Refocus the message

[Bern]

I posted this in the Iowa caucus forum, but thought it might be apropos here to discuss campaign strategy:

Things I am seeing when looking at the CNN breakdown (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/index.html#IAREP):

- The phone polls were spot on in Ron Paul's support of "likely Republican primary voters" @ 7% of registered Republicans. He got 29% of the independent voters which is great, but the independent voters only made up 13% of the total. The unexpectedly high turnout (~115K versus ~85K expected) appears to have been more from the Republican base than from the independents. Ron Paul is going to need to make greater inroads in the Republican party base if he is going to win the nomination.

- The campaign needs to get a focused strategy on educating people how he is right on foreign policy/Pakistan. His numbers among those concerned by Pakistan indicate that they have low confidence in Ron Paul's non-interventionist policy. If Ron Paul is going to make any inroads with the registered Republican base, he (or we the grassroots) is (/are) going to need to communicate more clearly his experience on the House Committee on Foreign Relations (I have never seen this mentioned - I found out about this on my own), his support (or supporting statements) amongst those in the know about foreign policy (like the CIA guy who was head of the OBL unit) and Benadir Bhutto's own comments about the USA exacerbating the problem in Pakistan. I also believe that Ron Paul needs to promote the fact that he advocated to go after OBL more clearly to show people that he is not weak on terrorism (or America's enemies).

- Ron Paul got more support from the lower income voters. I think the campaign needs to develop a strategy for framing his economic plans in terms of how it will help middle class and upper middle class America to really retain and grow their wealth. If my father-in-law is any indication, the older Republican base just sees him as a an old fashioned gold bug kook. They are scared that he will upset the applecart by pegging FRNs to gold. He needs to get more specific about his plan to allow gold/silver to work as competing/alternative currencies (more choice!) and how that will benefit Americans.

It's obvious from Huckabee's support on the immigration issue that the majority of the Republican party are gullible sheep. The message from the campaign needs to spell things out more simply/clearly and not rely/expect people to go digging for answers on how things Ron Paul discusses at a high level are really going to work. It's time to bring the message from an abstract conversation to a more concrete level where people can visualize the implementation and how they will benefit.

[partypooper]

- The phone polls were spot on in Ron Paul's support of "likely Republican primary voters" @ 7% of registered Republicans. He got 29% of the independent voters which is great, but the independent voters only made up 13% of the total. The unexpectedly high turnout (~115K versus ~85K expected) appears to have been more from the Republican base than from the independents. [b][i][u]Ron Paul is going to need to make greater inroads in the Republican party base if he is going to win the nomination

i agree with you about this, but i am afraid that it might be too late. dr paul has carelessly alienated the republican base and has basically sought the win the republican nomination by courting assorted anti-war extremists. the surveys repeatedly showed that he had by far the highest negatives among the republican voters. one visit to free republic, red state etc would make very clear to him what are the problems in how he is perceived by mainstream republicans.

some of us tried to warn that, even in a field that is fractured and lacking direction like the current republican field, one can not expect to win the republican nomination by overwhelmingly relying on democrats and independents. but many here preferred to think that polls are all wrong and that media is out to get us, instead of focusing on how to improve one's own message. i even saw dr paul himself buying into the nonsense about land lines and previous voters - a position that was celebrated on this very forum.

[Bern]

To be fair, those arguments were were correct to a point - just not as big a factor as many were hoping.

Hopefully, Iowa will be a wake up call to the RP campaign. They need to focus the message more for the Republican base if they are going to win.

I still think it is possible to win over a lot of the people who think of Ron Paul in a negative light. But he needs to show people that he isn't a pie-in-the-sky dreamer talking about things abstractly.

[fj45lvr]

yes this is great stuff.

Need Walter Williams to speak on the campaign trail on the economic side (where paul can make the most hay).

Leadership ability may be another key issue in voters minds as in they may agree but PAUL needs to layout more specifically how his presidency would put into motion his philosophy of limited gov. etc.

hopefully the financial markets dip down big here soon to reinforce paul. (sadistic as that sounds that is INEVITABLE without some changes).

[JMann]

Hire a f'n professional campaign manager with presidential campaign experience. I would suggest Bay Buchanan but if anyone else has names that is fine. Anyone to help Dr. Paul sharpen his message and that has media contacts.

We all know Paul is full of information but the man can go from talking about doing away with the Fed to legalizing drugs in the same sentence.

He needs a pro to sit down with him and have him boil the campaign down to 3 or 4 bullet points and stick with them. The campaign is in dire need of professionals (with experience) at the HQ level.

I'm not saying Paul should let anyone go but just give them a boss.

[partypooper]

To be fair, those arguments were were correct to a point - just not as big a factor as many were hoping.

well, i sure do not mind that there are some democrats switching over to vote for dr paul. however, i was very concerned about the fact that on this very forum there were plenty of threads on paul-kucinich ticket. it shows that dr paul is perceived to be similar to kucinich. and if he is perceived to be such by people who like kucinich, he is also perceived as such by people who do not like kucinich, which is 99.99999% of republicans.

[Bern]

Perceptions can be changed by focusing the message. Something like:

Foreign policy: Experience (House Committee on Foreign Relations), Integrity (lone Republican to vote against war in Iraq), Strength (advocated going after OBL, Afghanistan).

Fiscal Conservatism: Experience (10 terms, never voted to raise taxes, introduced bills to cut spending), Integrity (consistent record), Strength (single vote of opposition numerous times)

[walt]

Ron Paul is going to need to make greater inroads in the Republican party base if he is going to win the nomination.

CNN discussing the possiblity Ron Paul winning the nomination...amazing, amazing!!!!

It's hard to see the dramatic progress in that article - but wow, it's there.

[Bern]

walt -> did you misread my thoughts as a CNN report? I don't want to mislead you. My post was in response to looking at the breakdown of Iowa results posted at CNN

[me3]

Hi Bern. Great thread.

Better watch out for GTech later today! :)

[Bern]

:D His bark is worse than his bite.

[Real_CaGeD]

"I am the REAL CONSERVATIVE", Ron Paul.

[Bern]

Thanks Real_CaGeD. I added a link to your thread in my signature. ;)

[Spirit of '76]

Bern, you are so right. This needs to be done yesterday.

I think the best thing for Ron to do right now is to come up with more easily digestible, yet forward-thinking "plans" like his Six Point Plan for dealing with illegal immigration.

He needs to create a Six Point Plan for fixing the economy, one for foreign policy, etc. Then he needs to drive those homes in mailers, interviews, and the debates.

It'll give the people something they can wrap their minds around, and show them that he actually has a plan, not just criticisms of the current situation.