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View Full Version : Please read! Lesson Learned in IA! - Never blow off campaigning in rural areas.




libertythor
01-04-2008, 01:09 AM
I am headed off to bed. Remember everybody, it isn't the end of the world.

I also leave one note: Don't neglect the urban areas in the middle states. In Missouri about 50% of the population lives in non metro areas.

Hitting college campus centers and metro areas is important but alone won't cut it. We need meetup members heading out to farms and communities of 10,000 people for many of these constests!

Other states to keep in mind for thoroughly combing small towns: Nebraska, the Dakotas, Arkansas, Kansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota....etc You get the picture. This is what happened in Iowa. The highest voter turnout percentage wise is in rural areas and involves an older set. If the campaign was more geared towards how liberty would affect this demographic in IA, the results would have been different.

The campuses and busy urban intersections are great but not enough to win.


Don't forget that! This is a lesson we have learned today in Iowa.


Edit: P.S. The small town and rural population are more civic. You can reach a good deal of them by looking up events in the small newspapers that just about every county has: Auctions, PTA Meetings, Volunteer Fire Department Bake Sales, Moose/Elks/Eagles Clubs, Hunting Clubs....etc.

libertythor
01-04-2008, 01:16 AM
bump

Good night all. :)

Spirit of '76
01-04-2008, 01:19 AM
You are 100% right, and speaking as someone who lives in a very rural area, I can assure you that rural people are all about Freedom and Independence.

Stress these things, and you can go far.

CatherineBleish
01-04-2008, 01:29 AM
Yeah we went to Wayne County by the campaigns suggestions (there were no Ron Paul staffers/volunteers planned to be there). We were laughed at by some, questioned by a few, and hugged by one. Over all there were a ton of Obama, Edwards, and Huckabee signs, but no Ron Paul signs. He only won 7 votes in that county..... I know here in Missouri we're going to start campaigning SOON. I'm excited to talk to the small towns.

OH and we met some people at a local bar who knew of and loved Ron Paul, but were refusing to caucus cause they knew Huckabee or Romney would win in his county. We practically begged him to got caucus and he wouldn't. My point being: If there had been pre-existing support in his town, maybe he would have felt more inclined to hit the caucus!

WRellim
01-04-2008, 02:08 AM
Yeah we went to Wayne County by the campaigns suggestions (there were no Ron Paul staffers/volunteers planned to be there). We were laughed at by some, questioned by a few, and hugged by one. Over all there were a ton of Obama, Edwards, and Huckabee signs, but no Ron Paul signs. He only won 7 votes in that county..... I know here in Missouri we're going to start campaigning SOON. I'm excited to talk to the small towns.

OH and we met some people at a local bar who knew of and loved Ron Paul, but were refusing to caucus cause they knew Huckabee or Romney would win in his county. We practically begged him to got caucus and he wouldn't. My point being: If there had been pre-existing support in his town, maybe he would have felt more inclined to hit the caucus!

This confirms a LOT of what I have thought and wrote elsewhere. There are a LOT of Ron Paul "supporters" who are so in name only.

Ron Paul may have "treated" their apathy, but did not cure their LAZINESS and INDIFFERENCE.

I am certain that if ALL of the purported "Ron Paul Supporters" in Iowa had actually gotten off their butts and caucused, the results would have been even better.

Our expectations are too high -- we can NOT count on "higher participation rates" -- people are inherently LAZY. If they think their candidate is winning (or even doing well) they will blow off actual voting. If they think he is losing (or doing poorly) they will stay home saying "what's the point." In short, people (including many purported RP supporters) are stupid.

liberty_Forever
01-04-2008, 02:11 AM
Right: we need a massive effort to organize the grassroots and connect with the official campaign.

Spirit of '76
01-04-2008, 02:15 AM
OH and we met some people at a local bar who knew of and loved Ron Paul, but were refusing to caucus cause they knew Huckabee or Romney would win in his county. We practically begged him to got caucus and he wouldn't. My point being: If there had been pre-existing support in his town, maybe he would have felt more inclined to hit the caucus!

You should have offered to escort him to the caucus and then take him out for drinks afterward. ;)

coffeewithchess
01-04-2008, 02:15 AM
This is why Fred Thompson ended up doing so well today, because he actually had a BUS tour and went to over 50 cities in Iowa...NOT JUST THE BIG ONES(looking at you NATIONAL HQ)!

justinc.1089
01-04-2008, 02:15 AM
Right: we need a massive effort to organize the grassroots and connect with the official campaign.

Amen! If the grassroots was bossed around and given direction by an actual effective campaign staff the strength of this campaign would increase by like 100!

It gets old hearing people on here whining about losing in Iowa but yet they are IGNORING the coming loss in South Carolina, just like the official campaign is.

justinc.1089
01-04-2008, 02:17 AM
We also need to motivate the entire grassroots support to do something. I know in my meetup group only like 15 members are actually actively campaigning for Paul and really getting votes, the rest are not, and we are in dire need of all help so I intend to send out an email to the meetup group I'm in directing the email to the rest of the members to try to make them realize that no one can do this for them, that they must do it themselves if they want this to happen because there is no other way.

free.alive
01-04-2008, 03:09 AM
What do you mean? RP got a lower percentage of the urban vote than rural vote

libertythor
01-04-2008, 08:30 AM
What do you mean? RP got a lower percentage of the urban vote than rural vote

That is because it was ignored!!!!!!