So are we done ignoring the anti War voting block?

[Liberty Star]

RP need to hit hard on Iraq war/foreign policy issues and how they effect taxes/economy/liberties at home. RP had the foresight and courage to oppose Iraq war years ago and need to capitalize on that. Now will be good time to take a look at our ads for NH and make sure we have the right message of Hope and Change and nothing like the recent controversial, pandering ad that was played in Iowa. Iraq War and its human, financial, liberty costs should be highlighted. We should stick with the message RP sent out in debates, that works. Majority of Americans consider Iraq war a mistake and chances of someone who supported Iraq war going to the White House in 08 are between slim and none.

Evangelicals like the ones that dominate Iowa demographic are tough recruits, RP has much better chance of getting better results in other demographics. Church going Americans still support Iraq war over non-Church going Americans 2:1 ! Religious minds are hard to change fast. Maybe just put the Evangelical block courting effort on the back burner, America is not Iowa. The effort that it will take to convert one pro-war, pro-Bush evangelical can convert three anti Iraq war Independent/Dem Americans and there are lots of them.

[cindy25]

could not agree more. the war issue is our ace in the hole, but it has to be played.

[passerby]

He has no competition in his anti-war message. It's a popular position and he doesn't need to compete to get these voter, so I'm baffled as to why they don't stress this more! The campaign should focus on what he's good at and what makes him distinctive.

There's no point in trying to convert the war votes by shying away from his central message - it's not going to happen, and those votes are already being diluted among the neo-cons. He should reach out to those without representation instead. They also happen to be 70% of America, according to polls.

[Karsten]

Ron Paul really needs to stress this in his ads.

[Santana28]

i agree. with most people i talk to, its either you are for the war, or against it for moral/patriotic reasons. what no one stops to think about is this juicy little nugget : it doesnt matter how you personally feel about the war - the fact is, it is bankrupting our country and WE CAN NOT AFFORD THE WAR. I've found that this statement alone is enough to make a lot of people look into Ron Paul where they otherwise wouldn't have.

The GOP wants to plaster the "liberal/libertarian" label on Dr. Paul because he is against the war, and we really need to get the message out there that NO - it's not just about being against the war, it's about the Economy stupid!"

this could be an ace-in-the-hole type ad in a few key states i suspect.

[Carole]

Funny, Dr. Paul actually won one county with 36% and was second to Huckabee in Davis County with 21%, 3rd Decatur 13%, 3rd -4th with 13%-16% in several other counties.
He was 3rd Jackson County 17% where Romney 38% and Huck 24%.

He won Jefferson County 35% over Huck 31% and was second 26% to Huck 31% Osceola County. Second 21% to Huck 38% Pocahontas County. Second 21% to Huck 36% Van Buren County. Several thirds and fourths.

He did very well all things considered. :)

[voytechs]

Evangelicals like the ones that dominate Iowa demographic are tough recruits, RP has much better chance of getting better results in other demographics. Church going Americans still support Iraq war over non-Church going Americans 2:1 ! Religious minds are hard to change fast. Maybe just put the Evangelical block courting effort on the back burner, America is not Iowa. The effort that it will take to convert one pro-war, pro-Bush evangelical can convert three anti Iraq war Independent/Dem Americans and there are lots of them.

Thats a good point. 70% of the entire turn out were pro-bush evangelicals (based on the entrance-poll.) That is not the make up of the rest of the country or the GOP. We did get the biggest pie of the anti-bush/angry voters, 54% and 29% independents.

Here is where we could have done better. Huckabee pulled in 26% of the dissatisfied anti-bush voters, probably because of the disproportionate evangelical voters. We only pulled in 12% of that. We could have done way better in this area which would put us into 3rd easily. That is a big slice of the base 26%. We only pulled in 12%, we could have done 50% just like with the angry crowd.

This was a very heavy 70% pro-bush evangelical GOP state. We will do much better in other states.

[Liberty Star]

All very good points made above. It is surprising why Ron Paul campaign has not been aggressively going after a big majority of Americans who are very concerned with current course of America and see Bush/Cheney war policies as bad for America. RP need to question judgement of candidates who supported Iraq war policy and show how it undermines American security.

I agree on Iowa, considering Iowa demographic, RP did well with 10% vote. This is good start but we should be bit concerned about the message of campaign going forward.

[fj45lvr]

The effort that it will take to convert one pro-war, pro-Bush evangelical can convert three anti Iraq war Independent/Dem Americans and there are lots of them.

I got to say that even if these people did agree with RON on the war issue that there are other things with Pauls message that they are not likely to recieve with open arms (making them no different than people who are already republican)..

Outside of the "WAR" Paul's "platform" is what these people would acknowledge as100% ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE (except many of them are NOT knowledgeable enough to understand FEDERALISM and they are MISGUIDED that being a non-interventionist is somehow not conservative).

[idiom]

Surely more than 10% of Iowa is anti-war?

It will come in handy Vs. Obama, but we have to explain that we are not just anti-Iraq but anti all unjust and unnessecary wars.

We need to communicate to independents that Obama has the same Foreign Policy circle of friends as Bush and Huck.

Only Ron is change.


Religious minds are hard to change fast.

We have all year, but they need to be changed sometime.

But yeah *we the grassroots* have to step up the communication. We also need to take the polls seriously. The people being polled have brains, we need to find them.

[fj45lvr]

Surely more than 10% of Iowa is anti-war?
.

Of course.

problem is that the other 90% of the anti-war folks LOVE either SOCIALISM, entitlements, illegal immigration, ABORTION on demand, BIG GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSAL GOV. HEALTH CARE

they believe that GOV has to be the HEAD of the DOG not the TAIL.

[JordanL]

I'd like to point out that "anti-war" is the ONLY thing about Ron Paul just about ANY person I meet knows about him if they know his name.