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RonPaulFanInGA
11-26-2007, 06:08 PM
Go Blimp go!:D

torchbearer
11-26-2007, 06:14 PM
The phoenix will rise again!

llamabread
11-26-2007, 06:23 PM
How is it that we know how many people will have pledged in the future?

OptionsTrader
11-26-2007, 06:26 PM
I am a little skeptical of 24 $5k donations ($120,000). I want to be an optimist I really do, but it just seems odd that 59% of the pledges are the maximum amount of $5k. Is there any way to verify these large pledges are legitimate?

BerlinForFreedom
11-26-2007, 06:56 PM
I am a little skeptical of 24 $5k donations ($120,000). I want to be an optimist I really do, but it just seems odd that 59% of the pledges are the maximum amount of $5k. Is there any way to verify these large pledges are legitimate?

I was also concerned but I have some good news. right now we have 205,375 $ pledged and 485 + 241 + 248 + 67 + 15 + 8 + 3 + 24 = 1091 pledges. So the average donation size is 187$. If the donation size were resticted to 2300 $, average donation size would be 128$ . ((205,375$ - 65400$ ) / 1091$)

Thats already comparable to the average donation sizes of Nov 5th and Nov 11th. Keep in mind that some people couldn't donate 2300$ on Nov 5th and Nov 11th because they already donated before. Many fake 5000$ pledges would skyrocket the average donation size.

Also keep in mind that more people will donate then pledge.

Conclusion: I think we can get the money, there are probably only a few fake pledges.

torchbearer
11-26-2007, 07:00 PM
Make it so! Show how the human spirit, when unleashed, can do amazing things!

torchbearer
11-26-2007, 07:00 PM
The blimp is a heavily symbolic gesture.... has huge implications.

Delain
11-26-2007, 07:03 PM
I am a little skeptical of 24 $5k donations ($120,000). I want to be an optimist I really do, but it just seems odd that 59% of the pledges are the maximum amount of $5k. Is there any way to verify these large pledges are legitimate?

You can never get real conformation untill people can do real donations.

Pledges are not very useful here imo.

moberley
11-26-2007, 07:09 PM
You can never get real conformation untill people can do real donations.

Pledges are not very useful here imo.

Pledges are very useful if they intend to operate the blimp project as a registered Political Action Committee. Setting up a website to collect pledges is a simple first step to gauge support before doing all the extra work of organizing a PAC and registering it with the FEC.

Tenbatsu
11-26-2007, 07:22 PM
I'm going to go ahead and call BS on the 24 5k donations. One or two I could see but 24? No way in hell, we might as well just assume that they do not even exist.

cien750hp
11-26-2007, 07:26 PM
i don't doubt the $5000 pledges. There are bound to be many people who can afford this (it may not be you or me but we do know there are many wealthy people) and they:
1. think this is an awesome idea and will get lots of attention
2. realize they will save this much in taxes in the first..week? of ron paul
3. have the money to throw into all these different projects
4. want to ride in a blimp
5. any combination of the above

Delain
11-26-2007, 07:30 PM
Pledges are very useful if they intend to operate the blimp project as a registered Political Action Committee. Setting up a website to collect pledges is a simple first step to gauge support before doing all the extra work of organizing a PAC and registering it with the FEC.

Oh yes, I didnt mean in general. Only that it doesnt provides any guarantees. Its an indication.

And it indicates imo that there is enough support out there to make it happen. :)

MrCoffee
11-26-2007, 07:30 PM
I don't know.... I have some serious scepticism for those 5k pledges.

LFOD
11-26-2007, 07:36 PM
The blimp is a heavily symbolic gesture.... has huge implications.

I'd enjoy seeing your thoughts in more detail on this.

For me, yes there is the Hindenberg as an ancient symbol, but really when I think "blimp" in the modern world, I think mega-corporations like Fuji Film and Goodyear. I think "big time sports" and "big bucks". Basically, in today's world, I think blimp = POWER. And I totally dig that for the RP grassroots, because we are showing that we have power!

I think also it's just funny as hell. I mean c'mon. Air Force Ron? I don't care who you are, if you don't crack a smile at that, I think you may not have a soul.

goRPaul
11-26-2007, 07:37 PM
I had a little skepticism about those pledges at first, but I think they're pretty legit, because look what they're being offered. They get to ride in the blimp for three days. Why would someone only pledge $1000 if they can hitch a ride for a little bit more?

Also, while I believe that there are people who dislike us, I think very few if any would go as far as to put a fake pledge in just to boost our hopes. I think it's very dumb on their part. So even if they did, I feel sorry for them, not us.

torchbearer
11-26-2007, 07:40 PM
I'd enjoy seeing your thoughts in more detail on this.

For me, yes there is the Hindenberg as an ancient symbol, but really when I think "blimp" in the modern world, I think mega-corporations like Fuji Film and Goodyear. I think "big time sports" and "big bucks". Basically, in today's world, I think blimp = POWER. And I totally dig that for the RP grassroots, because we are showing that we have power!

I think also it's just funny as hell. I mean c'mon. Air Force Ron? I don't care who you are, if you don't crack a smile at that, I think you may not have a soul.

Oh, I believe the blimp is a symbol of power... its also the cherry of science fact... and a symbol of human creativity and imagination.
The symbol gains power because it shows the power of a group of people who are so well organized... they could make people fly! Blimp as the Cult Symbol.

LFOD
11-26-2007, 07:44 PM
I was also concerned but I have some good news. right now we have 205,375 $ pledged and 485 + 241 + 248 + 67 + 15 + 8 + 3 + 24 = 1091 pledges. So the average donation size is 187$. If the donation size were resticted to 2300 $, average donation size would be 128$ . ((205,375$ - 65400$ ) / 1091$)

Thats already comparable to the average donation sizes of Nov 5th and Nov 11th. Keep in mind that some people couldn't donate 2300$ on Nov 5th and Nov 11th because they already donated before. Many fake 5000$ pledges would skyrocket the average donation size.

Also keep in mind that more people will donate then pledge.

Conclusion: I think we can get the money, there are probably only a few fake pledges.

Smart analysis! I agree, the money is legit. Maybe not 100%, but enough to get the $350k.

jake
11-26-2007, 07:48 PM
I'm going to go ahead and call BS on the 24 5k donations. One or two I could see but 24? No way in hell, we might as well just assume that they do not even exist.

the 5k pledges should require a phone number so you can contact them to verify the authenticity

LFOD
11-26-2007, 07:50 PM
I was also concerned but I have some good news. right now we have 205,375 $ pledged and 485 + 241 + 248 + 67 + 15 + 8 + 3 + 24 = 1091 pledges. So the average donation size is 187$. If the donation size were resticted to 2300 $, average donation size would be 128$ . ((205,375$ - 65400$ ) / 1091$)

Thats already comparable to the average donation sizes of Nov 5th and Nov 11th. Keep in mind that some people couldn't donate 2300$ on Nov 5th and Nov 11th because they already donated before. Many fake 5000$ pledges would skyrocket the average donation size.

Also keep in mind that more people will donate then pledge.

Conclusion: I think we can get the money, there are probably only a few fake pledges.

Oh and by the way, GO BERLIN!

I'm totally stoked about the European rally on Dec. 16th - Make it huge for FREEDOM!

Churchill2004
11-26-2007, 07:51 PM
Why not just go ahead and set up the PAC so you can start collecting actual donations? The pledges are a useful indicator of whether or not there's broad support, but they're not very useful for actual gaging how much money you'll get. Remember how Romney's "record" fund-raising day was supposedly something like $6mil, but more than half of it was "pledges"?

LFOD
11-26-2007, 07:59 PM
Why not just go ahead and set up the PAC so you can start collecting actual donations? The pledges are a useful indicator of whether or not there's broad support, but they're not very useful for actual gaging how much money you'll get. Remember how Romney's "record" fund-raising day was supposedly something like $6mil, but more than half of it was "pledges"?

Pledges for Romney... heh. That's about as appealing as pledging to clean my house.

But yeah I'm waiting to hear the details on the legal angles of this thing.

llamabread
11-26-2007, 08:07 PM
From RonPaulBlimp.com "We are in the process of forming an official Political Action Committee to take care of the funds." So it seems like they ended up deciding to form a PAC after all. Once they get that up and running, people will be able to donate.

Churchill2004
11-26-2007, 08:13 PM
From RonPaulBlimp.com "We are in the process of forming an official Political Action Committee to take care of the funds." So it seems like they ended up deciding to form a PAC after all. Once they get that up and running, people will be able to donate.

Great! I don't have any doubt that they'll be able to raise the money, I just think it's a bit misguided to treat "pledges" as money in the bank.

T206
11-26-2007, 08:15 PM
Great! I don't have any doubt that they'll be able to raise the money, I just think it's a bit misguided to treat "pledges" as money in the bank.

Good point, the graph on their page is a flat out lie. It says "Total RAISED" so far...again, poor execution on this whole project and its going to make the grass roots campaign look sloppy now that its getting so much press too.

llamabread
11-26-2007, 08:21 PM
Good point, the graph on their page is a flat out lie. It says "Total RAISED" so far...again, poor execution on this whole project and its going to make the grass roots campaign look sloppy now that its getting so much press too.

The graph is from RonPaulGraphs.com, so they don't have any say in that. Also, they are supposedly updating the website soon now that they have some webmasters on the job.

T206
11-26-2007, 08:22 PM
ronpaulgraphs.com has it changed to "Total Pledges"

llamabread
11-26-2007, 08:30 PM
ronpaulgraphs.com has it changed to "Total Pledges"

I see now. I had just been looking at RonPaulBlimp.com, not at the source on RonPaulGraphs. I guess they must have been putting the picture of the graph on the website, instead of the actual graph, since it is no longer on RonPaulGraphs.com. They need to update that.

moberley
11-26-2007, 10:11 PM
From RonPaulBlimp.com "We are in the process of forming an official Political Action Committee to take care of the funds." So it seems like they ended up deciding to form a PAC after all. Once they get that up and running, people will be able to donate.

That comment was there from very early on. If I am following the timeline of comments here on this forum correctly the announcements that there will be no PAC came after the Q&A section was posted online. In other words, my understanding is that note at RonPaulBlimp.com refers to the original plan to organize a PAC rather than the most recent plans. (I have no actual knowledge of specifics, only what I've read here at this forum and at RonPaulBlimp.com.)

cien750hp
11-27-2007, 12:09 AM
added another $30,000!

Paulitical Correctness
11-27-2007, 02:12 AM
I'm not sure if this has been addressed yet, but assuming the donations pour in at a rapid rate, is there going to be some sort of cut off point so that people are unable to keep donating?

And if they are able to continue, assuming the cash raised is well over 400 thousand, what will the extra funds be used for?

Elijah
11-27-2007, 02:18 AM
I'm not sure if this has been addressed yet, but assuming the donations pour in at a rapid rate, is there going to be some sort of cut off point so that people are unable to keep donating?

And if they are able to continue, assuming the cash raised is well over 400 thousand, what will the extra funds be used for?


The new strategy behind this is huge! We are going to get massive press. We hope to keep this going until inauguration day.

Thank you for your patience.

Paulitical Correctness
11-27-2007, 02:22 AM
The new strategy behind this is huge! We are going to get massive press. We hope to keep this going until inauguration day.

Thank you for your patience.

I see. So the plan is to keep the blimp flying?

Awesome, thanks.

notnowjohn
11-27-2007, 02:46 AM
I find it hard to believe that so many people have hit the $2300 contribution limit and still have spare cash lying around. Sure, the blimp could be pretty sweet, but please donate directly to the campaign as well. They need the money now.

Lacrosseus
11-27-2007, 07:18 AM
The new strategy behind this is huge! We are going to get massive press. We hope to keep this going until inauguration day.

Yes, the press coverage will be huge. Everyone involved needs to be prepared to deal with the snickers and jokes that will come from the faces and mouths of the national press when they cover the story. Just as they are doing on CNN this morning as they cover the 'brothel owner' story dreamed up by Tucker.

Every possible negative angle the press can, and will, take on this needs to be discussed and an appropriate reply formulated. As many of those replies as possible should be incorporated into the message from day one, to blunt the presses abilities to turn the blimp into an embarrassing story.

This will extend to the other candidates as well. I can see it now -- the Ron Paul blimp is floating over a future debate venue. Someone accidentally taps their microphone and a thumping sound is heard – or lightning strikes (again). Surely, one of Ron's opponents will jump in and ask Wolf if 'that was the blimp?' Everyone laughs so loud they can actually be heard over Wolf's howl and this will be played over 1,000 times on CNN, FOX, MSNBC, et all.

The blimp is a great idea, but it has it's drawbacks, and they need to be addressed before this project goes live.

SpicyItalian739
11-27-2007, 09:53 AM
When Ron Paul was on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning - the graphic at the bottom ran text saying that "Ron Paul Supporters plan on buying a blimp"

:D This is already making the news!

RonPaulFanInGA
11-27-2007, 11:02 AM
When Ron Paul was on MSNBC's Morning Joe this morning - the graphic at the bottom ran text saying that "Ron Paul Supporters plan on buying a blimp"

:D This is already making the news!

I'd like to see the YouTube video of that. Anyone got it?

The blimp is now at $272,325. Could it be done today? 33 different 5,000-dollar donations is a little worrisome, but it's very possible most are legit.

Tenbatsu
11-27-2007, 11:20 AM
I'd like to see the YouTube video of that. Anyone got it?

The blimp is now at $272,325. Could it be done today? 33 different 5,000-dollar donations is a little worrisome, but it's very possible most are legit.

No, there is a high chance that they are not legit. The blimp idea got some attention yesterday. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that enjoy pissing in our cereal.

I would say two, maybe 3 of them are legit. The rest are not

BeFranklin
11-27-2007, 11:24 AM
I'd like to see the YouTube video of that. Anyone got it?

The blimp is now at $272,325. Could it be done today? 33 different 5,000-dollar donations is a little worrisome, but it's very possible most are legit.

Here you go:

http://a91.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/1/l_196bdcfde0e3b20add2fc72985769382.jpg

(I took this from the video posted in the main section of grassroots).

monx
11-27-2007, 12:02 PM
I find it hard to believe that so many people have hit the $2300 contribution limit and still have spare cash lying around. Sure, the blimp could be pretty sweet, but please donate directly to the campaign as well. They need the money now.

Valid concern, but I respect the idea of the blimp. It's something completely guerrilla, and a little ridiculous, to a degree that the official campaign wouldn't dare attempt. And as it is a little riskier and crazier than anything the campaign would do, it can bring in more press and, well, I guess I'm saying that the blimp just might have a higher return-on-investment than money contributed to the campaign. I'm just throwing it out there. :)

JohnnyWrath
11-27-2007, 12:11 PM
Don't forget that those who donate 5000 also get 3 days worth of rides in the blimp according to the site....c'mon, that's pretty cool, and perhaps there are some legit pledges there. If I had 5000 to donate to Ron AND get to ride around in the blimp....I would for sure. Time will tell.

Seems to me the press will have a hard time ignoring a huge blimp floating by....

Storm3
11-27-2007, 12:31 PM
I find it hard to believe that so many people have hit the $2300 contribution limit and still have spare cash lying around. Sure, the blimp could be pretty sweet, but please donate directly to the campaign as well. They need the money now.

I am a foreigner, so I can't donate to the campaign (how annoying!), so I am giving my money to these projects.

But I agree, first priority should be the main campaign.

seapilot
11-27-2007, 01:26 PM
I'd like to see the YouTube video of that. Anyone got it?

The blimp is now at $272,325. Could it be done today? 33 different 5,000-dollar donations is a little worrisome, but it's very possible most are legit.

A 5000 dollar donation is guaranteed 3 days aboard the blimp. They have limited seating capacity so the more generous donations probably wanted to seal the deal early. People pay 1000 for a meal and to listen to Ron Paul, to get 3 days flight on a blimp that says Ron Paul is historical and really a novelty that most cannot afford.

For an average joe its a lot of dough but for people that can afford it, admit its a great oppertunity to participate in the greatest grassroots efforts in decades.

Here is something from the airship companies website :

The Sky Is Not The Limit
The possibilities are limitless...
Let us help you open the window...
Let us help you turn the heads of the world to the sky, and make your Company's name and reputation rise "Above the Clutter" of conventional advertising mediums.

This is what we are trying to do. I pledged 25.00 to pay for a few gallons of gas.

Silence Dogood
11-27-2007, 03:56 PM
I'm wondering, any chance of a tie-in with the Blimpie Sandwich people? Just spitballing.

Mastiff
11-27-2007, 06:28 PM
The pledge total on the site is all over the place. What's going on? It changed $100k in the last 5 minutes.

Mastiff
11-27-2007, 06:30 PM
We're surely getting spammed by some of this. There should be a service through paypal or somesuch to allow contingent donations for things like this.

llamabread
11-27-2007, 08:23 PM
The pledge total on the site is all over the place. What's going on? It changed $100k in the last 5 minutes.

It is only updated sporadically. It has jumped from $2,000 to $13,000 to $45,000 to $100,000 and onwards. Usually they only update it two or three times a day.