I tried to warn you guys.

[joenaab]

Make that two of us. Is it that he was SO OVER-CONFIDENT re: Iowa that he decided "not to bother" campaigning there? The News says he decided to spend his time putting all his eggs into Florida's basket.

Is there some unknown strategy going on with that? Or did he just bet on a supposed sure-thing and it backfired in his JulieAnnie face?

I'm gonna get "all conspiracy on ya"...

Only Iowa and New Hampshire (neither entirely) continue to use mostly manual forms of voting and vote counting. All other 48 states either vote electronically and/or count manual ballots electronically creating a situation ripe for election fraud.

By not campaigning hard in either state it gives him, as it has others in the past, the eventual explanation, "hey, i lost those states because i didn't campaign hard there. there are so few electorates at stake that i put my time and money into other states that are now bearing fruit". Well, he wouldn't say, "bearing fruit", he say, "committed to fighting global terrorism as I am", but you get the idea.

There is a good chance that Rudy will re-emerge in a grand way after New Hampshire. When he does, remember this post. The original script was for him to lose to Hillary (as in 2004 it was for Kerry to lose to Bush). Ron Paul's entry has messed this up.

 

[joenaab]

This is where You are wrong. Ron Paul's message is about spontaneity and truth. It is impossible to manufacture those things. Their very definition of spontaneity and truth means the opposite of "manufacturing". Truth and spontaneity ARE, they are not made.

The radio and tv ads the official campain has put out are soulless and hardly convince anyone. That is their problem. They have no fire burning inside. We, at the grasslevel, have so much more conviction and passion than the official campaign does. Unless the official campaign starts echoing the real sentiment of the grassroots level, Ron Paul will not get elected. So far they have tried phony-looking tv and radio ads -- it obviously does not work.

The official campaign has to become the mouthpiece for the People. The official campaign has to become a pure and amplifying channel for the Revolution of Love, not some sort of half-dead professionally manufactured BS-machine.

Remember, the Revolution is about us and what we believe is right.

By speaking from his heart and staying true to his beliefs no matter what, Ron Paul reminded of something really important I had forgotten -- that standing up for truth and acting from it feels AWESOME!

great analysis. for others to say that Ron Paul's message is turning people off is to ignore that his message has turned so many people on as to have created the greatest political grassroots movement in the history of our nation. there are many that are too far gone to "get it".

it is that the campaign is playing it too safe and running watered down and compromised ads that is not helping. "boring" and "uninspiring" would be two words I'd choose to describe their ads.

So be it. I accept them as they are and see all that is happening as goodness. We will prevail.

 

[philistineau]

thank you for that post. we are of the same ilk. there would be a high risk of sabotage if he were to employ high profile campaign help. there are many who believe that a shift in campaign staff would suddenly result in wide, mainstream media acceptance of his message and campaign. to believe that is folly. Further, it serves to perpetuate the notion that we elect our representatives on glitz and polish. i prefer spit and elbow grease.

Rubbish.

We have given them HUGE amounts of money and seen little return. He needed to spend, and spend big in Iowa - $5 million on adverts.

Instead, we tried to play the sleeper candidate and came in 5th, only beating Guiliani.

Guiliani! He wasn't even in the state!!!

 

[Chemicalman]

Personally I think a lot of people, myself included, spent too much time reading and watching Pro-Ron Paul press. It makes all of us feel good to see the media who, on the whole do not agree with RP, write positive articles and give positive interviews on TV. It IS somewhat of a fantasy though.

Ask yourself this question: Why were all of us so apathetic in the first place? For me is was because I felt I couldn't co-exist with the sheep, lemmings, etc. After I watched an actual caucus in Iowa I was once again reminded of how ignorant and stupid the masses are. Despite all the cute grandmas I saw on television, they all had that glazed over look in their eyes, like they are sleep walking.

I think many of us can agree that there are few people out there in our current population who actually "get it". This revolution will take a long time to implement. It has become contagious because it has linked thousands of people who "get it". With the intelligence and resources available to this ecclectic group, we can accomplish a lot in the years to come. This is only the beginning. If you think that getting Dr. Paul in the white house is all this movement will need, you have a very shortsided view. We need congressmen , senators, etc. In fact Ron Paul IS a longshot. The more people who get to hear his message now, the more we have in the movement towards reclaiming this country. Who honestly believes that ANY of the other candidates D or R will save this country?

We are facing economic turmoil, and NONE of the other people are talking about it. I would love to see Obama, Hillary, Rudy, Huck, etc. implement their big government ideas when there is NO money.

Buck up. RP beat his poll numbers, Iowa was going to be a tough sell, but it is freeking Iowa! No offense to people who live there. Focus on the movement and getting peoploe to change their philosophy, it will continue to be contagious.

 

[joenaab]

Rubbish.

We have given them HUGE amounts of money and seen little return. He needed to spend, and spend big in Iowa - $5 million on adverts.

Instead, we tried to play the sleeper candidate and came in 5th, only beating Guiliani.

Guiliani! He wasn't even in the state!!!

Rubbish.

Spend that five million in a state that is ripe for his message. That would have been five million wasted. Iowa was a victory for this campaign on many levels, as I have posted elsewhere this morning. Complaining and negativity have never accomplished a thing. Neither has regret and hindsight.

 

[politicsNproverbs]

If you see that as the definition of a mainstream candidate, you will forever be disappointed. Those networks work for the globalizing forces of banking and finance, war profiteering, Big Pharma, and others (including themselves!). A Ron Paul presidency would clearly harm all of them. They exist to beat down guys like Ron Paul. What support they show will always be a clever form of deception.

Oh, I know that, which was my point. The prior poster had said we were now mainstream and not fringe [two digits: 10% Iowa], hence my reply re: MSM. I know I can get all the RP news on the web, but it sure would be nice to be able to flip on the TV on my off-line days and get some RP news w/o having to log-on.

The general consensus seems to be that as RP moves up in numbers, the MSM WILL start to cover him, but I don't know... can they ignore him all the way to November, if his numbers continue to climb? Will they "cave in" and cover him, or kill him rather than cover him in the MSM?

(basically rhetorical questions because none of us knows yet)...

 

[joenaab]

Personally I think a lot of people, myself included, spent too much time reading and watching Pro-Ron Paul press. It makes all of us feel good to see the media who, on the whole do not agree with RP, write positive articles and give positive interviews on TV. It IS somewhat of a fantasy though.

Ask yourself this question: Why were all of us so apathetic in the first place? For me is was because I felt I couldn't co-exist with the sheep, lemmings, etc. After I watched an actual caucus in Iowa I was once again reminded of how ignorant and stupid the masses are. Despite all the cute grandmas I saw on television, they all had that glazed over look in their eyes, like they are sleep walking.

I think many of us can agree that there are few people out there in our current population who actually "get it". This revolution will take a long time to implement. It has become contagious because it has linked thousands of people who "get it". With the intelligence and resources available to this ecclectic group, we can accomplish a lot in the years to come. This is only the beginning. If you think that getting Dr. Paul in the white house is all this movement will need, you have a very shortsided view. We need congressmen , senators, etc. In fact Ron Paul IS a longshot. The more people who get to hear his message now, the more we have in the movement towards reclaiming this country. Who honestly believes that ANY of the other candidates D or R will save this country?

We are facing economic turmoil, and NONE of the other people are talking about it. I would love to see Obama, Hillary, Rudy, Huck, etc. implement their big government ideas when there is NO money.

Buck up. RP beat his poll numbers, Iowa was going to be a tough sell, but it is freeking Iowa! No offense to people who live there. Focus on the movement and getting peoploe to change their philosophy, it will continue to be contagious.

Another great analysis by a newbie. Welcome to the board. Keep it coming.

I was thinking just yesterday how many people in the country now know that we have "over 700 military bases in 130 countries". Hey, I consider myself hip and these numbers blew my fu$@ing mind. This "meme" has gone viral in the public awareness, as have this campaigns illuminations regarding the Fed, the IRS, the Inflation Tax, and on and on and on. Nothing bad can come from this campaign, even in defeat. Dr. Paul himself says that it is all about the message and the revolution surrounding it, and not about himself. He says he is just a part of a greater thing.

Awareness of a problem always proceeds effective action to combat it. We are still early in the awareness raising stage. Always remember this and you will never feel defeated, as long as these ideas are getting out there.

 

[Charles Wilson]

Give the man a chance will ya? One caucus and all of a sudden everyone is telling Ron Paul how to run his campaign. I think 10% in Iowa was Huge. This is a marathon not a sprint. Ron Paul has been in politics for 20 years, I think he knows how to get elected. He has an up hill battle because the Elite power brokers own the MSM and are fighting him at every turn -- that was and is expected.

If you want to help, think up some way to work around the MSM and get him the publicity he needs to get his message out. I suggest that Ron Paul request Federal matching funds. I think of Federal matching funds like I do "Ear Marks", whereas if the candidates are entitled to it then use it. This is not a game, the survival of our way of like hangs in the balance.

 

[Bradley in DC]

Ron Paul's message is about spontaneity and truth. It is impossible to manufacture those things. Their very definition of spontaneity and truth means the opposite of "manufacturing". Truth and spontaneity ARE, they are not made.

And one of the biggest problems is the official staff not knowing what the truth is that Dr. Paul message is all about. The immigration ad was not the first time those familiar with Dr. Paul's views and legislation have cringed at the mistakes of the official campaign regarding his positions.

 

[politicsNproverbs]

I'm gonna get "all conspiracy on ya"...

ooooh, I love it when you do that, lol.

Only Iowa and New Hampshire (neither entirely) continue to use mostly manual forms of voting and vote counting. All other 48 states either vote electronically and/or count manual ballots electronically creating a situation ripe for election fraud.

Ahhhh haaaa! And what better place than the SUNSHINE State! So now the Rudy-Florida-strategy-"conspiracy" is making sense.

By not campaigning hard in either state it gives him, as it has others in the past, the eventual explanation, "hey, i lost those states because i didn't campaign hard there. there are so few electorates at stake that i put my time and money into other states that are now bearing fruit". Well, he wouldn't say, "bearing fruit", he say, "committed to fighting global terrorism as I am", but you get the idea.

Yes, his recent "speech" in Orlando about a week ago was re: that very thing, "Tough On Terrorism, National Security for us." Nauseating...

There is a good chance that Rudy will re-emerge in a grand way after New Hampshire.

Well, I hope he at least gets a new evening gown for the occasion...

When he does, remember this post. The original script was for him to lose to Hillary (as in 2004 it was for Kerry to lose to Bush). Ron Paul's entry has messed this up.

Well, Hot Dog and Hallelujah, then!

On 2nd thought, make that Slim Jims and Sayonara Julie...

 

[joenaab]

Oh, I know that, which was my point. The prior poster had said we were now mainstream and not fringe [two digits: 10% Iowa], hence my reply re: MSM. I know I can get all the RP news on the web, but it sure would be nice to be able to flip on the TV on my off-line days and get some RP news w/o having to log-on.

The general consensus seems to be that as RP moves up in numbers, the MSM WILL start to cover him, but I don't know... can they ignore him all the way to November, if his numbers continue to climb? Will they "cave in" and cover him, or kill him rather than cover him in the MSM?

(basically rhetorical questions because none of us knows yet)...

It was I who said he's now "mainstream", though I meant it in a non-mainstream media way. Or maybe I said "top-tier" and not "mainstream".

Hey, I hear you man, we all wish we could turn on the TV and hear MSM gushing about him (well, I don't have a TV, but I'm imagining this). What I'd rather see in the long run is the end of MSM entirely (which is why I've proactively given up my TV).

It is the very act of us looking to them for "approval", "who's the front runner", "who's best for America", - however you want to put it, that has put us in this pickle. The Global forces of banking, finance, war profiteering, Big Pharma, etc. learned this long ago which is what led them to buy up all forms of media in the first place. And this extends beyond radio, TV and newspapers. They own most book publishers, magazine publishers and the Tax-Exempt Foundations that produce all the text books we've studied from, K through PhD. No joke. They are thorough when it comes to controlling what information enters our five senses.

Envision a world without MSM and turn them off, as I have, and they will disappear. I promise you that.

 

[bnyles]

And one of the biggest problems is the official staff not knowing what the truth is that Dr. Paul message is all about. The immigration ad was not the first time those familiar with Dr. Paul's views and legislation have cringed at the mistakes of the official campaign regarding his positions.

IF the official staff does not know what the truth of Dr. Paul's message is then it is our duty to educate them! That shall we do!

 

[Bradley in DC]

Ron Paul has been in politics for 20 years, I think he knows how to get elected.

He lost three of his first four races for Congress. How old do you think he'll be before he gets sworn in by your logic?

 

[Leslie Webb]

We need to spread the message to THE SMALL TOWNS!!! THIS IS A MUST!!!! Forget the big towns for now! The small town counties are KEY TO SUCCESS!!! YOU MUST CANVASS SMALL TOWNS! If you look at the counties that comprised the voters in iowa, THEY COULD HAVE BEEN WON by RON PAUL! and there is a LOT of them. And this is were Ron can take'em STATE WIDE!

It's nice to canvass large towns, but it is MOST important to canvass ALL the small towns in ALL counties. WORD SPREADS FAST IN A SMALL TOWN. convert a few people in a small community, get them some signs in their yard and the word will be out before you can get to the other side of town!!!

When you are confident in the canvassing of the little towns and you know that they have been hit up good. Then it's time to covert OP SIGN BOMB your larger towns to let thousands see the signs and then go knock on doors in that larger town!!!

But NOT UNTIL YOU HIT the small towns and counties.

THIS WAS IOWA'S BREAD AND BUTTER! NOW GET OUT THERE AND GET IT DONE!!!

GO RON!! He never gave up on his country and, we shall NOT!

Completely agree. We won Jefferson County with 35% of the vote. The Fairfield
meetup group in Jefferson County did a bang-up job in organizing a rally for Ron Paul last summer before the Ames Straw Poll.

To Brian Horsfield, leader of the Fairfield Meetup-- what things did you and your group do that made you so successful? What advice would you give to the people on the ground in New Hampshire?

 

[Seabhacre]

What will NH teach us?

I agree with much of what is being said here, except the phrases "I told you so", and “Shut Up”! It is way too early for “I told you so’s”, and “Shut up’s” add zero value place in discussions, period!

Iowa was always going to be a tough sell. Way too many evangelicals (who believe in sending our troops all over the globe to kill people they don't like, after all that's what it means to be 'Christ-Like' right?) in Iowa coupled with the Caucus format which alienates many younger voters who work in the service industry as well a military members who are deployed all over the place makes it a very difficult place to start. I am slightly encouraged by the 10% showing as well as the 29% showing for independents. New Hampshire should be a better showing.

If Dr. Paul doesn’t place at least 2nd there then we will learn that freedom loving, peaceable revolution will not end our growing oppression. We will learn that most Americans actually want to be the World's Big-Bad-Ass bully, running around crapping in other people’s front yards, stealing their resources to feed their consummate hunger for more, more, more! We will learn that the majority of Americans don’t give a rats-ass about their children’s future and only care about their own present. We will learn that the largest generation in American history (Boomers) really does want to eat the very last crumbs of the American pie and leave nothing but the check for the younger generations.
We will learn that even the strongest grassroots movement in American history can’t overcome the might of the Corporate Elite, NeoCon Run ‘Mainstream’ Establishment in a peaceable democratic manner using an, at best, inexperienced campaign staff.

The grassroots has defiantly done its part, now it’s time for the official campaign staff to step up their game!

 

[joenaab]

Well, I hope he at least gets a new evening gown for the occasion...

I've been on this forum since it's inception and that was the funniest thing I've read to date. My dogs gave me a strange look when I cracked up so hard.

Here's another angle. Let's say Rudy gets propelled back into the lead via devious means. Let's say further that all other candidates come convention time reluctantly throw their support behind Trannyoni. It is my understanding that all delgates who were previously committed to a non-Rudy candidate are free to cast their votes for whoever they want.

So there could be a surprising twist in the end whereby the convention comes down to Ron Paul versus Giuliani (or [fill in Goliath]) and there is a mass, legal defection of delegates to Ron Paul on the convention floor. This is why we must press ahead until that day. In fact, it may very well come down to what I describe here.

 

[Phenom24]

I had a conversation at a church meeting last night where I didn't focus on the war.

I focused on the MONEY.

I said, guys, if our country keeps spending money like water, printing more money to pay for war and whatever else, our country is swirling down the crapper. I said, how many people do you think will be able to keep up giving to our church when they can't afford their food and gas bills? I told them there was an article recently that said that this year will show the biggest food price increases in ages, and I told them that the current administration's plan to KEEP adding liquidity is going to make EVERYTHING worse, NOT BETTER. I said you can't fight fire with gasoline - there is a guy in our church who is a mortgage broker, and one of the good guys - he says it's REALLY ugly out there. I said guys, you may not agree with the foreign policy. But if we don't fix domestic policy, we won't have a foreign policy. We won't have a country or economy anymore.

It sunk in. It really did.

So DJ, I agree with you, and I think the campaign needs to HIRE Peter Schiff to make or speak in some commercials. MAD Wall Street cred. FOCUS ON THE PEOPLE'S POCKETBOOK AND YOU GET THEIR ATTENTION.

 

[Freedom&Reason]

To be honest, I think we should be making our donations directly to the grass roots support functions, like the phone calling and canvasing. The money bombs should go to grass roots(not to sure if it is now) not the campaign. So far I have seen nothing spetacular(or even noteworthy) out of the local campaign people running in my state. The grass roots is the key to getting Ron Paul in to office, the campaign should only be used for info, literature and signs. The grass roots should do thier own advertising(What we can't find proffesional advertisers?) with donations from the money bombs.

 

[fj45lvr]

DJ makes a great point about the time since the straw poll to the caucus and the amount of VOTERS for Paul......

Personally if I listen to Paul I get goosebumps and he sells himself. I find it hard to believe that there was not MORE growth in the state.

I am sure the campaign has to address what they see is the problem and adapt to that before it is TOO late.

 

[realist]

I agree with most of what was said here. Here is what is my take.

Ron needs to package his message better. We all agree, when given the time Ron is pretty good at getting his message across. The problem is 99% of the time that explanation time is not allowed. We need to hire a professional PR person that can help Ron package that message for the average voter to swallow.

I truly believe Ron gives Americans to much credit for actually knowing the issues and understanding them. Unfortunately, most Americans just want to be told what to do and that doing so will make their lives better. Im pretty sure the majority of Americans have absolutely no clue what the Patriot Act is and why its a bad thing.

Here is a lesson learned from the Bush/Kerry battle. Now I want all the not so hard core republicans to not take this personally, this isnt a slam against you. What was Kerry's message? Well, Kerry's message was all over the place. He had to many talking points for the average person to digest. Democrats like to run on the issue platform alot, and the message sometimes gets very diluted.

Ok, what was Bushs message? Well Bush only had ONE message packed 8 different ways. The message was Bush was strong and Kerry was weak. Thats it, that was his whole message. His whole campaign was centered around that ideal. Bush knew what his strong point was at the time and used it to his advantage. He also knew he could get Kerry to flop around on issues trying to stave off the weak image.

So, what is ROns strong point? To me its consistancy. We need to be beating consistancy into the heads of Americans and showing that the other candidates are all over the place. Now, i know some people do not want to run any type of negative campaign. But remember, Even Reagan ran negative adds against Mondale, anyone remember the reagan tax ads?


So to sum it all up.
-hire a professional PR person or business
-Streamline the message for the masses
-Push our strong point such as constancy
-Show how all the other candidates fall short of our strong point

Excellent post and I agree 100%. I would only add that their needs to be some co-ordination with grassroots (don't duplicate tasks -especially those that will breed resentment (double & triple calling) and, add variety. No one want to see the same add 100 times- even a great one.