Should Rand live in Iowa for the next two months?

[adam220891]

Given the numbers seen in some of the early states, it seems that Iowa is Rand's best chance to win early on.

We saw Santorum devote most if his resources to Iowa in 2012 and he won, which probably prolonged his campaign longer than it should've been (no doubt the media gave him a timely pump). Christie seems to be focused on NH right now and is seeing his numbers improve there.

Could surprising everyone and winning in Iowa put Rand in a position to succeed, or would it leave his organization lacking in the remaining states and not be a viable option?

Need something to ponder on, so let's discuss.

[Suzu]

Is it something Rand is considering?

[CPUd]

No, an outright win in NV would be huge; they need to do what they can out there to make that happen. They already know what they need to do in Iowa, and have mostly been doing it since day 1.

[movingstone]

hmm he doesn't have 2 months. Campaign during Christmas is very limited. So he probably got a tad more than a month left.

[adam220891]

Is it something Rand is considering?

It doesn't appear so.

I'm just curious because his numbers in NH and SC aren't any good (and his Iowa numbers are only marginally better, but the SFR push is hard there, we are told)

I think it's a good idea because:

-Evangelical vote is currently split a few ways
-Audit the Fed bill takes place a couple weeks before the caucus
-There's 1 or 2 more debates before the caucus
-SFR is heavily organized there + college will be in session
-Ron did quite well in Iowa
-SC is almost certainly not going to be Rand's first state won
-The campaign is fragile enough that I don't know it can stand a poor showing in Iowa, NH, and SC

[derek4ever]

Rand will place in the top 3! I'm positive about it! There was a map from latinsforpaul about the average age per county! :)

[luctor-et-emergo]

Pretty much but he'll also have to visit NH, SC and NV. As well as showing up in congress.

If only we could donate some of our excess energy to Rand. He's going to be tired at the end of this.

[nikcers]

I saw a mockup where they changed the head on all the candidates and made them all into Donald Trumps, and the only one the really stood out was the really fat Donald Trump so the real question is, should Rand adopt wearing a constitution costume

http://i.imgur.com/MbuupRb.jpg
(http://i.imgur.com/MbuupRb.jpg)

[KEEF]

I'd like him to be on the Senate floor giving a riveting speech about the Audit the Fed bill coming up. Get him some national spotlight similar to what his filibusters have done. Then go live in Iowa.

But I am no campaign manager not politician, so WTF do I know? I trust the campaign will do what needs to be done.

[dusman]

I saw a mockup where they changed the head on all the candidates and made them all into Donald Trumps, and the only one the really stood out was the really fat Donald Trump so the real question is, should Rand adopt wearing a constitution costume

http://i.imgur.com/MbuupRb.jpg
(http://i.imgur.com/MbuupRb.jpg)

Bahaha. Not sure which is my favorite. The Cruz kind eyes is great, though.

[adam220891]

Given the newly released debate criteria (top 5 in NH or IA or top 6 nationally) I'd say an Iowa push makes even more sense.

The media won't be on our side and won't make this easy. I feel like boots on the ground in Iowa is the only way.

[CPUd]

They just expanded campaign operations in NH. The worst thing that could happen is the press starts reporting they are putting all their resources in Iowa. Not saying they shouldn't be doing "extra" in Iowa (they are already busting their ass up there), but it should be on the down low, and not take away from operations in other states.

[cindy25]

NH is the key, as is SC. Rand will do ok in IA.

[CPUd]

NH will be highly competitive, but Rand has been competitive there in certain demographics, like age 45-54. SC is very hard to predict right now, he does well in certain demos there too, but not sure how that turnout is going to be when they vote.

[derek4ever]

Pretty much but he'll also have to visit NH, SC and NV. As well as showing up in congress.

If only we could donate some of our excess energy to Rand. He's going to be tired at the end of this.

I wonder what the campaign is going to come up with. Anybody have the campaign's e-mail to see if it's possible to help the campaign from abroad? :)

[Peace&Freedom]

Rand doesn't have to live there, but he has to get the youth vote out to vote. He should have an aggressive early vote game in place in Iowa to get as many younger voters to absentee vote as possible, instead of trusting a demographic with a 15% turnout record to show up at the caucus sites.

[CPUd]

Rand doesn't have to live there, but he has to get the youth vote out to vote. He should have an aggressive early vote game in place in Iowa to get as many younger voters to absentee vote as possible, instead of trusting a demographic with a 15% turnout record to show up at the caucus sites.

That's covered. The campaign is also making sure they get registered.

[CPUd]

Meanwhile at the Las Vegas Review-Journal after being bought by Adelson:

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[alucard13mm]

People putting emphasis on Nevada, Nevada will be a lot harder if Iowa doesn't do well because the narrative would be.. Paul cant win. That would not go well with Nevada. If not Top 3, its gg. I think its possible. I think Rand has a good chance for 2nd or 3rd, but that largely depends if he can overcome Carson and take back some votes from Cruz fans.

[CPUd]

People putting emphasis on Nevada, Nevada will be a lot harder if Iowa doesn't do well because the narrative would be.. Paul cant win. That would not go well with Nevada. If not Top 3, its gg. I think its possible. I think Rand has a good chance for 2nd or 3rd, but that largely depends if he can overcome Carson and take back some votes from Cruz fans.

Rand will be top 3 in Iowa just by continuing what they're doing out there now.

[69360]

No reason to. What would it accomplish? Something huge would have to happen to improve from 3% to 30% and visiting every pizza ranch in the 99 counties isn't it. I don't think he should quit or stop campaigning though.

[Bastiat's The Law]

worked for Frothy

[eleganz]

Can we also talk about what meals Rand would eat if he were to theoretically take residence in Iowa until caucus day?

Or maybe which bathrooms would be strategic for most effective urinal conversations with likely voters?

Come on peeps. Really?

[hells_unicorn]

worked for Frothy

It did to an extent, but for him it coincided with Michelle Bachmann collapsing and a heavy amount of help from the Mainstream Media. Rand won't get the latter, though the complete collapse of Ben Carson coupled with siphoning some votes away from Cruz would definitely be possible. I was originally of the mindset that retail politics would take care of everything, but not with someone like Carson and Trump in the race nullifying it with endless amounts of cash and free media coverage.

[CPUd]

I suspect Bush is keeping Trump in the race, whether they know it or not. Aside from the other scenario where Cruz is drawing support from Trump, there are people choosing Trump in these polls because of how strongly they resent the same handful of people trying to ram Bush down their throats. They put big money behind him and try to prop him up while the rank-and-file GOP after years of friendly press, still won't have anything to do with him. If he were to drop, the field would probably even out.

[69360]

worked for Frothy

Things are very different this time around. You have a reality TV star sucking up all the low information voters. Kissing babies and shaking hands won't win them over this time.

[jkob]

If Rand doesn't at least come in at least 2nd in Iowa or New Hampshire, he won't anywhere. So yeah, he should camp out and go to every county like Santorum did. We need a surge like that.

[r3volution 3.0]

Yes

To overcome Trumptardation, Rand's got to win the groundgrame.

...one has to hope that Iowans are a bit more rational in person.

[derek4ever]

Yes

To overcome Trumptardation, Rand's got to win the groundgrame.

...one has to hope that Iowans are a bit more rational in person.

Iowans like to be sweet talked. It's the whole idea of retail politics in action. :)

[r3volution 3.0]

Iowans like to be sweet talked. It's the whole idea of retail politics in action. :)

Whatever works.

...get those corn-fed people to the caucus, to vote for Rand, even if they don't know why: for their own sake.

As Donald Trimpanzee likes to say; do we have a country or not?

...I think not, but I'd like to be proved wrong.

[Bastiat's The Law]

Things are very different this time around. You have a reality TV star sucking up all the low information voters. Kissing babies and shaking hands won't win them over this time.

Yes and no. Trumps support is soft. I think everyone's support move around a bit this cycle, whereas Romney was always guaranteed to have an establishment 25% cushion in Iowa.

[mello]

I think Rand's best shot at a comeback would be the Iowa Caucus. His advantage is that the caucus was pushed backed to February which helps him greatly since all of those college students will be back from winter break. To have a chance, he should hit Iowa colleges hard & repeatedly with the goal of focusing all of that young support.

It would be awesome & hysterical if Rand came in first. The hysterical part would be watching the network pundits trying to find ways to talk about the winner of the Iowa caucus without mentioning Rand's name.

[Dianne]

He needs a good showing in Iowa... doesn't have to win, but a good showing. He must bring results in higher than Jebbie.

[simon1911]

I spoke to some family members at Christmas parties and asked around who they like. I heard Rubio, Cruz and Trump. Some said that they can get behind Trump if he wins the nominee. And this was coming from a believer after we talked how the spending bill fully funded Planned Parenthood. I even asked even if Trump is for pro-choice. The person said the other side is worst. It was very disheartening. I hope Iowans aren't like this.

[nikcers]

I spoke to some family members at Christmas parties and asked around who they like. I heard Rubio, Cruz and Trump. Some said that they can get behind Trump if he wins the nominee. And this was coming from a believer after we talked how the spending bill fully funded Planned Parenthood. I even asked even if Trump is for pro-choice. The person said the other side is worst. It was very disheartening. I hope Iowans aren't like this.

I've been recently engaging Trump supporters and one trend I've noticed is that the Polls have desensitized people from forming new opinions on who can win and who can't. The biggest Lie ever told was that Trump can beat Hillary, and until this is debunked people will think his strategy is endearing and earnest. Everyone hates a losing strategy and as soon as he can't "win" then his intentions won't be perceived as pure.

[Joeinmo]

Just a note : Santorum lived in Iowa he was at between 6-8% on Dec 20th 2011 and between 2-3% nationally, and ended up in a 3 way tie for first come caucus day. Obviously the makeup is different in this race, but I don't think Trump supporters (Astro turf) are gonna show up, it's between Cruz, Rand and Rubio. Of all those Rand and Cruz have really hardcore supporters and of those nobody knows how to organize a caucus like Paul supporters who have 8 years under their belt. When Rand says he is going to shock in Iowa I think his own polling is showing that he is powerful. What do we do if you don't live in Iowa, get to those Iowa online comments sections and push Rand, send letters to the editor, the power is in us, we are the most politically savvy portion of the electorate in the United States, we are the last best hope, we are the firewall. So instead of always being on the forums, get out there and do some guerilla warfare and help get votes. The time is now, not tomorrow