Nathan Hale
Member
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2007
- Messages
- 4,155
I'm cut and pasting a crucial open letter from the NH Underground forums. The following strategy is essential for Ron Paul's survival in the campaign. If the letter is missing something, read the rest of the thread as the author defends it a few times when others question it:
http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=10575.0
And here's the letter:
Dear Dr. Paul,
I am writing as a fervent supporter of your campaign, and as one who strongly believes in the ideals which we hold in common: liberty, the Constitution, smaller government, less taxes, and non-interventionism. I am also writing as a New Hampshire citizen who has spent quite some time attempting to persuade my friends and neighbors to cast their votes for you in the upcoming first-in-the-nation primary.
Tomorrow you will visit our state, for a debate at UNH. This will not be your first visit here. You were here in June for the St. Anselm's debate, and you've returned for a handful of straw polls. You've spent more time here than in most states, I know.
It is not enough. This past Labor Day weekend, virtually all of the frontrunners spent their time here in New Hampshire, out in Iowa, or both. Hilary Clinton brought her husband Bill and they went on a veritable tour of Central New Hampshire. Barack Obama led a parade in Milford. Mike Huckabee gave a speech here in Manchester. Mitt Romney flew in from campaigning in Iowa to speak down the road in Merrimack. Rudy Guliani lectured against "nanny-state" government in Laconia. Even John McCain spoke to a gym full of high school students and teachers in Concord.
You weren't here.
To win New Hampshire, and to receive the resulting boost your campaign needs to break into the top tier, you need to engage in retail politics. You need to speak at town meetings, you need to go into a dozen New Hampshire restaurants a day, you need to lead parades and talk to people and give speeches and engage the people of this state. And while you do it, you need to spend money building your name recognition through radio and television advertising. Because the other candidates are already doing it. They're engaging in retail politics, building up that customer base they're counting on to put them over the top.
And, no offense Dr. Paul, but your store isn't even open yet. The core of committed volunteers is here, doing what they can, but their work is no substitute for your presence.
It comes down to this: will you commit to spending at least as much time here as any other candidate? Will you spend as much time here in New Hampshire, and out in Iowa, as Hilary, and Rudy, and Mitt, and Obama? Will you stay out of Washington, and out of Texas, and in the two states that will, more than anything, put you in position to win your party's nomination next year?
If the answer is yes, then I'll be very excited and looking forward to watching your name climb in the polls as your small government message, a message I know will sell well in the granite state, filters into the hearts and minds of the people. As your popularity grows, the investment you make in terms of campaign dollars and time will pay dividends, in the form of increased voter attention, increased campaign contributions, and ultimately a very solid showing next in next January's primary.
If the answer is no -- which it has disappointingly been to date -- then our time is being wasted, and I should just go back to wondering which of the lesser of two evils I'll be voting for in November 2008. According to your calendar, on your campaign web site, you'll not be returning to this all-important state until September 29th.
Who the hell is running your campaign, anyway? Have they ever won anything? Have they ever run a presidential campaign? Why would anyone who truly wants to win the nomination stay out of the most important state in the nomination process for a full 24 days, mere months before the primary? This is incompetence of the highest degree.
I want desperately to believe that you have a legitimate shot at pulling ahead in the race, to the point that I can look past the 3% you're currently getting in the major polls. However, I cannot overlook the evidence before me, and the evidence before me indicates a campaign that is not investing the necessary resources, meaning time and money, to win. You cannot win this race without winning New Hampshire, and you cannot win New Hampshire without spending as much time here meeting people as the other candidates.
I hope you will reconsider your approach.
Sincerely,
Confused in Manchester, NH
http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=10575.0
And here's the letter:
Dear Dr. Paul,
I am writing as a fervent supporter of your campaign, and as one who strongly believes in the ideals which we hold in common: liberty, the Constitution, smaller government, less taxes, and non-interventionism. I am also writing as a New Hampshire citizen who has spent quite some time attempting to persuade my friends and neighbors to cast their votes for you in the upcoming first-in-the-nation primary.
Tomorrow you will visit our state, for a debate at UNH. This will not be your first visit here. You were here in June for the St. Anselm's debate, and you've returned for a handful of straw polls. You've spent more time here than in most states, I know.
It is not enough. This past Labor Day weekend, virtually all of the frontrunners spent their time here in New Hampshire, out in Iowa, or both. Hilary Clinton brought her husband Bill and they went on a veritable tour of Central New Hampshire. Barack Obama led a parade in Milford. Mike Huckabee gave a speech here in Manchester. Mitt Romney flew in from campaigning in Iowa to speak down the road in Merrimack. Rudy Guliani lectured against "nanny-state" government in Laconia. Even John McCain spoke to a gym full of high school students and teachers in Concord.
You weren't here.
To win New Hampshire, and to receive the resulting boost your campaign needs to break into the top tier, you need to engage in retail politics. You need to speak at town meetings, you need to go into a dozen New Hampshire restaurants a day, you need to lead parades and talk to people and give speeches and engage the people of this state. And while you do it, you need to spend money building your name recognition through radio and television advertising. Because the other candidates are already doing it. They're engaging in retail politics, building up that customer base they're counting on to put them over the top.
And, no offense Dr. Paul, but your store isn't even open yet. The core of committed volunteers is here, doing what they can, but their work is no substitute for your presence.
It comes down to this: will you commit to spending at least as much time here as any other candidate? Will you spend as much time here in New Hampshire, and out in Iowa, as Hilary, and Rudy, and Mitt, and Obama? Will you stay out of Washington, and out of Texas, and in the two states that will, more than anything, put you in position to win your party's nomination next year?
If the answer is yes, then I'll be very excited and looking forward to watching your name climb in the polls as your small government message, a message I know will sell well in the granite state, filters into the hearts and minds of the people. As your popularity grows, the investment you make in terms of campaign dollars and time will pay dividends, in the form of increased voter attention, increased campaign contributions, and ultimately a very solid showing next in next January's primary.
If the answer is no -- which it has disappointingly been to date -- then our time is being wasted, and I should just go back to wondering which of the lesser of two evils I'll be voting for in November 2008. According to your calendar, on your campaign web site, you'll not be returning to this all-important state until September 29th.
Who the hell is running your campaign, anyway? Have they ever won anything? Have they ever run a presidential campaign? Why would anyone who truly wants to win the nomination stay out of the most important state in the nomination process for a full 24 days, mere months before the primary? This is incompetence of the highest degree.
I want desperately to believe that you have a legitimate shot at pulling ahead in the race, to the point that I can look past the 3% you're currently getting in the major polls. However, I cannot overlook the evidence before me, and the evidence before me indicates a campaign that is not investing the necessary resources, meaning time and money, to win. You cannot win this race without winning New Hampshire, and you cannot win New Hampshire without spending as much time here meeting people as the other candidates.
I hope you will reconsider your approach.
Sincerely,
Confused in Manchester, NH
