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Idyil
01-04-2008, 04:48 AM
Hi,
I have been an avid follower of Ron Paul for the past few months. I happened to come upon this forum today after viewing the results of the Iowa caucus. I, like many others, am a little disappointed with the results. However, the posts on here are SO negative! People are blaming the Iowa RP supporters for not doing enough, voter fraud, conspiracy theories... This basically solves nothing. How about not jumping to conclusions, like those that decided to invade Iraq, and step back and analyze the situation we are in and decide the best course of action. I'm sick and tired of people wasting time being negative and they focus more on being positive to win this election.

The reasons I think Ron Paul did not fair so well is simple:

1. Iowa is a corn state, ie govt. farm subsidies for Ethanol. RP opposes farm subsidies and a purely Ethanol solution for oil independence

2. Evangelical state, RP does not run on a religious platform. He is a constitutionalist and makes a clear separation between church and state.

3. RP simply didn't spend as much time/money in this state due to the above reasons. Why waste it when this could be used in the more important primary for NH. If you were strategically looking at this, wouldn't you do the same?


Sure, the campaigning by the Iowa staff could have been better but you have to look at the people they are trying to convert. For those complaining about Iowans, if RP does poorly in your state don't be suprised if you get flamed as well. You know, if you are such an avid supporter you could have traveled to Iowa and voted in their caucus yourself, it was allowed!. I believe that RP did well for the amount of effort spent. But, he really needs to put it all down for NH. They need to use the money we gave him and go all out, seriously. A NH top 2 seat will put in motion a lot of mainstream press coverage and that is what RP really needs. Even if the networks hate it, they gotta show the top two candidates for the GOP on the news! Once the ball starts rolling the RP message will get out to the other states. Lets help him achieve that goal.

I think he will do well in the next few primaries. Just look at the money the other candidates are raising/spending(http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp). Romney is "loaning" his own money to fund for his campaign and he is in debt 17 million in the Q3. These people are running out of cash to run tv ads and that will most likely end Mccain/Thompson for sure. While most candidates have hit a plateau in their fundraising, RP is gaining new donors daily.

Furthermore, I believe Ron Paul is a honest and patriotic American that will bring us a bright future. He has no hidden agendas and his voting record is impecable. It still defies me how people can not support him. Do people actually enjoy imperialism and taxes? Do they want a president easily influenched by special interest groups, lobbyists, and coporate puppeteering. Those are the loonies to me. GO RON PAUL!

Landslide in NH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfFTgW5cp4Y

Donor Map: http://ronpaulgraphs.com/donors.html

Thank you for your time.

DowntownGator
01-04-2008, 05:25 AM
Good post, Idyil! I concur wholeheartedly.

I generally agree with others though that it was probably not the wisest thing to do to publish a promise on the web "12 million to win Iowa." That statement in fact made me reluctant to donate in the first place, but I did. I realized they couldn't promise a win - that's ridiculous - so I gave according to my conscience. Iowa is important, but seriously, how many people here expected to WIN Iowa? When I decided to donate, I had already made that decision before I went to the website. It could have said "$12m and a bag of chips keeps us in the race" for all I care.

From what Ron Paul has said about the money, the campaign does have a plan and they recognize the money needs to be spent. I understand the plan is to focus its efforts on Super Tuesday, complete with a market saturation on a grand scale. $20m won't last long buying up T.V. space in multiple markets, and therefore it needs to be available for advertising right before Super Tuesday in order to have its best effect on the voters, who typically only remember the last 36 hours. The recency effect is a very real phenomena, and, coupled with market saturation right before Super Tuesday, such a plan does not seem incompetent at all.

Remember, it's only Iowa, and Ron Paul got 10%, and continues to rise in the polls.

Let's work on getting him into all of the debates!

RickyJ
01-04-2008, 05:31 AM
He is a constitutionalist and makes a clear separation between church and state.


FYI there is no separation of church and state in the constitution. The state has no right to start a state religion, but that doesn't mean that Christians can't be politicians and run on what they believe in. Ron Paul is also a Christian and should not hide it. There are plenty of Christians out there that would and will vote for the man, myself included. Ron Paul is probably the best example of a Christian in the whole race. That should be a strong selling point for him and not a weak one.

kaleidoscope eyes
01-04-2008, 05:33 AM
bump
yeah, i knew Iowa had no love for RP and would eat up that Huckabee Hash, but I'm looking forward to NH!
GO RP!

Paulitical Correctness
01-04-2008, 05:39 AM
Why is it the new members are the ones with common sense and ability to stay calm?

I guess the chaos of the forum hasn't turned them into cynics. :D

Newbies, keep on coming. We appreciate your optimism and rare sentiment. Plus, new members are exciting and keep us thinking positively.

Oh, and, welcome!

Idyil
01-04-2008, 05:43 AM
FYI there is no separation of church and state in the constitution. The state has no right to start a state religion, but that doesn't mean that Christians can't be politicians and run on what they believe in. Ron Paul is also a Christian and should not hide it. There are plenty of Christians out there that would and will vote for the man, myself included. Ron Paul is probably the best example of a Christian in the whole race. That should be a strong selling point for him and not a weak one.

That sentence is saying: He is a constitutionalist, He makes a separation between church and state. Not that the constitution makes that clarification.

The founding fathers of this country advocated for this separation and he, on many occasions, noted this. A person should ideally be judged on his/her actions. He is Christian but he doesn't play it out like Huckabee to get votes. He lets his actions speak for his character. People should know that he is Christian but they shouldn't be inundated with that message.

Thanks for the comment.

Matt Salla
01-04-2008, 05:49 AM
I'm pissed that we didn't do better in Iowa. But I'm going to do all I can until this is over. After Feb. 5, we will have a feel for how Ron Paul is doing.

The only reason I wanted a 3rd place finish is so I can use that energy to keep me motivated. Now I have to use my anger to keep me going. :D

joenaab
01-04-2008, 05:57 AM
Idyil,

I forgive you for not joining earlier ;) Excellent post. Dump your bucket of reason on the flames of panic and irrationality here any time!

I agree with your three points. I would add two:

4. Mainstream Media blackout and deliberate negativity. Particularly powerful with religious fanatics and the elderly who have so much invested in their belief that the major networks know reality.

5. GOP antagonism toward the campaign. They overtly oppose Ron Paul at the national level and the Iowa GOP has gone to great lengths to do so as well.

I see nothing but goodness coming from the results in Iowa. I choose to spin this as a major success (not to say we don't continually have something to learn along the way). If we can't find a victory in here somewhere, no one will for us.

Only a few months ago there were as many as ten candidates. We are now in the top five, only a couple points behind #3 and #4 and we could very well beat some of the top four finishers in New Hampshire.

Oh, and we kicked Rudy's ass! I will never forget this day for that sweet, sweet victory.

Meiun
01-04-2008, 06:01 AM
uumm, ditto, Idyil. All 3 reasons.

NH is a much better opportunity. I'd be happy with 3rd in NH, but 2nd would be a big hit nationally.

123tim
01-04-2008, 06:07 AM
I greatly appreciate this post.

I couldn't sleep at all and just got up to check the results again to see if they were all in. They're not, and it doesn't matter.

Idyl is right....a lot of us (myself included) have been too negative. I appreciate what Ron Paul Caucus goers did. They went through a lot. Where would we be without them?

I think that we have a long haul ahead of us. Let's realize that. The best part is that Ron Paul has the winning message while everyone else just has canned spam that is adjusted to get votes.

We were converted. Wasn't that pretty easy to do?
Lets tell others about Ron Paul now!

One thing that I admire about the Mike Huckabee forum is that they were supporting each other and suggesting ways to get others to the caucus. Lets keep this in mind for next time.

Thank you all.
Regards,
Tim

Idyil
01-04-2008, 06:11 AM
Idyil,

I forgive you for not joining earlier ;) Excellent post. Dump your bucket of reason on the flames of panic and irrationality here any time!

I agree with your three points. I would add two:

4. Mainstream Media blackout and deliberate negativity. Particularly powerful with religious fanatics and the elderly who have so much invested in their belief that the major networks know reality.

5. GOP antagonism toward the campaign. They overtly oppose Ron Paul at the national level and the Iowa GOP has gone to great lengths to do so as well.

I see nothing but goodness coming from the results in Iowa. I choose to spin this as a major success (not to say we don't continually have something to learn along the way). If we can't find a victory in here somewhere, no one will for us.

Only a few months ago there were as many as ten candidates. We are now in the top five, only a couple points behind #3 and #4 and we could very well beat some of the top four finishers in New Hampshire.

Oh, and we kicked Rudy's ass! I will never forget this day for that sweet, sweet victory.

I totally agree with your points about the media. That is why NH is so important in propelling Ron Paul through all the antagonism. For those that say the straw polls are pretty accurate since Iowa polled 9% and he got 10%, lets hope the state polls ARE accurate. He has won a majority of the state straw polls by a landslide. In NH he won over 70% of the votes with Romney in 2nd. For those that are on the fringe from this caucus result, I ask you to keep your hope and efforts going for at least the NH primary. I believe RP will do suprising well from the data I have seen (AOL straw poll 35% over 25% Mccain, NH Straw Poll 73%).

Look at NH on RonPaulGraphs donor maps, it's through the roof: http://ronpaulgraphs.com/donors.html

Please keep up the good work, and double or triple your efforts to get this great man elected as our new president.

Charles Wilson
01-04-2008, 06:28 AM
I greatly appreciate this post.

I couldn't sleep at all and just got up to check the results again to see if they were all in. They're not, and it doesn't matter.

Idyl is right....a lot of us (myself included) have been too negative. I appreciate what Ron Paul Caucus goers did. They went through a lot. Where would we be without them?

I think that we have a long haul ahead of us. Let's realize that. The best part is that Ron Paul has the winning message while everyone else just has canned spam that is adjusted to get votes.

We were converted. Wasn't that pretty easy to do?
Lets tell others about Ron Paul now!

One thing that I admire about the Mike Huckabee forum is that they were supporting each other and suggesting ways to get others to the caucus. Lets keep this in mind for next time.

Thank you all.
Regards,
Tim


I applaude our Ron Paul team/supporters in Iowa, double digits in Iowa is fantastic! Thank you for all of your hard work. The real losers are McCain, Thompson, and Giuliani. Ron Paul did not have a level playing field in Iowa; he did not get the same free MSM coverage that Huckabee, Romney, and others received
-- not even close.

Let's take this success and build on it. I predict that the MSM will suppot Huckabee with millions of dollars of free advertising until he gets to Florida at which point the MSM will pull the plug on him and help their man Giuliani win Florida -- Huckabee does not have much of a grassroots movement therefore he will not be able to compete with Giuliani in Florida because he is totally relying on the MSM for free advertising.

Please join me in urging the Ron Paul campaign to request Federal matching funds. That would provide the cash necessary to secure alternative advertising for the Ron Paul campaign. We cannot expect any support what so ever from the MSM. To have any real chance of winning we must start thinking of alternative advertising.

Idyil
01-04-2008, 07:43 AM
The caucus results may be a downer but don't give up. Reinvigorate yourselves with that spirit and loyalty that has gotten you this far. Maybe you can get some of that spark back by viewing the landslide video in my original post.

Keep up the good work!

Idyil
01-04-2008, 05:46 PM
bump

CountryRoads
01-04-2008, 05:57 PM
New Hampshire will be much better for Dr. Paul. Afterall it is a mostly independent state and I just don't believe that McCain, being a Bush lapdog, is going to be in first.


New Hampshire folks, this is where Ron Paul shows the media whats up.

Xonox
01-04-2008, 05:58 PM
Yeah, Iowa just is not Ron Paul's demographic. Not to mention a lot of the voters probably didn't know much about the issues. I suspect NH will be more interesting...

Paulitician
01-04-2008, 06:01 PM
I don't buy any argument that says Ron couldn't come in 3rd place (that applies to any state really, now that I think of it)... sorry.

CountryRoads
01-04-2008, 06:01 PM
Yeah, Iowa just is not Ron Paul's demographic. Not to mention a lot of the voters probably didn't know much about the issues. I suspect NH will be more interesting...



What really needs to be watched is the NH GOP up in arms over Ron Paul not being allowed in the Fox debate. They might not even endorse the debate if Ron Paul is not allowed in. I think this whole thing will backfire on Fox and give Paul much needed media attention.