Post-Nov 30 Press Reporting - NO NEGATIVES AT ALL

[Wayne Hammond]

As suspected, the negative downside of yesterdays missed $12 million goal was extremely minimal. After all, we DID raise over $500,000. Not a bad haul in a 24-hour period.

Yeah, we had one or two articles saying we missed the mark - but even those articles were pretty positive, lauding the ongoing efforts of the Ron Paul grassroots money bombs.

Look at all the articles that are coming out today - most of them are VERY positive...

"Study: YouTube Videos From New Hampshire Primary Race Favor Ron Paul"
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS15012+29-Nov-2007+MW20071129

"Ron Paul Set To Outraise Other GOP Candidates"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/30/ron-paul-set-to-outraise-_n_74894.html

"Ron Paul on track to be biggest fundraiser"
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1107/7105.html

"Foot soldiers for the Ron Paul revolution"
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ronpaul1dec01,0,678486.story?coll=la-home-center

"A shocking report: Inside the Ron Paul conspiracy"
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2007/11/theronpaulconsp.html

"Grass roots 'big ace' in Ron Paul's White House bid"
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-11-29-ron-paul_N.htm

"Paul believes in threat of North American superhighway"
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-highway30nov30,1,4646522.story?coll=la-news-politics-national

"Viva the Ron Paul Revolution!"
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13773.html

"Ron Paul now GOP frontrunner according to fund raising"
http://www.usadaily.com/article.cfm?articleID=182537

"Paul's candidacy gets to the root: the Constitution"
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/OPINION04/712010311/1038/Opinion

and on, and on, and on...

I could hardly find ANY negative press that was written yesterday or today about Ron Paul's campaign.

.

[Wayne Hammond]

Did anyone else find other articles out there?

I did a Google news search for "Ron Paul" and it sure looks like the reporting on Ron Paul is picking up in both quality (non-hit-job pieces) and quantity (lots more of 'em, recently).

.

[sarbruis]

2char

[IHaveaDream]

I respectfully disagree with your assumption. There was a big negative to the Nov. 30 fundraiser -- it failed! The goal was to reach our Q4 goal of 12 mil a month early. That would have been huge news and would have meant a lot of great press for us. Instead, a half million dollars has been prematurely advanced that could have given us a healthy headstart on Dec. 16, the date of the Tea Party.

Remember the Tea Party? That's the day that was advertised in our full page ad across the country. That's the day that dozens of YouTube videos have been produced for. That's the day that the MSM is hyping. That's the event that has been linked to numerous websites. That's the event that Dr. Paul, himself, has been mentioning during his public speeches. In other words, that's the day that we we're supposed to be united around.

November 30 was touted as necessary to prepare for the early primaries. But did we really need to advance a half million to the campaign on Nov. 30? It doesn't seem so. During the debate, Dr. Paul suggested that his staff is still trying to figure out how to spend all the money that they already have. His excitment about the Tea Party during appearances certainly conveys no sense of urgency. And what about the campaign staff who keeps sending out these emails demanding that we donate as much as we can immediately? If their situation is so dire, why are they repeatedly ignoring opportunities that would potentially gain us legions of new supporters who could offer additional infusions of financial support. With that in mind, I'd like to know if you or anyone else here can answer these questions:

- Who are the people "officially" running this campaign and what are their credentials?
- Do they have experience with a high-profile campaign such as this?
- How many successful campaigns have they been in charge of in the past?
- Do they have regular briefings with Dr. Paul? If so, how often?
- Has someone been formally assigned to monitor the activities at the grassroots level?
- Is there anyone at the grassroots level who has the ability and the permission to monitor the activities of HQ?
- Is there a Public Relations group involved with HQ? If not, why not? If so, what is their track record?
- Who is responsible for scheduling Dr. Paul's media appearances?
- Who is primarily responsible for campaign expenditures and accountability?

These are not facetious questions. I ask them with all sincerity. There are significant numbers of hardworking citizens making significant numbers of sacrifices to raise significant amounts of money and exposure for this campaign. I believe these inquiries are fair and worthy of discussion.

Please understand that I am not trying to cast blame here. I just fear that this movement is going to collapse under its own weight if greater organization and leadership is not soon forthcoming.

[nullvalu]

Not a big deal to me even if it did fall short of our goal. I did donate yesterday, and I wish more people did - but I'm glad if the Old Media thinks it was a dud. That way they'll be even more suprised after the Tea Party when we crush the Nov. 5th fundraising.

[Wayne Hammond]

I respectfully disagree with your assumption. There was a big negative to the Nov. 30 fundraiser -- it failed!

I didn't mean to get into an argument on whether Nov. 30th was a "failure". I don't want to drag up all that old baggage - besides, Nov. 30 is over, and our focus should be on the Tea Party.

Correct, we did not reach the $12 million. So what? We raised $500,000. Not bad, and it gave the campaign more cash for the early primaries. (and I'm not going to get into those accountability issues with you, that wasn't the point of my post).

The point was that we are getting a lot more press, and a lot more positive press. Even the so-called "negative" articles, if you take the time to read them in their entirety, were really quite positive for us as a whole.

All the naysayers this past week were saying how it would be a "disaster" in the press if we failed to reach $12 million - and that they would plaster it all over every newspaper that the "Ron Paul movement is finished". That just didn't happen. We've got more quality press now than we've ever had.

On to the Tea Party - I'm thirsty. ;)


.

[me3]

There was a big negative to the Nov. 30 fundraiser -- it failed!
How much did you donate?

[paulitics]

That LA Times article doesn't seem very positive to me.

full of lies. Its all verbal semantics to them.

[jj111]

The Philadelphia Bulletin: How Real is Ron Paul’s Revolution? – 2007 Nov 30

http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=19072871&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6

“Dr. Paul’s day has come…. The revolution is real, and those in the ivory tower had better start digging a bigger moat.”

[IHaveaDream]

How much did you donate?

I donated NOTHING yesterday. I've already made it very clear in other posts that I will not donate another dime to this effort until the official campaign either formally accepts the offer from Glenn Beck or formally announces an acceptable explanation for not doing so. That is millions of dollars worth of FREE exposure to a targeted audience of mostly conservative viewers. The primaries are rapidly approaching. Dr. Paul is polling in single digits. Most people still have never heard of him or don't understand his positions on vital issues. Many people here are spending themselves into personal debt to help Dr. Paul have a chance at winning. Yet, in spite of this, his official campaign staff seems to think that they have the luxury to be picky about what offers they accept, and apparently feel that our opinion on the matter is irrelevent.

I intend to faithfully promote Dr. Paul and his message, and I am committed to voting for him even if I have to write him in. But, I have no allegiance whatsoever to the official campaign staff if they can't demonstrate that they are competent to capitalize on the efforts of all the hardworking Americans who are advancing Dr. Paul's candidacy. National exposure could bring in a lot of new supporters with a lot more donations. We need that help. The official staff can't expect the same people to carry this huge financial burden over and over again all by themselves from now until the election. Most of us are not wealthy people.

[Wayne Hammond]

The Philadelphia Bulletin: How Real is Ron Paul’s Revolution? – 2007 Nov 30

http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=19072871&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6

“Dr. Paul’s day has come…. The revolution is real, and those in the ivory tower had better start digging a bigger moat.”

That's a pretty good positive article. Cool.

.

[Birdlady]

What's that saying again.

"It’s better to try and fail than to have never tried at all"

This failure got us $500,000 more dollars too. Not quite a failure!

A fear of failure is one of the worst things a person can give in to.

Just think where this campaign would have been if Ron Paul hadn't taken the risk of it failing miserably.

[MozoVote]

Come on, how many threads do we need, carping about this? A few articles snickered at us "missing the goal" but most of them are pointing out the overall strength of Ron's fund raising. And the official HQ was able to make two press releases, one for "Beating Romney" and another for "Beating Giuliani".

The effort came off a little sloppy, but it came off - and generated press, and it got a half a mil in the campaign's coffers.

[evadmurd]

Please, just NO MORE money bombs until the Tea Party!

[philipsantamaria]

carpet bagger report article is negative.

[Wayne Hammond]

What's that saying again.

"It’s better to try and fail than to have never tried at all"


AMEN to that.

God bless Trevor - he never asked for all this trouble... all he did was put up a web site, and all this was kind of thrown at him. I think he has done, and will continue to do a super job of representing the grassroots movement.

A lot of folks here don't realize that much of the positive press coverage we've received in the past couple of days has been directly due to Trevor's efforts. He spent all of his extra time this week drumming up press interviews, radio, TV, newspapers, etc... RudysReadingList was Trevor's attempt to solve a problem - and I think that effort was very successful, even if we didn't meet the $12 million mark yesterday. We owe that guy a special THANK YOU. He's an unpaid and under-appreciated volunteer.

Even knowing what I know now, I would do EXACTLY what we did this week - shoot for the moon with that $12 million goal on Nov. 30th - we probably have a ton of new donors who came on board because of that goal: they contributed toward the $500,000 we raised, and they will go along with us as we raise $10 million on December 16th.

NOPE - I wouldn't have changed a thing.


.

[Knightskye]

As suspected, the negative downside of yesterdays missed $12 million goal

What goal? The campaign wanted us to get past $10,259,000 to beat Rudy's 3rd-quarter fundraising total A MONTH EARLY. And we did. So we succeeded. There's a $12 million goal for the end of the 4th quarter, and we still have a month. Don't be so negative.

[LibertyEagle]

AMEN to that.

God bless Trevor - he never asked for all this trouble... all he did was put up a web site, and all this was kind of thrown at him. I think he has done, and will continue to do a super job of representing the grassroots movement.



I call BS. I thank Trevor for being the first person to put up the 11/5 web site, but he was not the only one who offered. He was just the first person to do it. Let us also not forget that the idea for this fundraiser was not Trevor's at all.

The V fundraiser was a resounding success, but it was not due to the actions of one man.... even the other man who actually came up with the whole idea. It was a success because of the whole grassroots. Everything that each of you did. All the wonderful videos, Peter Schiff sending out the request to his newsletter subscribers, Adam Curry pitching it for days on end to his listeners, the Ron Paul girl, the articles written by Jennifer Reynolds and so many others, DJLoti and Ron Paul Radio, all the people who spent hours on end individually mailing notices to Ron Paul's Myspace friends and all the Meetup members and on and on. Not to mention the fact that many of you were selling your own blood, selling your possessions on Ebay, putting yourself in debt on your credit cards, foregoing vacations, etc. YOU are the reason it was successful.

This should be abundantly clear by looking at how the very same type of fundraisers attempted by other campaigns, even to the extent of practically copying Trevor's text on the website, have failed dismally. If all it took was putting up a website, the other campaigns would have succeeded at their 1 day fundraisers too. They keep trying to copy us, but they just don't get it. We haven't been successful because of any ONE of us. We have been successful because we all have a fire in our bellies to regain our liberty and our country. As many of you say frequently, they just don't understand, that it's THE MESSAGE. It's something the others do not have. Have we forgotten too?

It is a big mistake to credit the success of the fundraising to one person. Yes, give credit where credit is due, but to say it was a success from one man is not only a lie, but it does a huge disservice to the entire grassroots movement and the sacrifices made by so many people.

I might have missed it, but I don't recall any vote to elect Trevor as the representative of the grassroots.

[brumans]

I respectfully disagree with your assumption. There was a big negative to the Nov. 30 fundraiser -- it failed! The goal was to reach our Q4 goal of 12 mil a month early. That would have been huge news and would have meant a lot of great press for us. Instead, a half million dollars has been prematurely advanced that could have given us a healthy headstart on Dec. 16, the date of the Tea Party.

Remember the Tea Party? That's the day that was advertised in our full page ad across the country. That's the day that dozens of YouTube videos have been produced for. That's the day that the MSM is hyping. That's the event that has been linked to numerous websites. That's the event that Dr. Paul, himself, has been mentioning during his public speeches. In other words, that's the day that we we're supposed to be united around.

November 30 was touted as necessary to prepare for the early primaries. But did we really need to advance a half million to the campaign on Nov. 30? It doesn't seem so. During the debate, Dr. Paul suggested that his staff is still trying to figure out how to spend all the money that they already have. His excitment about the Tea Party during appearances certainly conveys no sense of urgency. And what about the campaign staff who keeps sending out these emails demanding that we donate as much as we can immediately? If their situation is so dire, why are they repeatedly ignoring opportunities that would potentially gain us legions of new supporters who could offer additional infusions of financial support. With that in mind, I'd like to know if you or anyone else here can answer these questions:

- Who are the people "officially" running this campaign and what are their credentials?
- Do they have experience with a high-profile campaign such as this?
- How many successful campaigns have they been in charge of in the past?
- Do they have regular briefings with Dr. Paul? If so, how often?
- Has someone been formally assigned to monitor the activities at the grassroots level?
- Is there anyone at the grassroots level who has the ability and the permission to monitor the activities of HQ?
- Is there a Public Relations group involved with HQ? If not, why not? If so, what is their track record?
- Who is responsible for scheduling Dr. Paul's media appearances?
- Who is primarily responsible for campaign expenditures and accountability?

These are not facetious questions. I ask them with all sincerity. There are significant numbers of hardworking citizens making significant numbers of sacrifices to raise significant amounts of money and exposure for this campaign. I believe these inquiries are fair and worthy of discussion.

Please understand that I am not trying to cast blame here. I just fear that this movement is going to collapse under its own weight if greater organization and leadership is not soon forthcoming.

So did November 5th fail as well? We only raised 4.3 million when the goal was 10 million.

[LibertyEagle]

Even knowing what I know now, I would do EXACTLY what we did this week - shoot for the moon with that $12 million goal on Nov. 30th - we probably have a ton of new donors who came on board because of that goal: they contributed toward the $500,000 we raised, and they will go along with us as we raise $10 million on December 16th.

It is Marketing 101 that you under promise and over deliver. Claiming that we will bring in over 2 million dollars yesterday, served no purpose other than making us look foolish.

Boasting never gets anything done. Working smart and hard, does.

[Knightskye]

I will not donate another dime to this effort until the official campaign either formally accepts the offer from Glenn Beck or formally announces an acceptable explanation for not doing so. That is millions of dollars worth of FREE exposure to a targeted audience of mostly conservative viewers.

Well, while Ron answered questions at the Robert Taft Club (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYSeHMEjRy0), he said: "My guess, in the next several weeks, I'll probably go on his show."

But I agree with you; I'd like to know when.

[LibertyEagle]

..

[LibertyEagle]

So did November 5th fail as well? We only raised 4.3 million when the goal was 10 million.

No, of course not. That does not change the fact that it is foolish to promise something that is beyond your reach. It is much better to promise something that you can attain and then vastly go beyond that. We got away with it on 11/5, because we set a record. Why is this so hard for you guys to understand?

No one is saying that we should not reach for the stars. That is what this campaign is all about, after all. But the adage still remains. UNDER promise and OVER deliver. In fact, blow your promise, clean out of the water if you can.

[JenaS62]

I read here frequently and post here occassionally and I am just going to write what I'm thinking at this very moment. This whole thread reads like it comes straight out of a junior high school class officer campaign. If other campaigns read this forum - I have to tell you that it's embarrasing that this is going on. Have you ever heard of divide and conquer?

[justinc.1089]

No, of course not. That does not change the fact that it is foolish to promise something that is beyond your reach. It is much better to promise something that you can attain and then vastly go beyond that. We got away with it on 11/5, because we set a record. Why is this so hard for you guys to understand?

No one is saying that we should not reach for the stars. That is what this campaign is all about, after all. But the adage still remains. UNDER promise and OVER deliver. In fact, blow your promise, clean out of the water if you can.

Maybe in business or something, but not in promoting and generating media attention for a presidential campaign. If we promise a big goal it gets more media attention. Thats simple to understand.

Then when we bring in a big number of cash, the media reports on that. But in the hype about that they forget about the original goal. And if we got a big amount of cash it doesn't matter that some crazy goal wasn't met anyway.

You're really worrying too much. The 30th had like no time to be promoted. The only real purpose behind it was to stop any fundraising lag or slack between then and the 16th. The campaign was afraid of going that long without a lot of money coming in, so the 30th was decided to have a fundraising drive to ensure the money going in didn't slow down.

We got a huge amount to be donated, so it was a success.

[KewlRonduderules]

It is Marketing 101 that you under promise and over deliver. Claiming that we will bring in over 2 million dollars yesterday, served no purpose other than making us look foolish.

Boasting never gets anything done. Working smart and hard, does.

I have to agree with Liberty Eagle somewhat. I think we opened ourselves to potential damage by suggesting the $12 million dollar mark but I don't think it was necessarily foolish. Perhaps a more appropriate term would be to use- 'inexperienced'. Not to offend anyone, but most of us are first timers in all of this.

I can under wanting to "shoot for the stars" but you run the risk of attacks. It is better to come up with a realistic number (playing it safe). The media is not on our side. They can use this against us.

Don't get me wrong. $500K is a great number. That's pretty good for short notice but it can be easily manipulated to suit the interests of the mainstream press. In my opinion, it is not worth the risk. Better to underestimate than overestimate.

[LibertyEagle]

Maybe in business or something, but not in promoting and generating media attention for a presidential campaign. If we promise a big goal it gets more media attention. Thats simple to understand.

Then when we bring in a big number of cash, the media reports on that. But in the hype about that they forget about the original goal. And if we got a big amount of cash it doesn't matter that some crazy goal wasn't met anyway.



.... and you're speaking from what experience or credentials?

It is true that if we promise a big goal, it gets more media attention. It's also true that if we fail to achieve the "big goal", we will likewise get more media attention for not attaining it. The sword bites both ways.

One can get a lot of attention by yelling FIRE in a movie theatre too. I wouldn't however advise it as a good course of action. Would you?

[LibertyEagle]

I read here frequently and post here occassionally and I am just going to write what I'm thinking at this very moment. This whole thread reads like it comes straight out of a junior high school class officer campaign. If other campaigns read this forum - I have to tell you that it's embarrasing that this is going on. Have you ever heard of divide and conquer?

That may be so, but it would be beneficial if we decided a few things now, so that we don't repeat the same mistakes, over and over again.

The fundraising has been stupendous. I don't however think that means that we can't learn a few things from some of the mistakes made, and get even better in the future.

[jrich4rpaul]

We outraised Giuliani's 3rd Q total on the 30th. Seeing how the day was based on Rudy's Reading List, it was a success.

[szczebrzeszyn]

I call BS. I thank Trevor for being the first person to put up the 11/5 web site, but he was not the only one who offered. He was just the first person to do it. Let us also not forget that the idea for this fundraiser was not Trevor's at all.

The V fundraiser was a resounding success, but it was not due to the actions of one man.... even the other man who actually came up with the whole idea. It was a success because of the whole grassroots. Everything that each of you did. All the wonderful videos, Peter Schiff sending out the request to his newsletter subscribers, Adam Curry pitching it for days on end to his listeners, the Ron Paul girl, the articles written by Jennifer Reynolds and so many others, DJLoti and Ron Paul Radio, all the people who spent hours on end individually mailing notices to Ron Paul's Myspace friends and all the Meetup members and on and on. Not to mention the fact that many of you were selling your own blood, selling your possessions on Ebay, putting yourself in debt on your credit cards, foregoing vacations, etc. YOU are the reason it was successful.

This should be abundantly clear by looking at how the very same type of fundraisers attempted by other campaigns, even to the extent of practically copying Trevor's text on the website, have failed dismally. If all it took was putting up a website, the other campaigns would have succeeded at their 1 day fundraisers too. They keep trying to copy us, but they just don't get it. We haven't been successful because of any ONE of us. We have been successful because we all have a fire in our bellies to regain our liberty and our country. As many of you say frequently, they just don't understand, that it's THE MESSAGE. It's something the others do not have. Have we forgotten too?

It is a big mistake to credit the success of the fundraising to one person. Yes, give credit where credit is due, but to say it was a success from one man is not only a lie, but it does a huge disservice to the entire grassroots movement and the sacrifices made by so many people.

I might have missed it, but I don't recall any vote to elect Trevor as the representative of the grassroots.

My thoughts exactly... Trevor did a great job, but I don't understand why people try to address all the success to his tiny amateur website. I stated before, that it would be NOTHING without all the people who promoted it and who donated that day. It does not really matter who did the website. It could have been any other person. I think it's rather obvious, but some people still repeat the 'Trevor success' like a mantra... It was the Grassroots success!