Could someone please explain this?

[Okie RP fan]

It has been going around the Internet. Basically, claiming that Ron Paul bought tickets and passed them out, kind of how Bachmann did in Iowa.


"Congressman Paul has a following which is notorious for their incredibly effective organizational skills and ability to turn out straw poll votes.

Update (Ed): I attended the post-poll press conference, and to say that the Values Voters Summit organizers are skeptical of Paul’s win is an understatement.

Tony Perkins twice noted that 600 tickets were bought this morning, and that a great many people left after Paul’s speech.

The conference sold 3406 registrations, well over their 2007 record of around 2700.

If half of those 600 were Paul ringers and we take them out of the equation, then Cain would have finished first, 27/26 with Santorum at 19%.

If 80% of today’s registrants were Paul ringers and are removed, Cain would have had 32% of the vote, followed by Santorum at 23% and Perry in third place with 12%. Just something to keep in mind."

I am a Ron Paul supporter, first and foremost, I would just like to know if anyone else is coming across this? And is it true?

Thanks!

[bluesc]

That's assuming that none of the Cain or Bachmann supporters were bused in. But of course, only Ron Paul organizes for these things

Don't believe a word these people say, they just hate Ron winning.

Welcome btw!

[kah13176]

I heard Paul's campaign didn't put any resources into this?

[brandon]

I'm not sure what your question or point is. What exactly do you mean by "Paul ringers"?

Yes Paul's campaign subsidized the tickets to get supporters there, as I'm sure every campaign competing here did.

[bluesc]

I heard Paul's campaign didn't put any resources into this?

They subsidized tickets and asked people to come. That's all I know of.

[acptulsa]

What we have here is the event organizer, CBS, and a few others embarassing the hell out of themselves, and pointing out that we are more motivated than the supporters of other candidates.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

And bluesc, I don't believe the campaign subsidized a thing. I certainly heard nothing about it. They didn't even bring in Randy Travis to entertain the troops.

[Okie RP fan]

Thanks for the responses, and thanks for the "welcome!"

I am just curious. Like I said, this is being posted on the Fox Nation and such and I just want to know if people have heard anything about it.

[kah13176]

They subsidized tickets and asked people to come. That's all I know of.

Alright, but in that case, the campaign didn't subsidize the tickets. We subsidized the tickets, voluntarily, by donating to a worthy cause.

This is in contrast to say, Bachmann at the Iowa Straw Poll, who likely had to fund a lot of stuff out of her own pocket.

[undergroundrr]

New media meme - Ron Paul Campaign Too Organized To Win Election.

Let's see how that works for them.

[Aratus]

CEO herman cain sent three busses up from atlanta again,
full of employees as he had for the perry, georgia fish fry?

[acptulsa]

I am just curious. Like I said, this is being posted on the Fox Nation and such and I just want to know if people have heard anything about it.

We've been hearing about it for four years. We apparently don't have the right to support our own candidate. Nothing new.

If you want to talk about something that is newsworthy, well--how 'bout dem Longhorns?

[acptulsa]

Would somebody please tell me how this is not a conspiracy theory? I mean, did aliens jack with the voting machines? What?

How is it that every time we point out an obvious agenda, we're conspiracy theorists, but whenever we pull off our agenda we're a conspiracy? Do we neither have a right to have an agenda nor to call them theorists?

[Okie RP fan]

We've been hearing about it for four years. We apparently don't have the right to support our own candidate. Nothing new.

If you want to talk about something that is newsworthy, well--how 'bout dem Longhorns?

Boomer Sooner!

I just wanted to know what exactly was going on with this since people are bound to make a stink of it.

Basically, all candidates buy or bus people in to these polls?

I just wasn't expecting RP to do that.

[KCIndy]

Wow.

Let's see... How about, "If 95 percent of Herman Cain voters had not voted, Cain would have finished in last place."

Well, yeah. And if no one had voted for Santorum, his vote count would have been zero.

And if it was a clear day at the VVS, participants would have seen sunshine if they had gone outside.

Ugh.

Any more brilliant insights, Mr. Perkins?

[McDermit]

Funny that this is a big deal when Ron wins, but it's not even mentioned when other candidates bus people in to every straw poll under the sun.

And Ron had what, 2 busses for this? The vast majority of RP suporters drove or took public transportation. I drove down with 2 other people from PA, and we reserved a room at the Omni for Friday night--we arranged for a late Friday check-in so as to not have to take off work. So we didn't attend the summit or vote until Saturday, and we went back to our room after Ron spoke. But it wasn't like the campaign asked us to attend or paid for our tickets; we paid $100 each just like everyone else, paid for our own room, our own gas, etc. It's a slap in the face to the attendees of these events that they dismiss ANY candidates' votes. If you're saying your own poll was "fixed" or somehow illegitimate, you ought to be refunding everyone who paid to attend.

[libertybrewcity]

RP wasn't passing out free tickets. He sold them on his website...

If anyone else would have won and subsidized tickets the later part would never have been mentioned.

[acptulsa]

If anyone else would have won and subsidized tickets the later part would never have been mentioned.

Probably not, but who knows? Hell, every campaign that could afford it provided transportation for some people, yet only one campaign gets mentioned...