Why I'm glad Ron Paul is NOT the frontrunner.

[TheNewYorker]

Go out and ask your average joe schmoe who he is voting for. Many will say Hillary. Many will say Rudy. Many will say Barack, and yes, many will say McCain or Romney.

Now ask them: Are you voting for them in the primaries, or the general election?

What kind of responses do you get? Most of them don't even know what primaries are. Some of them will say they won't vote in the primaries because they are too lazy to register in a party.
Now, go ask a Ron Paul supporter the same question. I bet most of them will say they are voting in the primaries!



Now ask them: Are you going to be a delegate?

What kind of responses do you get? Most don't even know what delegates are. The ones that do are too lazy to become a delegate.
Now, go ask a Ron Paul supporter the same question. Most won't become a delegate - but there are a good portion that will, unlike the other candidate's supporters, err I mean voters.




http://www.rightblueeye.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/HillbillyTeeth.jpg

The average Huckabee Supporter.





Now, why is that? Well, in my opinion, and I'm not an expert, but I am a political sciences major at my university - it's because the mainstream candidates, attract the dumb voters. The Joe Schmoes. The ones that watch TV for news and don't do their own research. The ones that listen to what the media tells them. The ones that will only go out and vote on election day, completely ignoring the primaries!

This is why, in my opinion, I'm glad we're not a frontrunner right now. Right now, we have dedicated supporters who WILL vote in the primaries, and WILL become delegates. The other candidates do not have that.


We have a better chance at winning this thing than you think, considering it's not rigged.

[john_anderson_ii]

This is why, if you haven't looked into becoming a delegate yet, you should. It doesn't look that hard from where I am, and I'm all set to go if the stupid country recorder could straighten out my voter registration.

[TheNewYorker]

This is why, if you haven't looked into becoming a delegate yet, you should. It doesn't look that hard from where I am, and I'm all set to go if the stupid country recorder could straighten out my voter registration.

And for those if you that don't understand how the primaries and delegates work, it's simpler than you think

When you place in a state primary/caucus, be it 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or whatever, you win a certain amount of delegates to represent you at the Republican National Convention. The amount of delegates you win varies from state to state, but for sake of argument, let's say a first place finish nets you 100 delegates, a second place finish nets you 70 delegates, a third place finish nets you 40 delegates, etc.

Now, in theory, it's because of this delegate system, that it's possible a candidate who does not come in first plate in any state could still win. If a candidate came in only second place in every state for instance, not winning a single state, he could still beat a candidate that came in first place in 15 states but last place in every other, because he would have more delegates!

And how delegates = nomination, it's simple, the delegates vote for their candidate at the RNC, and the majority wins, and the more delegates, the better shot you have at winning.

Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Suzu]

Most of them don't even know what primaries are.

This is so true!

Our local vet noticed my campaign button and said he likes RP too. I asked him if he'd like a sign to put out, and he said yes, so I gave him a sign. This was at the end of September. It was about a month before I had occasion to pass by his location again, and the sign was not visible. I stopped and asked him if it had been stolen or something. He said, no, he's got it in the closet for now. I asked "Why haven't you put it out?" and he told me that since the election is more than a year away, he was afraid the winter weather would wreck in before then!!!

[Taco John]

"In politics, an organized minority is a political majority."
-- Jesse Jackson

[EvilEngineer]

Oddly, some of the states that the other campaigns are so worried about, are going to have reduced delegate counts at the national convention. So the big states and those on super Tuesday are still very important on the nation level.

[yaz]

This is so true!

Our local vet noticed my campaign button and said he likes RP too. I asked him if he'd like a sign to put out, and he said yes, so I gave him a sign. This was at the end of September. It was about a month before I had occasion to pass by his location again, and the sign was not visible. I stopped and asked him if it had been stolen or something. He said, no, he's got it in the closet for now. I asked "Why haven't you put it out?" and he told me that since the election is more than a year away, he was afraid the winter weather would wreck in before then!!!

wow

[TheNewYorker]

"In politics, an organized minority is a political majority."
-- Jesse Jackson

As much as a dislike Jackson, I'll have to agree with him there.

[coboman]

"In politics, an organized minority is a political majority."
-- Jesse Jackson

QFT

[Man from La Mancha]

QFTWhats this "quantum field therory" have to do with any thing?


.

[V-rod]

We may get a huge amount of our supporters to vote in primary, but we also have to remember that many people who say "I Like Ron Paul" are planning on just voting in the presidential election AFTER the primaries. We still have to continue pushing for people to register as Republican.

[Sematary]

And for those if you that don't understand how the primaries and delegates work, it's simpler than you think

When you place in a state primary/caucus, be it 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or whatever, you win a certain amount of delegates to represent you at the Republican National Convention. The amount of delegates you win varies from state to state, but for sake of argument, let's say a first place finish nets you 100 delegates, a second place finish nets you 70 delegates, a third place finish nets you 40 delegates, etc.

Now, in theory, it's because of this delegate system, that it's possible a candidate who does not come in first plate in any state could still win. If a candidate came in only second place in every state for instance, not winning a single state, he could still beat a candidate that came in first place in 15 states but last place in every other, because he would have more delegates!

And how delegates = nomination, it's simple, the delegates vote for their candidate at the RNC, and the majority wins, and the more delegates, the better shot you have at winning.

Anyone please correct me if I'm wrong.

In Ct. the winning campaign chooses it's delegates and those delegates are bound to the candidate.

[StephanieRelfe]

Thank you for this. That is a big help.

Question: How can anyone know for sure that a delegate that says he's an RP supporter is not secretly for someone else and will vote for someone else at the convention?

[sirachman]

Whats this "quantum field therory" have to do with any thing?


.

Good point, I was wondering that as well.