Getting College Students to the Iowa Caucus

[cdc482]

Alright guys,

We're talking about hundreds of thousands of voters who overwhelmingly support Ron Paul and could drag a friend or two to the caucus.

The Iowa Caucus is scheduled for January 3rd
BUT
Colleges don't get back from break until the 16th

How do we get those college kids back to Iowa for the caucus?

 

[sailingaway]

I'd say get their emails and phone numbers to meet ups to get them involved posting signs or just keeping in touch so they 'go together' to the caucus. Have each diehard supporter get a buddy or three to follow up on and try to go together, plan something for afterwards or before...

But absolutely have email trees and phone numbers to reach people at home for GOTV!!

 

[cdc482]

Good idea, but we can do better. What about each college setting up a bus to "Get out the Vote?"
Colleges have tons of money that they through at student clubs.

 

[parocks]

Do things in Iowa where they live (Des Moines, etc), right before the caucus.

 

[parocks]

Good idea, but we can do better. What about each college setting up a bus to "Get out the Vote?"
Colleges have tons of money that they through at student clubs.

The colleges will either be closed during the Iowa Caucus or open.

If the colleges are closed, the college is not the appropriate organizing unit.

The kids who live in Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Falls when school is in session will not be in Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Falls. They'll be in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, Iowa.

Instead of hitting college students hard before they leave, hit them hard when they get home.

 

[RDM]

Do things in Iowa where they live (Des Moines, etc), right before the caucus.

Have a Pizza Party. Use this Coupon:

 

[sailingaway]

The colleges will either be closed during the Iowa Caucus or open.

If the colleges are closed, the college is not the appropriate organizing unit.

The kids who live in Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Falls when school is in session will not be in Ames, Iowa City and Cedar Falls. They'll be in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, Iowa.

Instead of hitting college students hard before they leave, hit them hard when they get home.

Kids when they go home fall into home habits and only the most hardy will show up to caucus, on their own, in an unfamiliar home. That is particularly so if their parents don't caucus. They need back up. That is why I suggested sending them buddy lists from their own town and assignments to 'bring eachother' and suggested follow ups by meetups.

 

[Kords21]

Call it wishful thinking or whatever, but I think Ron Paul will crush the Iowa Caucus in such the way, the media will just be so stunned. In a strange way we can problay thank Obama for energizing so many young people back in 08 only to crush their hopes and making them more open to Dr. Paul's message. I think more and more 30 and unders are realizing their future is at stake here and the only real shot they have is Ron Paul. I think the college kids will show up on break or not.

 

[parocks]

Kids when they go home fall into home habits and only the most hardy will show up to caucus, on their own, in an unfamiliar home. That is particularly so if their parents don't caucus. They need back up. That is why I suggested sending them buddy lists from their own town and assignments to 'bring eachother' and suggested follow ups by meetups.

Oh, I think I said "we're fkd" when they moved to Jan 3.

I think a huge New Years Eve party at Wells Fargo arena might get them juiced up. Your suggestion is also a good one.

I guess the core point is that the college itself isn't really a focal point. You can't move the kids from the dorms to the caucus.

 

[libertybrewcity]

The campaign needs to execute a 'knock and drag' strategy. Volunteers or paid staff literally need to knock on doors and drag the people to the caucus. I don't know if it would be legal or not to have pizza or something in every precinct for Ron Paul supporters who might have to stay for hours. That might get expensive, but willing individuals could do it independent of the campaign.

Getting college students to vote is going to be hard because many are unreliable or will be out of state. They need to plan early and often and execute a vast social network, email, phone call strategy in the next few months and especially the day of the caucus. We had more than 10k people caucus last time, but I expect it will take more than 30 or 40k to win it this time, if not more.

 

[eduardo89]

Getting college students and SENIORS to vote for Ron Paul at the caucuses is perhaps the most important outreach we can do.

 

[eleganz]

As long as you make sure these college students UNDERSTAND that IF HE WINS IA, THEY WILL BE APART OF HISTORY. Understand that if he wins IA, they would have single handedly made the biggest impact in the history of modern America. (removing all bases, stop policing the world and bringing the troops home)


we must emphasize the things Ron WILL DO if made president and as CIC, he WILL bring the troops home so it can be assumed IA = MOMENTUM = POSSIBLLY NOMINATION = BEAT OBAMA = BRING THE TROOPS HOME.

 

[parocks]

Getting college students and SENIORS to vote for Ron Paul at the caucuses is perhaps the most important outreach we can do.

Do you think that just grabbing seniors and dragging them to the caucus would work in Ron Pauls favor?

Do you think that just grabbing college students and dragging them to the caucus would work in Ron Pauls favor?

The official campaign has all the seniors on a list. They're probably calling them over and over, trying to identify those seniors who support Ron Paul.

The official campaign has very few college students on a list. Very few of them have ever voted. They aren't registered voters, and the campaign is not calling them.

College students like us. We are the #1 candidate for 18-29. So, really, if they're young, we want them to go to the caucus.

There should be some, or many, grassroots plans to drag the students from whereever they are (at home with their parents) to the caucuses. Pizza party, buddy lists. etc.

The "adopt an Iowan" grassroots program.

 

[sailingaway]

Getting college students and SENIORS to vote for Ron Paul at the caucuses is perhaps the most important outreach we can do.

Maybe there should be a very gung ho, party series of meetings at schools to get the kids to organize getting seniors who are RP supporters (identified through GOTV) to the caucuses? The kids can't just decide not to because people are counting on them....

 

[parocks]

We need our college students to go to the caucus. If the kids are doing any getting people to vote, it would be their friends, people in their age group.

We have an official campaign, and certainly we'd like college students to work on that campaign. But if grassroots is doing something, it should be getting 18-29 to the polls.

We don't want random seniors at the caucus. The official campaign is IDing our seniors.

 

[cdc482]

Why can't we set up buses like the campaign did for Ames? Also, why don't the Ron Paul groups start talking to students now to sign up for buses?

Seems like a decent solution.

 

[tsai3904]

Why can't we set up buses like the campaign did for Ames? Also, why don't the Ron Paul groups start talking to students now to sign up for buses?

There is no school on January 3. Most of the students will be at home. Since there's no centralized location of students, there's no use for a bus.

 

[PauliticsPolitics]

There is also no centralized caucus, there are 1784 caucuses, one for each precinct, all at the same time.
Busing is not practical.

It's actually better that the college kids are home, since they are likely registered there at their parents' address anyway. It is important to make sure that people are registered in their home district, not thier school precinct. But, college kids don't usually change their registration/address to their college town. It's better to have the college crowd spread out across the state in their home towns. We can't just win the 3 caucuses in the college towns, we need to win most of them state-wide. Again, there are 1784 precincts all with a caucus.
Yes, we need to mobilize the college kids ahead of time, turn them into leaders for their home precincts.

It seems like some of y'all need to educate yourself on the Iowa process, it is not as straight-forward as you think.
I will write a thread/guide on it when I have time.

 

[sailingaway]

//

 

[Bender22]

Advertisements in the ISU, UNI and UofI newspapers are a good start.

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...ct-and-Grassroots-Web-Portal-Chip-in-Included