Mini AMA from an Iowa Volunteer

[CPUd]

One of the guys who was in Iowa yesterday is giving a debrief of sorts on his experiences:

Q

Totally understandable, It's almost an impossible task. Were you able to identify any specific issue/s that was swaying the voters to go for Trump or Rubio or Cruz besides the tone & the person who was delivering the message?

A

Trump is the "get off my lawn, don't tell me what to do" candidate. That seems to be what many Iowans want. They didn't seem to have any single particular issue, and the speaker who spoke for Trump at my precinct basically just said, "If you look at his rallies, they are always full, let's make America great again." It seems like they are the ones who just want to say "F YOU" to the political system. We had one Trump supporter on the phone who said she was voting for Trump because she wants to watch the world burn.

Rubio was all about electability and military strength.

Cruz basically overlapped Paul, but he just had higher name-brand recognition. Many said they support Rand, they like Rand, but they're voting for Cruz because either they saw him speak and they were moved, or because they didn't know enough about Rand/didn't agree with this thing or that thing Rand said. Really I think it just came down to an issue of not wanting to waster their vote, and thinking they can get Rand-ishness with Cruz, but Cruz is the safer bet for winning Iowa. Obviously we all tried our hardest to educate them otherwise, and in some few cases we pulled it off, but they probably changed their minds on the way to their caucus locations.

Q

I'd like to know what the attitude at the office was like while watching the results trickle in.

A

We were all out in precincts so we didn't re-group until the afterparty, and since some of us were an hour and a half to two hours away, we didn't even get back together until Rand was already speeking. Everyone was very upbeat and proud of the work they did, the work done by the volunteers was tremendous and really I think they/we did the best possible given the circumstances. Of course some people were disappointed but everyone was just talking about New Hampshire and getting back to work today.

more here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/randpaul/comments/43wokx/i_just_got_home_from_working_the_iowa_caucus_with/

 

[CPUd]

Q

What do you believe exactly happened? I think most of us were expecting a 3rd or at least 4th place finish with the 10k students, 1 million calls, 1k precinct captains etc. That being said thank you for working so hard to get the votes we did get.

A

Where to begin? There are many factors. I could say that it seems that Rubio, Trump, and Bernie cut right into that youth vote. Many Iowans are evangelicals, and there is a strong anti-establishment current there that once may have been a part of the liberty movement, but has since been co-opted by these other candidates.

I think one of the big things that I would not have understood without watching the caucus is that many voters go in undecided and make up their minds after hearing the candidate's representatives speak. In small communities, people can be easily moved if, for instance, someone gets up and gives a great speech for Rubio. In my precinct, the person who spoke for Paul had to address a room of 400 without a microphone, and she had a quiet voice. The Rubio speeker went next and he was a well-respected pillar of the community, and a former senator (whose name I did not catch), and he got cheers for introducing his wife to the audience. It's very populist, and at the end of the day it comes down to the tone of a person's voice, and the mindset of these small communities.

Q

Did the campaign have the same hopes and expectations as we did watching from home? Or was it manufactured to draw out more voters. I'll stick with Paul either way, but I'd love to know.

A

It is really hard to say, because nobody is going to tell you, "Yeah, that was all an act to get you to try harder." I really believe they expected more, and the 10k, 1 million calls stuff was not a lie, but it just didn't result in 10k students and tens of thousands more voting for Rand. I think a lot of people were split between Rand and Cruz, or Rand and Rubio, and they went with what they deemed a "safer choice." At the end of the day, it comes down to the mentality of the voters. I talked to about 900 Iowans over the last several days, and I saw a room of 400 of these people representing three caucus precincts, and it was very obvious that these people are not the type to think, "Oh heck yeah, flat tax and peace through strength." They are the, "WE NEED A STRONG MILITARY." type, and you know those are not the ones who Rand tends to appeal to.

Q

What about Carson? I watched the numbers coming in and am still dumbfounded that he did so well. Curious as to your thoughts.
(by the way, thank you for contributing your time & effort to the cause!)

A

Evangelicals love Dr. Carson. I saw a woman speak for him and she praised him for being a Washington outsider.

 

[AngryCanadian]

People are idiots.

"WE NEED A STRONG MILITARY."

Seems that they haven't learned from Iraq, nor Libya or hell afghanistan. Maybe they should let McCain run again. Since they love wars so much hope it chews on them.

bunch of war mongering traitors.

 

[Kords21]

We could spend 1000x what the rest of the world spends on their military and you would still hear "we need to spend more". It's just red meat to throw at the republican base these days. The real question is that we already spend all this money on defense, yet we're constantly told how unsafe we are, then what the hell are we buying with all of this tax payer money if we're still so unsafe? Just like any political issue left or right, just say we need to "spend more" and you get people eating out of your hands.

 

[CPUd]

A (more on why Rubio?)

I spoke to one woman who said she didn't like Rand because she heard him say he wanted to leave the terrorists alone and go home, and Rubio was going to help kill them all. Then she said her son "is in Jordan, or Afghanistan, or Iraq, or whatever I don't even know...and they need to give more money to the military to help him." That is who is voting for Rubio.

 

[AngryCanadian]

A (more on why Rubio?)

She is very stupid.

Rubio was going to help kill them all.

lol sorry but Americans are the laughing stock of the world. Rbio was going to help kill them all? what have these people being smoking?

 

[CPUd]

I hear that position tested well, and that is why Cruz suddenly switched to carpet bombing. If that's the kind of shit Rand would have to say to win Iowa, I'm glad he didn't.

 

[phill4paul]

Really I think it just came down to an issue of not wanting to waster their vote,

Didn't stop them from voting Ron in 2012. Because that was the MSM narrative then as well as now.

 

[CPUd]

Q

Rand supposedly had this amazing ground game and huge youth support - yet he lost decidedly to my main man, Donald Trump, whom all of you said couldn't win with no ground game.

And I'll concede - he came in 2nd. No win - but Cruz also had a huge ground game. You know who else came in 2nd in Iowa? RONALD REAGAN!

Trump 2016

A

I met a lot of Trump supporters this weekend, and talked to a lot of them on the phone as well. They're all morons. Like literally retarded people and idiot teenagers who just want to take a selfie with their Trump ballot because they don't understand responsibility and political science. I did my research, I met them in person, shook some hands, and counted votes with one of them. He was cross-eyed and moronic. The guy who spoke for Trump in my precinct, his ass-crack was poking out of the back of his pants while he talked and he didn't know what to say besides "we have lots of rallies, and fuck yeah murica."

This was a typical Trump phone call:

"If the caucus were held today, who would you vote for?" "TRUUUUMP! MAKAMURRICAGR8AGEN!!!" click

The army of morons has arrived and they are here to watch the world burn. There is gasoline all over the world and Trump is the match. Let's get this man elected and get Revelations started! FUCKYEAHMURICA!!!

I'm glad you find solace in being part of this groundswell of idiocy. Come back soon, we need to remind everyone here how worthless the contents of your thoughts are.

 

[65fastback2+2]

Cruz basically overlapped Paul, but he just had higher name-brand recognition. Many said they support Rand, they like Rand, but they're voting for Cruz because either they saw him speak and they were moved, or because they didn't know enough about Rand/didn't agree with this thing or that thing Rand said. Really I think it just came down to an issue of not wanting to waster their vote, and thinking they can get Rand-ishness with Cruz, but Cruz is the safer bet for winning Iowa. Obviously we all tried our hardest to educate them otherwise, and in some few cases we pulled it off, but they probably changed their minds on the way to their caucus locations.

This is what I feared happened, but the thing I cant answer is HOW did it happen?

Ron and Rand put Cruz on the map...Rand has gotten far more media coverage.

How do people know who Cruz is and not Rand? Baffled.

The other concern is Cruz is definitely not even Rand-ish anymore. How is he hoodwinking them so well?

 

[rich34]

Honestly guys after seeing how dirty the Cruz camp was I'd bet everything I own that he used his phone bankers to not only target Ron/Rand supporters but once identified he probably gave them a script to attack and tear down Rand every way possible while at the same time telling them that Ted, not anyone else is the same"ONLY" "consistent" conservative running for office and like Beck said is the only one you can trust. I have no proof of any of this but by putting together he had the most dirty campaign along with those statements back over the summer that he was targeting Rand's supporters/the liberty movement and there's no doubt in my mind. I have nothing nice to say about double talking Ted and if I was forced to vote between he and Bush or he and Trump it'd be the latter in both cases...

 

[65fastback2+2]

Honestly guys after seeing how dirty the Cruz camp was I'd bet everything I own that he used his phone bankers to not only target Ron/Rand supporters but once identified he probably gave them a script to attack and tear down Rand every way possible while at the same time telling them that Ted, not anyone else is the same"ONLY" "consistent" conservative running for office and like Beck said is the only one you can trust. I have no proof of any of this but by putting together he had the most dirty campaign along with those statements back over the summer that he was targeting Rand's supporters/the liberty movement and there's no doubt in my mind. I have nothing nice to say about double talking Ted and if I was forced to vote between he and Bush or he and Trump it'd be the former in both cases...

The voter F card and the mailout that Carson had quit his campaign both prove this explicitly.

 

[derek4ever]

This is what I feared happened, but the thing I cant answer is HOW did it happen?

Ron and Rand put Cruz on the map...Rand has gotten far more media coverage.

How do people know who Cruz is and not Rand? Babbled.

The other concern is Cruz is definitely not even Rand-ish anymore. How is he hoodwinking them so well?

I think Rand needs to hit Rubio and Cruz HARD! Explain that he's the only CONSTITUTIONALIST running that will stand up for American values!

 

[65fastback2+2]

I think Rand needs to hit Rubio and Cruz HARD! Explain that he's the only CONSTITUTIONALIST running that will stand up for American values!

He's been hitting them pretty hard from what I'm seeing.

 

[CPUd]

Honestly guys after seeing how dirty the Cruz camp was I'd bet everything I own that he used his phone bankers to not only target Ron/Rand supporters but once identified he probably gave them a script to attack and tear down Rand every way possible while at the same time telling them that Ted, not anyone else is the same"ONLY" "consistent" conservative running for office and like Beck said is the only one you can trust. I have no proof of any of this but by putting together he had the most dirty campaign along with those statements back over the summer that he was targeting Rand's supporters/the liberty movement and there's no doubt in my mind. I have nothing nice to say about double talking Ted and if I was forced to vote between he and Bush or he and Trump it'd be the former in both cases...

I know (via FEC records) they were testing everything. One method they used was what they call "voter contact", you hire a firm to run calls as if they are conducting polls, but they ask leading questions like, "Does the fact that trump said/supports ___ make you more/less likely to support him?". Then they use those results to frame attacks. It is where the "New York Values" statement came from. It's yet another reason the other candidates don't like him, they knew he was doing this. Some of the WTFs that came out of Cruz's mouth were specifically targeted to work on some subgroup of Iowa caucusgoers.

The good news is that what worked for him in Iowa won't play well in NH or other states.

 

[rich34]

This is what I feared happened, but the thing I cant answer is HOW did it happen?

Ron and Rand put Cruz on the map...Rand has gotten far more media coverage.

How do people know who Cruz is and not Rand? Babbled.

The other concern is Cruz is definitely not even Rand-ish anymore. How is he hoodwinking them so well?

Do you recall thanks to Cruz' connections to Goldman Sachs that he raked in more money from wall street than anyone? And yes that includes Bush, and Rubio! It's amazing what 100,000,000 million in both pac money and campaign contributions will do for your campaign.. Not to mention doesn't Ted Cruz'z father live and pastor in Iowa? Yeah the man liked to claim grassroots this and that, but in reality it was all brought to you by Goldman Sachs.. The man is a fraud and that's being nice.

 

[nikcers]

Honestly guys after seeing how dirty the Cruz camp was I'd bet everything I own that he used his phone bankers to not only target Ron/Rand supporters but once identified he probably gave them a script to attack and tear down Rand every way possible while at the same time telling them that Ted, not anyone else is the same"ONLY" "consistent" conservative running for office and like Beck said is the only one you can trust. I have no proof of any of this but by putting together he had the most dirty campaign along with those statements back over the summer that he was targeting Rand's supporters/the liberty movement and there's no doubt in my mind. I have nothing nice to say about double talking Ted and if I was forced to vote between he and Bush or he and Trump it'd be the former in both cases...

They released this plan from the start, the problem is Rand only started his anti-ted rhetoric basically 8 months after Ted had been hammering voters with disinformation. Ted is a false choice, and I would never consider voting for the king of banks, the king of media, the king of neoconservatism, or the king of black jesus.

 

[Crashland]

]The other concern is Cruz is definitely not even Rand-ish anymore. How is he hoodwinking them so well?[/COLOR]

Because Cruz the warmonger namedrops libertarians. Cruz: I'm bringing back the coalition of teocons and libertarians! wooohoo! libertarians flock to Cruz the champion of liberty.
Meanwhile, Rand never stops talking about the constitution and civil liberties, has the best pro-liberty record in the senate, but OMG he didn't want to call Mitch McConnell a liar RUN THE FUCK AWAY

 

[65fastback2+2]

Do you recall thanks to Cruz' connections to Goldman Sachs that he raked in more money from wall street than anyone? And yes that includes Bush, and Rubio! It's amazing what 100,000,000 million in both pac money and campaign contributions will do for your campaign.. Not to mention doesn't Ted Cruz'z father live and pastor in Iowa? Yeah the man liked to claim grassroots this and that, but in reality it was all brought to you by Goldman Sachs.. The man is a fraud and that's being nice.

i dont disagree that that is plausible.

And I'll be honest here...I do think some of it has to do with what state they're from. Tx > Ky. More people more message spreading, Texas is far more widely known than Ky. Texas is very red whereas Ky is mixed.

 

[rich34]

I know (via FEC records) they were testing everything. One method they used was what they call "voter contact", you hire a firm to run calls as if they are conducting polls, but they ask leading questions like, "Does the fact that trump said/supports ___ make you more/less likely to support him?". Then they use those results to frame attacks. It is where the "New York Values" statement came from. It's yet another reason the other candidates don't like him, they knew he was doing this. Some of the WTFs that came out of Cruz's mouth were specifically targeted to work on some subgroup of Iowa caucusgoers.

The good news is that what worked for him in Iowa won't play well in NH or other states.

Wow, there's nothing about this man that would surprise me at this point. The bad thing is he suppose to represent Christian values. He's the epitomy of why so many get turned off by these Christian types. As long as "their" guy is doing it, it's all fair game, but if someone does it to them they're the first to cry foul. The hypocrisy really turns my stomach, but unless this kind of behavior is happening to their guy they are blind to it. Sadly I think that mentality dominates their whole world/domestic view.