Relax: 5th isn't bad.

[Paul/Belichick08]

It hurts that we won't get the media boost, that 3rd or 4th would give, but Ron hasn't really campaigned in Iowa that much, or spent that much money there. He has the money to keep going and NH is a whole different ballgame.

If he ends up at 10.5% to McCain and Thompson's 13.0% statistically that isn't a big difference. The only way this really hurts is if people get discouraged by the media spin. Don't let that happen, keep donating, keep getting the word out, and focus on NH. Let's take it one state at a time.

KEEP THE FAITH! This is just one battle, not the war!

[Carole]

Is Iowa a Democratic state?

[davidt!]

5th tonight, 3rd in NH and Money in the bank. We are just getting started!

[noztnac]

Plus the media is going to be all over Romney and Hillary for losing.

[Got Liberty?]

And we stomped all over the Ghoul.

[Bacon]

5th in Iowa and 3rd in NH a success? Yeah right...

[RonPaulVolunteer]

Do NOT relax.

We need to use this reality check to do everything BUT relax. It's time to get serious...

.

[Flirple]

This is a marathon not a sprint. We lived up to our poll numbers (perhaps exceeded them by a few points) and now our goal should be to finish even higher in NH. If we can continue to get at least 9-10% (hopefully better) in the first few primaries we will start to get people's attention. Remember candidates from both parties will start dropping out now (Biden, Richardson, Hunter, and maybe even Thompson because he is broke) and therefore people will notice Ron even more because there will be more media time available now with other 2nd tier candidates gone. Even though we weren't competing directly for votes with the 2nd tier democratic candidates we have been competing with them for attention. Remember, Ron Paul still is largely unknown. And that is a blessing in disguise.

The difference with us is that Ron has money and our enthusiasm to help him continue on. That is why we survive with a strong 5th place showing but Thomson may have to drop out over his meager 3rd place finish.

The rEVOLution marches on!

[Prez4TheNet]

I think I'm going to take the hucks advice and go into a bathtub with razors.

[Enzo]

Go do something useful instead.

[drexhex]

68% of Iowa Republicans are Satisfied or even Enthusiastic about the Bush administration. It isn't over with Iowa.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/index.html#IAREP

[Flirple]

5th in Iowa and 3rd in NH a success? Yeah right...

No, it's definitely not a success. But it is not exactly a failure either. In any other election it would be but because there is no inevitable candidate we are still in rather good shape. We need to get even more determined (not relaxed) and work hard to do better in NH. We need to prove that we are not going away so that at some point we get a wave of free media like everyone else has already gotten at least twice. What we are hoping for is to achieve some buzz by time we hit super-duper Tuesday.

Look at it this way, it looks like we got 10% of the vote in Iowa. Looking back, that is the best we have ever done in the polls in the last year. We have slowly gotten stronger and stronger in the polls, grassroots, and fundraising over the last year and tonight we make our debut at 10%. This is stronger than we've ever been and there is every reason to believe that we will continue to get stronger. We just need to make sure we catch our big break before super-duper Tuesday on Feb 5th.

[jgmaynard]

Now the national polls have Ron at 9%, and I don't think any of us have ever claimed that Iowa is a strong state for Ron. Getting 10% there is pretty decent, I think. NH, MI and NV should all be better for us, maybe by quite a bit.

JM