Getting College Students to the Iowa Caucus

[tsai3904]

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 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.

You can register to vote or change registration at the caucus site. Where people are registered to vote is not the main issue.

 

[1836]

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?

Hundreds of thousands? That's a little carried away.

 

[FSP-Rebel]

Hundreds or thousands? That's a little carried away.

Likely what was meant^

 

[Okie RP fan]

Definitely need to get personal information from them. And perhaps set up meet up dates to instill it in them to not miss the vote date.

 

[parocks]

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

It's good, if you have a lot of money to spend. But we are talking about at least a month before the caucus.

It would've been a lot better if we could've just pulled them out of dorms.

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Hundreds of thousands? That's a little carried away.

If he meant there's 100,000 college students in Iowa then that could be fairly accurate.

Iowa 28k
ISU 25k
UNI 12k
Drake 7k
Upper Iowa 5k

That's over 70,000 right there, not counting dozens of community colleges, smaller private colleges, etc...
Of course, some are from out of state but that's still a lot of potential votes for Dr. Paul.

Plus high school seniors who are 18. That's probably several thousand more.


I think its been said but if we can get regular events or meetings to take place at these campuses then that would keep people engaged and grow the numbers. Also Facebook and Twitter probably have about 98% and 40% penetration, respectively into the college student demographic.

 

[tsai3904]

I think its been said but if we can get regular events or meetings to take place at these campuses then that would keep people engaged and grow the numbers.

I think this is key. There needs to be consistent meetings because spending time with other supporters will keep people motivated.

 

[pauliticalfan]

Pizza for Paul.

 

[Okie RP fan]

I think this is key. There needs to be consistent meetings because spending time with other supporters will keep people motivated.

Gonna be tough trying to keep college kids consistent, especially with political meet ups.

 

[pauliticalfan]

We need to get big name bands on board to play concerts for Paul the night before the caucus.

 

[Bender22]

It's good, if you have a lot of money to spend. But we are talking about at least a month before the caucus.

It would've been a lot better if we could've just pulled them out of dorms.

I agree that pulling them out of the dorms would have been ideal if Iowa was a primary state but it is a caucus state. That is why I feel it is better that the students are spread out across the state and better able to impact as many precincts as possible. That is why advertising on campus before the students go on winter break is so crucial.

 

[parocks]

I agree that pulling them out of the dorms would have been ideal if Iowa was a primary state but it is a caucus state. That is why I feel it is better that the students are spread out across the state and better able to impact as many precincts as possible. That is why advertising on campus before the students go on winter break is so crucial.

I am of the belief that you hit the students when they get home.

 

[parocks]

We need to get big name bands on board to play concerts for Paul the night before the caucus.

I would argue that the proper night for the concerts is 3 days before the concert. On New Years Eve. But I agree with the concerts 100%

Remember how we were bitching about Bachmann winning in Iowa because of Randy Travis?

We should have good concerts and we should pay the acts.

 

[pauliticalfan]

I would argue that the proper night for the concerts is 3 days before the concert. On New Years Eve. But I agree with the concerts 100%

Remember how we were bitching about Bachmann winning in Iowa because of Randy Travis?

We should have good concerts and we should pay the acts.

Exactly. One of the reasons Obama won, or at least got the youth energized, was because he got Dave Matthews Band to play at a whole bunch of colleges for him. Instead of having to buy a ticket, you just had to sign a pledge saying you would vote for Obama. This is a brilliant strategy that we should utilize in Iowa.

 

[IDefendThePlatform]

Exactly. One of the reasons Obama won, or at least got the youth energized, was because he got Dave Matthews Band to play at a whole bunch of colleges for him. Instead of having to buy a ticket, you just had to sign a pledge saying you would vote for Obama. This is a brilliant strategy that we should utilize in Iowa.

Yes, and similarly we really need to be canvassing at local events and concerts, getting people's contact info.

 

[parocks]

Gather the data of the men while in school. We need their home / parents address.

We don't need a ton of enthusiasm in the fall, we really just need their data.

And then, some plan for the biggest cities in Iowa.

 

[parocks]

Exactly. One of the reasons Obama won, or at least got the youth energized, was because he got Dave Matthews Band to play at a whole bunch of colleges for him. Instead of having to buy a ticket, you just had to sign a pledge saying you would vote for Obama. This is a brilliant strategy that we should utilize in Iowa.

I did not know this about Dave Matthews and Obama.

That's a good idea.

Do you have a link to as many details about how that worked as possible.

 

[parocks]

Yes, and similarly we really need to be canvassing at local events and concerts, getting people's contact info.

Yes. If we're talking about Iowa, we hit bars in the 3 largest cities. Bars where there are a lot of younger people. And just get their data. Philip Morris, years ago, would gather data, and give you free cigs. What can we do there?

 

[pauliticalfan]

I did not know this about Dave Matthews and Obama.

That's a good idea.

Do you have a link to as many details about how that worked as possible.

Well, I found this http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/indavematthews

Looks like people had to pick up their concert tickets at the Obama campaign office, were probably handed a bunch of literature/voting information along with it. This is one way to do it, but I'm thinking you could make tickets available online too as long as you sign a pledge/give email address so that the campaign can send you information.

 

[PauliticsPolitics]

We need to get big name bands on board to play concerts for Paul the night before the caucus.

It would have to be a moderately hip band.
I don't think Randy Travis or Dave Matthews would play too well with the RP college crowd.
It would have to be something big, but with indie-credibility.
Most important, you'd have to find a band or artist that is down with RP.

If y'all were super ambitious, you'd try to get Muse.
That's the closest thing I can think of as to a semi-hip band that is both huge, indie-credible, and libertarian.
Of course they are British, and probably too popular to get unless someone gets them on board voluntarily.