"First of all, I want to apologize for any confusion I've caused concerning what resources to use for phone banking, as the info has been somewhat murky and there have been mixed messages. Currently, there are two platforms you can use to phone bank in Iowa: the independently run grassroots organization lead by John Dennis called rp2012.org then there's the official campaign website.
I originally started using rp2012.org to phone bank because it was the only thing available to the public and it focused on specifically targeted groups such as Independents, young voters (18-21), and senior citizens (if you wanted to make calls during the day). After using this platform for several weeks I got word that this website was overlapping with the official campaign's telephone list and that we shouldn't use it any longer. Thus, I signed up to phone bank with the official campaign website, didn't hear anything from them for several weeks, and then had to go out and contact the Iowa state coordinate, Steve Bierfeldt, on the Ron Paul forums to get a response. First he gave me an Excel list of about 50 RP supporters from 2007-08 and I was supposed to do voter ID'ing. After I finished this list I got in contact with the official campaign volunteer organizer, Jerry, and he let me help beta test their fancy new phone banking system. This platform automatically calls people for you after you dial into the system, and it goes though a list of registered Republican voters so that you can do voter ID (ie ask them their preferred candidate and important issues). Keep in mind, there was nowhere in the script that has you talk to them about the Ames Straw Poll if they were RP supporters (I took the initiative to mention it myself). I'm assuming that someone in the campaign is doing follow up on all the RP supporters we've ID'd. But in the end, I didn't feel that I was being used that effectively. A robot could do what I was doing at a greater and faster rate.
Then I caught word that rp2012.org was using a robocall service to automatically dial tens of thousands of people to give them presidential surveys. In a span of a week, they were able to ID over 2000+ RP supporters in Iowa. This list was prime for the picking and they needed people as "closers" to follow up with these supporters and get them to Ames by offering them vouchers that could admit up to 4 people for free. I volunteered to become a closer since I had already used their platform and after a quick training seminar, I began calling these robocall numbers last Saturday during an all day "phone bomb." Let me tell you, after doing this I became a believer that rp2012.org is now the best system to do phone banking and I'm very encouraged by the responses. For the span of a several hours, I called 150 people and was able to get 61 people interested in going to Ames (counting guests)! I feel like I've made a direct impact on the Ames Straw Poll and was utilized effectively. As a result, I'm still calling people this week from their robocall list, and after doing about 30-40 numbers each day I've convinced 11 more people to go!
From my experiences, the people you call from the robocall list are very interested in the Ames Straw Poll. Once you let them know they can get there for free, see Ron Paul speak in person, get a free lunch, listen to live music and entertainment, and meet thousands of other RP supporters, it's a deal that's hard to pass up! They just need to be made aware of it! Even if they live far away, bus transportation there is also an option. Thus, they have very few excuses to pass on this once in a lifetime opportunity. I have a good feeling that Ron Paul will get a victory in Ames as long as we can continue this phone banking effort. But we need to act like we are always behind because just don't want Ron Paul to win by a narrow margin, we want to ensure he wins in a landslide!
As far as the official campaign phone banking, I'm done with that for now. They seriously need to get their act together. At first, they didn't even reach out to people living outside of Iowa to help out, and when they did it took a long time to get in touch and they still didn't even have a phone banking system in place. Their approach to running the campaign in a top-down approach is not going to work, and it's up to the grassroots to take the lead."
