San Diego Straw Poll: Respectable 2nd

[xerxesdarius]

Just got back from the San Diego straw poll and fundraiser. Ron Paul came in 2nd with 73 votes. Mitt Romney won with 117, Ghoul with 51, Huck with 14 or so, Hunter with 36. I am sure someone will post the exact numbers.

It was a classy event at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, $125 per head. I went expecting a ton of resistance and was pleasantly surprised with the level of support. Local meetup was fantastic, we had a ton of people outside that couldn't afford a ticket waiving signs. The Romney supporters I spoke with (4 or 5) were given tickets. Matt Romney was present with his daughter. I spoke with him for a while, apparently he lives in Rancho Bernardo. He seems nice.

I came away with two observations:

First, the enthusiasm of Ron Paul supporters is massive compared to the others. Not even in the same galaxy. This warmed my heart. Honestly, our biggest opponent is not a candidate it is the business as usual attitude among party regulars.

Second, we can make friends among the others. I chatted up many people. Many were insiders that I could tell felt uncomfortable talking to me, even though I am a well spoken, well dressed professional. Ron Paul is dirty and foreign to some... I spoke with the guy manning the Fred table for a while. We agreed on most things. He was pissed with the spending also, only issue with Paul is the war. He definitely was not afraid of Paul like some were.

A member of the SD Republican executive committee (Matt) made a point to really spend some time with myself and a group of very young, atypical Republican RP supporters. He expressed his frustration that what he called "moderate" Republicans had pulled the party away from its core principals. He said in no uncertain terms that he loved that the libertarian wing was injecting an astounding amount of energy into the campaign. He said that a lot of the policy wonks in San Diego are libertarians at heart and welcome the energy. He seemed very sincere. I said that the energy that we brought would not transfer to a big-government candidate and he agreed. He said that the party needed a hard shove to the right and that the base was gone.

The insiders were hoping that if they ignored us we would go away, but we made friends among a surprising number of the activists.

Second place has never felt so good.

[Cowlesy]

Awesome, thanks for the update! 2nd is great especially considering it was $125 a freakin' head.

[Tidewise]

Romney - 117
Paul - 73
Giuliani - 51
Hunter - 36 (in his own district)
Huckster - 14
McCain - 12
Thompson - 10
Tancred - 0

Just got back and thought I would share the results.

Ron Paulers did us proud, but it was tough to compete with Romnulians given that one of the largest Mormon churches in the country outside of Utah is mere miles away. Ron Paul supporters conducted themselves with a model of decorum and civility and we ROCKED it.

The tabulation was totally legitimate. They swiped your drivers license, marked you with a green pen on your entry tag and on your wrist. It was done by a company named UniVote who looks like they want to move into Diebold's market. Although I think they conducted the straw poll properly, I have no opinion of them otherwise (but they are local San Diego company).

[drfarrington]

Well at $125 a ticket, how do expect any guy living paycheck to paycheck to afford that?

If it was $30 a ticket, Ron Paul would have won hands down.

[benhaskins]

nice

[slantedview]

I'm surprised Mitt won. What do people see in him? What will he "really" do? More of the same is what.

[xerxesdarius]

Thanks Craig, I knew I had some of the numbers wrong.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

I'm surprised Mitt won. What do people see in him? What will he "really" do? More of the same is what.

did you not read? he bought people tickets.

[Dustancostine]

That is the one thing that I have noticed about Fred supporters. They generally like RP but just want to keep fighting the war. It may be an area where we could pull considerable support.

[Benaiah]

Well at $125 a ticket, how do expect any guy living paycheck to paycheck to afford that?

If it was $30 a ticket, Ron Paul would have won hands down.

agreed. I'm surprised we did this well for a $125 ticket event.

[Tidewise]

That is the one thing that I have noticed about Fred supporters. They generally like RP but just want to keep fighting the war. It may be an area where we could pull considerable support.

Exactly. The one way I have been getting to the pro-war crowd is by point out to them that we can't afford it and that it weakens our national security to borrow from the Chinese to fund the war. I also get into the inflation tax, which I have come to believe is our number one weapon.

Also, for the really really pro-war crowd I point out to the fact that they have United States Marines up on murder charges for fighting a war and that the politicians will never allow our troops to fight to win.

[Tidewise]

I'm surprised Mitt won. What do people see in him? What will he "really" do? More of the same is what.

They were all from the local, hugantic ginormous Mormon Church (one of the biggest in the world). His brother was there and whipped them up to come down.

[Cowlesy]

They were all from the local, hugantic ginormous Mormon Church (one of the biggest in the world). His brother was there and whipped them up to come down.


That makes perfect sense. You'd almost have to figure if his son was there, that he was instrumental of rallying their troops.

[xerxesdarius]

Also, based on what I saw I think Ghoul's support in the polls is solely based on name recognition. The handful of Giuliani supporters (and I mean 3-4) with buttons did not seem energetic at all. In fact, they seemed embarrassed, like they were wearing a mouse suit at Chucky Cheese's. If I were a betting man, I would short the Ghoul on Intrade.

[A Ron Paul Rebel]

So we have an angle on Freddie's defectors...


Also, based on what I saw I think Ghoul's support in the polls is solely based on name recognition. The handful of Giuliani supporters (and I mean 3-4) with buttons did not seem energetic at all. In fact, they seemed embarrassed, like they were wearing a mouse suit at Chucky Cheese's. If I were a betting man, I would short the Ghoul on Intrade.

And it sounds like the Ghoulies can be turned too. :D

[DirtMcGirt]

Well done San Diego, let's keep this thing rolling!!!

[davidhperry]

Ron Paulers did us proud, but it was tough to compete with Romnulians given that one of the largest Mormon churches in the country outside of Utah is mere miles away. Ron Paul supporters conducted themselves with a model of decorum and civility and we ROCKED it.

Awesome job guys! Thanks for representing us.

[Tidewise]

Also, I have say:

Lepard's USA Today Founding Fathers ad lives on!

Of all the campaign literature scattered around by various candidate supporters, copies of the USA Today ad were the ones I saw people reading the most closely, folding in their pocket and taking home.

[Dorfsmith]

Romney - 117
Paul - 73
Giuliani - 51
Hunter - 36 (in his own district)
Huckster - 14
McCain - 12
Thompson - 10
Tancred - 0

Just got back and thought I would share the results.

Ron Paulers did us proud, but it was tough to compete with Romnulians given that one of the largest Mormon churches in the country outside of Utah is mere miles away. Ron Paul supporters conducted themselves with a model of decorum and civility and we ROCKED it.

The tabulation was totally legitimate. They swiped your drivers license, marked you with a green pen on your entry tag and on your wrist. It was done by a company named UniVote who looks like they want to move into Diebold's market. Although I think they conducted the straw poll properly, I have no opinion of them otherwise (but they are local San Diego company).

Hey, didn't hunter try to rub his Texas straw poll win on Ron Paul's face? This is funny :D

[davidhperry]

Exactly. The one way I have been getting to the pro-war crowd is by point out to them that we can't afford it and that it weakens our national security to borrow from the Chinese to fund the war. I also get into the inflation tax, which I have come to believe is our number one weapon.

Bravo!! I've recently started using this as well and it works every time! I say that even if going to Iraq and staying there was a good thing to do, morally speaking, we can't afford to do it because we're going broke, borrowing from the Chinese, etc. This line of reasoning is very hard to argue with and is super effective.

[xerxesdarius]

Exactly. The one way I have been getting to the pro-war crowd is by point out to them that we can't afford it and that it weakens our national security to borrow from the Chinese to fund the war. I also get into the inflation tax, which I have come to believe is our number one weapon.

Also, for the really really pro-war crowd I point out to the fact that they have United States Marines up on murder charges for fighting a war and that the politicians will never allow our troops to fight to win.

Absolutely true. If the Fred supporters are to be converted, it is that we can't afford the war, whether we would like to continue it or not.

[RevolutionSD]

Just got back from the San Diego straw poll and fundraiser. Ron Paul came in 2nd with 73 votes. Mitt Romney won with 117, Ghoul with 51, Huck with 14 or so, Hunter with 36. I am sure someone will post the exact numbers.

It was a classy event at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, $125 per head. I went expecting a ton of resistance and was pleasantly surprised with the level of support. Local meetup was fantastic, we had a ton of people outside that couldn't afford a ticket waiving signs. The Romney supporters I spoke with (4 or 5) were given tickets. Matt Romney was present with his daughter. I spoke with him for a while, apparently he lives in Rancho Bernardo. He seems nice.

I came away with two observations:

First, the enthusiasm of Ron Paul supporters is massive compared to the others. Not even in the same galaxy. This warmed my heart. Honestly, our biggest opponent is not a candidate it is the business as usual attitude among party regulars.

Second, we can make friends among the others. I chatted up many people. Many were insiders that I could tell felt uncomfortable talking to me, even though I am a well spoken, well dressed professional. Ron Paul is dirty and foreign to some... I spoke with the guy manning the Fred table for a while. We agreed on most things. He was pissed with the spending also, only issue with Paul is the war. He definitely was not afraid of Paul like some were.

A member of the SD Republican executive committee (Matt) made a point to really spend some time with myself and a group of very young, atypical Republican RP supporters. He expressed his frustration that what he called "moderate" Republicans had pulled the party away from its core principals. He said in no uncertain terms that he loved that the libertarian wing was injecting an astounding amount of energy into the campaign. He said that a lot of the policy wonks in San Diego are libertarians at heart and welcome the energy. He seemed very sincere. I said that the energy that we brought would not transfer to a big-government candidate and he agreed. He said that the party needed a hard shove to the right and that the base was gone.

The insiders were hoping that if they ignored us we would go away, but we made friends among a surprising number of the activists.

Second place has never felt so good.

Thanks so much for the update.
I'm SO bummed I couldn't make it. Wife dragged me to her company dinner. I would have loved to have been there, oh well! Sounds like we did pretty well considering everything. Nobody is very excited about any of the candidates. Maybe we can pull a big chunk of the Fred supporters over when he calls it quits.

Nice work!

[microsect]

He forgot to mention with the enormous Mormon temple mere miles away, it was no surprise that Romney won. But Dr. Paul had a very strong second place finish.

Don’t forget the blimp!!

[Dorfsmith]

Absolutely true. If the Fred supporters are to be converted, it is that we can't afford the war, whether we would like to continue it or not.

I have a couple friends who are Thompson supporters. When Fred drops out I have a feeling that they will go to Ron Paul. Like you all have said here. The only reason they won't support Ron Paul is because of the war.

[RevolutionSD]

He forgot to mention with the enormous Mormon temple mere miles away, it was no surprise that Romney won. But Dr. Paul had a very strong second place finish.

Don’t forget the blimp!!

Funny, I live RIGHT BY that temple but never really noticed a huge mormon population here in SD.

[microsect]

Also when I say enormous temple I'm not joking, take a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_California_Temple

[microsect]

Funny, I live RIGHT BY that temple but never really noticed a huge mormon population here in SD.


You know that’s so true. I never see any Mormon people around too.
Well they are a tight community and they like to stay away from everyone:rolleyes:

[ksuguy]

That's a pretty good result, especially given the high price of tickets and the fact that Romney probably bought a lot of them for his people.

[Paulitician]

This is great stuff to hear. It's much better to talk with people already active in the Republican party. A lot of them have the same principles we do... I think the whole conspiracy theory/paranoia approach that some of RP supporters use really hurts our cause, and pushes people away.

[RonPaulwillWin]

Great post. With out the internet most of us would never have known how much the candidates campaign at such a local level during this stage in the election.

[Tidewise]

Great post. With out the internet most of us would never have known how much the candidates campaign at such a local level during this stage in the election.

Exactly. Their shiat is top down.

[Ron LOL]

...one of the largest Mormon churches in the country outside of Utah is mere miles away.

Otherwise known as the Voltron castle... :)

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/8608/mormontronsl0.jpg

[xerxesdarius]

Bump for the morning people.

[ColinCohen]

A little revenge for Hunter winning in Texas.

[sgrooms]

Otherwise known as the Voltron castle... :)

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/8608/mormontronsl0.jpg

LMAO!!

I'm pretty proud of myself, i've converted a dozen or so Mitt Romney supporting mormons living in southern california over to the good Doc.

definitely NOT easy though