I went through this when I was with the Perot campaign. You NEVER let this kind of thing fester. I, and many others. begged the Ron Paul campaign to respond thoughtfully and effectively. They didn't. Simple as that. The campaign blew it. And yes, it lost Iowa for Paul.
It will be interesting to see how compromised the media is. There is no question, of course, that the media is compromised. Santorum has baggage galore. In theory, they should vet him on his ethics violations and voting record. My guess is they will not. It will be done by the other candidates sooner or later, but the media dream would be a Santorum vs Obama election. The resultant landslide would be hailed as a mandate for more attacks on liberty. Of course, Romney would only be marginally better, but Santorum is the worst Republican candidate on war and states rights. He is a perfect example of a Nationalist/right wing progressive. That's obvious in his constant rant on American exceptionalism.
The truth here is that Paul scares the hell out of the establishment, The cozy arrangement between the two "sides" is upset by Paul. That arrangement keeps the American people in a thrall of supposed ideology. The ideology is, of course, a myth designed to provide a safety valve for the fake democracy the USA has become. There is always the other "side" to vote for when the duplicity of the "side" that is in power is exposed. The media merely has to nudge the public into the pre approved candidates from the "other" party. Both "sides" are controlled by the same exact special interests. And funded by the same interests also.
The powerful in America do not want any changes. Why would they? Rulers never want to lose their control. Things are great for them. That's myopic. The system is running down, and sooner or later something has to break. It's like a metal cable being stretched passed it's limits. When the tension breaks, the ends tear up anything and anybody nearby. We know it's going to break. Just not when.
You were on the Perot campaign? Epic! But, yes, I agree with you. The question now, however, is where do we go from here? We were hoping Iowa would carry us into NH, but now the stradegy is going to have to be altered. Instead of wondering about the "What ifs" we need to look to the future.
Yes, the newsletters were handled badly, but even when they were the talk of every station, TV or radio, I knew that if Ron Paul or one of his campaign spokesmen even attempted to on and clear this up, it would have been twisted, edited, and made to look like a weak defense. The fact that it didn't knock him below 3rd is a bit shocking, although I was hoping for a definite win last night.
To be perfectly honest, my feelings have sobered quite a bit (I don't drink, by the way) compared to last night. I was such a wreck leading up to the caucuses that I'm sure I looked a bit like Don Knotts. I logged off last night at around 8:30, my last post stating that I felt like throwing up from all the anxiety. I said a prayer and fell to sleep. This wasn't the news I was expecting when I was able to log on this morning, but it was news I was prepared for.
I'm just not sure where to go now. We're still aiming for the nomination, correct? With the way the country is going, I feel like we have to have Paul or we're sunk. We'll be dragged into WW3, our economy can't handle it, and we could very well implode.