidates are at this point. The more money is raised the more time for ads the campaign can purchase!

[mtmedlin]

I think they will spend a buttload of it in California. The new system that they have will help Dr. Paul get some delegates

[csen]

I spoke with Kent Snyder about this during the private briefing in the Bay Area several weeks back. He said the campaign can spend all its money in a couple weeks time if it wanted. Don't worry -- it'll all get spent, and effectively too.

[MozoVote]

One of the things that Nov 5th and Nov 11th have shown is that when RP donors say they'll contribute... they come through. That in itself is valuble for the campaign. They know roughly how much money will show up in mid December as the count increases. Other campaigns can't budget as easily.

I think this money will be put to good use. It may be too late to apply to IA and NH, maybe even too late for SC or FL. But while other candidates will drop from lack of funds, Ron can carry on.

[tmg19103]

The campaign had $5 Million plus cash on hand at the end of the 3rd Quarter and has now raised another $8 Million in the 4th Quarter for a total of $13 Million. The campaign will probably raise another $2 Million through end of November so $15 Million raised before December 16 should be sufficient to provide the campaign with sufficient financial ammunition to do what it needs to do until the foregoing date (although more money is always appreciated).

I agree. RP has more than enough money right now. What we need to do is pull in $10 million on Dec. 16th. That will really WOW the media after the $4 million and load his coffers for Super Tuesday. Winning New Hampshire (and he has the cash for that now) will bring in millions of donations.

RP is set for now. I'm looking towards the 16th. If we blow that day out we are golden. Everybody should be looking to put in at least $200 if we hold off - if not more. RP will be getting publicity on Letterman and 60 Minutes.

What we need is the public getting hit with three different kinds of info on RP in one week. We did that in a little more than a week recently with Leno, Nov. 5th and the Philly Rally.

We need to come up with ways to get RP noticed twice around Dec. 16th - and it should be different from fundrasing because that is what Dec. 16 is. Let's put on out thinking caps for way to generate publicity around the 16th that don't involve fundraisng.

[csen]

One of the things that Nov 5th and Nov 11th have shown is that when RP donors say they'll contribute... they come through. That in itself is valuble for the campaign. They know roughly how much money will show up in mid December as the count increases. Other campaigns can't budget as easily.

I think this money will be put to good use. It may be too late to apply to IA and NH, maybe even too late for SC or FL. But while other candidates will drop from lack of funds, Ron can carry on.

Exactly -- if they have $10 million cash on hand right now, they can spend it all by December 16th if they want, knowing that there's a big number coming that day plus an end of quarter push shortly thereafter.