Iowa: what we're up against (Romney)

[stevedasbach]

From Politico, referencing Huffington Post

Romney, who had $18 million cash on hand as of June 30, knows the most critical thing you can spread around in Iowa, after fertilizer, is money.

As a piece in The Huffington Post recently revealed, "Romney is distributing numerous payments, primarily to religious and social conservatives, most of them in Iowa, for what he calls 'GOTV consulting.'"

GOTV stands for Get Out the Vote and, as the article notes, funds for this used to be called "walking-around money." In other words, it's the cash that you hand out to people. And the sums are pretty impressive.

Romney is paying some Iowa college students $500 a month to work for him, and "Joe Earle, former director of the Iowa Christian Alliance (the successor to the Iowa Christian Coalition), gets $4,000 a month."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/5168.html

[DeadheadForPaul]

Disgusting. Im really worried about this vote

[Johnnybags]

You really did not believe he would beat Romney in the Iowa straw poll? I know I did not, I would be happy if he gets third or forth in a close battle. Heck, I am not sure he has been there? If we get 2-3 thousand votes it would be huge. Problem is Ron has not gone out there and delivered those fiery speeches with his finger wagging yet. Maybe he's got something up his sleeve.

[Razmear]

Let Mitt blow all his cash on this straw poll and we can take second with dignity.
If you can, get on Mitt's payroll, then use his cash against Rudy while letting his supporters 'know' that Ron is the 2nd best choice, so when Mitt drops out we can take over his supporters.
Mitt will win Mass and Utah, he's in single digits everywhere else.

Yes, I'm feeling sneaky tonight.

eb

[Lord Xar]

From Politico, referencing Huffington Post

Romney, who had $18 million cash on hand as of June 30, knows the most critical thing you can spread around in Iowa, after fertilizer, is money.

As a piece in The Huffington Post recently revealed, "Romney is distributing numerous payments, primarily to religious and social conservatives, most of them in Iowa, for what he calls 'GOTV consulting.'"

GOTV stands for Get Out the Vote and, as the article notes, funds for this used to be called "walking-around money." In other words, it's the cash that you hand out to people. And the sums are pretty impressive.

Romney is paying some Iowa college students $500 a month to work for him, and "Joe Earle, former director of the Iowa Christian Alliance (the successor to the Iowa Christian Coalition), gets $4,000 a month."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0707/5168.html


I am almost positive he will get ALL the money he needs from sources outside his campaign............. they want their poster child to win, don't they.. they will make sure he has all the money he needs.. to fund his cash for votes campaign...

[Bossobass]

Second to Mitt Romney? My ASS.

I can talk to more people in 4 days than we need to win the Straw Poll, and they'll be all ears because I'll be beginning the day after the debate, which RP will win.

RP will also be right next to us in public appearances all that week.

I'm tellin' ya, if we show up by the thousands for the debate and spread out from there to Ames over that week, well...let's just say I'm not the pessimistic type.

When you have Ron Paul's platform to tout, it's doing the backstroke. :D

I can't wait. We'll be arriving in Des Moines Sat night and JAMMING until we have to come back to Charlotte. Somebody call that poor sap Romney and tell him Godzilla's coming. :D

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it until I hear otherwise after the poll results have been rigged and released. ;)

Bosso

[Thomas_Paine]

Let Mitt blow all his cash on this straw poll and we can take second with dignity.
If you can, get on Mitt's payroll, then use his cash against Rudy while letting his supporters 'know' that Ron is the 2nd best choice, so when Mitt drops out we can take over his supporters.
Mitt will win Mass and Utah, he's in single digits everywhere else.

Yes, I'm feeling sneaky tonight.

eb

Today I painted the town Ron, that town would be Kanab UTAH and these people like what they see. When the word gets out, Ron Paul will win Utah.

[Johnnybags]

Second to Mitt Romney? My ASS.

I can talk to more people in 4 days than we need to win the Straw Poll, and they'll be all ears because I'll be beginning the day after the debate, which RP will win.

RP will also be right next to us in public appearances all that week.

I'm tellin' ya, if we show up by the thousands for the debate and spread out from there to Ames over that week, well...let's just say I'm not the pessimistic type.

When you have Ron Paul's platform to tout, it's doing the backstroke. :D

I can't wait. We'll be arriving in Des Moines Sat night and JAMMING until we have to come back to Charlotte. Somebody call that poor sap Romney and tell him Godzilla's coming. :D

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it until I hear otherwise after the poll results have been rigged and released. ;)

Bosso


If they stiff him at the debate(likely) and give him ridiculous questions and little time, it will be difficult, you need 5k to 10k "Iowans" there to vote for him to be a top teir. You are correct, the message sells itself, but IMHO Ron has not done enough in Iowa to take it from Romney. I do however expect him to have the most lively, energetic crowd imaginable. He needs to ratchet up his message with vigor and authority. We all know Willard Romney is an empty suit compared to Ron but the rest of em do not.

[Sean]

The most votes any Republican has ever received is about 7400 in the straw poll. The campaign should really commit to buying a few thousand tickets for people to attend. Maybe give some money to meetup groups in Iowa to rent buses and recruit voters. 5k people could win this thing.

[michaelwise]

If they stiff him at the debate(likely) and give him ridiculous questions and little time, it will be difficult, you need 5k to 10k "Iowans" there to vote for him to be a top teir. You are correct, the message sells itself, but IMHO Ron has not done enough in Iowa to take it from Romney. I do however expect him to have the most lively, energetic crowd imaginable. He needs to ratchet up his message with vigor and authority. We all know Willard Romney is an empty suit compared to Ron but the rest of em do not.


Willard? Is that really his first name? That makes me think of the rat movie.

[Psyclone]

I'm with Sean. All our work is for naught if people think they have to pay $35 to vote for Ron Paul. Just $100k on tickets might make the difference between 2nd place and 5th.

[C4de]

I'm with Sean. All our work is for naught if people think they have to pay $35 to vote for Ron Paul. Just $100k on tickets might make the difference between 2nd place and 5th.

I think $100,000 is a bit overboard. The Adopt-a-Iowan program raised their initial goal of $10,000 to $35,000, which is substantial enough for Paul to place highly when combined with other Iowan voters who will be buying their own tickets.

If you take a look at the breakdown of votes in years past, you'll see that several thousand votes placed you in the top tier. The 40,000 or so votes that are estimated to be cast will not be evenly distributed among the candidates.

[inibo]

Willard? Is that really his first name? That makes me think of the rat movie.

The other I found out for the first time that Ron Paul's middle name is Ernest!

:D