[Modnote: Opinion]Lessons Learned So Far

[row333au]

Paul camp cries fraud over Nevada Caucus results

http://m.examiner.com/independent-in-national/paul-camp-cries-fraud-over-nevada-caucus-results

 

[tbone717]

http://m.examiner.com/independent-in-national/paul-camp-cries-fraud-over-nevada-caucus-results

Misleading title. No one from the campaign is quoted in the article. They are pulling quotes off of a FB page.

 

[american.swan]

What candidate predicted the economic collapse using sound monetary principles?
What candidate has a plan to balance the budget within his 1st term?
What candidate gets the most crossover support from independents in a head to head matchup vs. Obama?

There, lets kill these points moving forward - send a message to the campaign.

Campaign needs THIS put on an ad with Ron Paul walking through DETROIT might HELP.

 

[tbone717]

Campaign needs THIS put on an ad with Ron Paul walking through DETROIT might HELP.

I like the idea of a local themed ad like that. We need to connect with people through their emotions and that is an excellent way to do it.

 

[rightcoast]

AhuwaleKaNaneHuna

I appreciate your input on sign waves, but let me just say that no one has ever won the GOP nomination because their supporters are doing sign waves. In fact, everyone that is winning so far is not doing sign waves. So logic would say that the time is spent on more productive efforts that specifically target primary/caucus voters. As I said earlier, at a sign wave in FL 93% of the people that pass you by are not going to vote in the primary. So if you had a ten people spend two hours at a sign wave and produce little to no votes for Paul, that is 20 man hours that could be better spent working a targeted list of actual GOP primary voters.

Hell. No one has ever won a Congressional seat or a dang city commission seat because of sign waves. Never mind a national election. It's why you see people running for commission seats canvassing, and spending only the moment it's too late to do anything (night before and morning of their election), in front of a polling place holding a sign and waving.

The problem we have, and I say this as someone who has led 3 meetups in Florida and traveled to New England to help and stayed with a relative, is that canvassing may actually *hurt* Ron Paul. Why? Because most people passionate enough to want to go walk door to door for 6 hours hours want to do so because they now have a chance to tell people the central banks are led by a cabal in a smoky room who rub their hands in glee at each new proposal to depopulate the world and that Cheney oversaw the demolition of WTC7 or something. It's controversial to say, but c'mon. We know damn well why the campaign canvassing efforts are half-measures at best, and why our grassroots efforts are falling short. Anyone who has ever led a meetup can tell you. It's because 100 people will come out to shoot the breeze and drink a beer at Applebees, but only 6 will go canvass. Of that 6, 4 are probably the people you'd least like to have doing the task.

 

[DamienMaddox]

OP has good point on everything. Stop taking it personally or making excuses. OP isn't saying its hopeless, he's saying our chances drastically improve if we take different steps.

Corrupted media, Bully pulpits, whatever.. it can't stop us from winning this thing.

Every one of you who watched those live votes on the CNN stream got to see proof of this first hand. We were handed THE winning strategy, how many of you saw this??

Many of you were too wrapped up in your new argument on why Ron Paul is pro-Israel that you missed the even bigger picture!

Do you think the voters who went to that late caucus, went there thinking they were going to vote for Ron Paul? No honestly, seriously, do you really think that? I don't.

So how did he get over 3 TIMES THE VOTES of Romney and Gingrich? How on earth did he achieve that in a caucus that at first impression appeared to be the biggest attempt at voter fraud of the entire election so far??

The 10+ people who spoke about Ron Paul, that's how. They were the most passionate about their candidate, even though some of them weren't as articulate as others, the voters saw how much they believed in their candidate. Most of these people at the caucus probably just wanted someone who they felt could beat Obama, or someone they were comfortable with, someone familiar to them.

Then they see these people who are so passionate and believe in their candidate so much. They don't feel like this towards their candidate, they just want someone familiar or someone the news tells them could win. The moment they *feel* the passion that Ron Paul's supporters have first hand, they decide right then and there, that they want to feel that way too. So, they open their minds up and actually start listening, to see if by chance, they can agree with these people. When they see that Ron Paul supporters do make sense, and actually hear things that are clearly not lip service, that's the moment that these Romney/Gingrich/Santorum voters become Ron Paul voters.

Make no mistake about it. Gingrich would have never called in a favor for an $11 million dollar late caucus unless he felt he was a shoe in for it. Nobody was counting on this many Ron Paul supporters to speak out, they didn't even think any Ron Paul supporters would be there. There is not a doubt in my mind that this particular precinct would have been a battle between Gingrich and Romney if Ron Paul supporters didn't show up.

 

[Publicani]

tbone I like your ideas.
In the spirit of brainstorming (No way Paul will change his presentation, I understand) I'd still suggest that Ron should start talking/running against Obama. Mitt built his whole campaign about it. For him it's space filler. If he doesn't know what to say, he'd say Obama is bad.
Paul can't say anything bad about Obama without adding that the Republicans and Bush also did that. Forget about Bush. He's gone.
I've heard Paul saying a while ago that Obama should be impeached for something - I wish he said it at least once during debate.
Also, Mitt's "LEADERSHIP" should be addressed and destroyed.

 

[No Free Beer]

I agree with a lot of what you said, but another angle is a mix between Ron's language on foreign policy and the media.

It is getting to the point now where people are tuning Dr. Paul out because the media tells them that he is nuts when it comes to foreign policy. I hear so often from voters, "I love Ron Paul's economic policy, but I cannot vote for the man because of his foreign policy." Or, "I agree with 80% of what he says, it's just the foreign policy..."

I will be honest. Ron's message is so deep, so very deep, that it's going to take a lot of time for people to really comprehend what he is saying.

Just look at us, the people on this forum, we are so entrenched in politics. This is all we essentially care about. To the average person, politics isn't everything. A lot of people wake up in the morning, go to work, get home, spend time with their families and maybe watch 30 min to an hour and they turn it off. You cannot expect them to grasp such a deep message about personal liberty and blowback so quickly.

Where I disagree with you is (and in part going against what I just said) how it is our fault for their vote. I do not believe that. More so now than ever, people should be doing their own research. The country is so damaged that it is the duty of the people to do their own research. The fact that a lot of Americans just want to tune out and not man up and take time to really find the truth is on them, not us. Ron has repeated over and over again how bad our economy is and what bad shape our country is in, as a whole. It is up to them whether they accept or reject his message. You want to know the truth? People are scared. So what do people do when they are scared? They rarely go with the guy who is saying something completely different. They feel anxious, so they listen to the guy (or woman) who is saying "everything will be okay...just elect me."

That is the truth. People aren't ready to accept this message. YET.

Time is on our side.

 

[JK/SEA]

To be honest here, the real power of the Ron Paul R3VOLUTION lies in your local political scene. WE MUST GET YOUNG, AND INTELLIGENT people who will carry the Liberty Flag into their State AND National public offices...this is the real key. Yes, getting Ron in as President is a priority issue, BUT...we must have a plan 'B' and 'C' and so on....I challenge those that qualify to come forward...NOW. Its getting down to critical crunch time.

 

[pacelli]

Clear up the confusion about his position on foreign policy and do more town halls instead of rallies. His supporters aren't going anywhere. He just needs voters.

 

[RDM]

All of you people crack me up with your 1001 ways of what we need to do different. Yet, I have heard NOT one of you say I will personally get in my car and shuttle people I know that support Ron Paul to the voting booths. WAKE UP!!!!! PEOPLE. We have a voter turn out problem, nothing more. Sheesh, quit trying to re-invent the wheel and just get people you personally know to the polls. How freakin' hard is that? Really?

 

[tbone717]

All of you people crack me up with your 1001 ways of what we need to do different. Yet, I have heard NOT one of you say I will personally get in my car and shuttle people I know that support Ron Paul to the voting booths. WAKE UP!!!!! PEOPLE. We have a voter turn out problem, nothing more. Sheesh, quit trying to re-invent the wheel and just get people you personally know to the polls. How freakin' hard is that? Really?

Extremely hard when you are out of state

 

[SCOTUSman]

Misleading title. No one from the campaign is quoted in the article. They are pulling quotes off of a FB page.

Definitely agreed. Article title is HORRIFIC. It makes RP and the campaign look bad. Nobody ever cried or said there was fraud. Sick article title that people can use against us.

 

[Peace&Freedom]

As it stands today, no one is presenting a formidable challenge to Romney. Unless Paul, Santorum or Newt begins to win contests, Romney will have more than enough first ballot delegates to win the nomination. Polling shows us way behind in all of the remaining Feb contests. We need to shift gears in order to change the direction of this race. Sitting back and thinking "we are about where we should be" is not facing the reality of the situation. Romney could sweep the entire month, and as he wins each contest it becomes more and more difficult to convince voters that Paul is a viable candidate.

No, the 'reality' is you are not happy with where we are, and are extrapolating from that 1) the delegate strategy did not exist, which is false, 2) that the lead Romney has as of this moment, by itself means he will have enough to win on a first ballot, which is false, and 3) that anybody who does not assess things are as bad as you have is in denial, which is self-serving.

Please note I and others have pointed out the need for Paul to improve his campaign by a) confronting the 9/11 issue plainly, so people could really hear him on foreign policy, instead of dismissing him, b) more actively court social conservatives, so that most of them wouldn't have gone to the other candidates, and c) properly prepare contingency plans such as 3rd party run, especially if major vote-rigging and media blackouts were again conducted to rob him of victories or momentum. So it's not like we have not been critical of the campaign---there's just a line between critiquing their plan, and denying that they had one, or that we are substantially on track with it.

I keep noting the 1836 thread because it laid out the whole map months ago, sans emotion or 'in the moment' frustration. It showed the first critical state was Maine and the others this week, NOT NV. The emphasis on outright victories is morale boosting for us, but not essential to the overall plan. We will be picking up hundreds of delegates if the conservative projections are accurate. IF not, then is the time talk failure. I do hope Paul does accomodate considerations a,b, and c into his plan, which I believe can help him win the GOP nomination much more easily, rather than plowing forward in the same way he is doing now.

 

[floridasun1983]

I'll take a crack at it.

What we're learned so far:

1. Ron Paul's campaign staff is the most inept of the four remaining candidates. They have squandered, in spectacular fashion, the momentum gained from New Hampshire, and have had no cohesive stategy since that point. They have utterly failed to address any of the major problems that are holding back voters from embracing Ron, which are misconceptions about electability and weak foreign policy. They have allowed the media to tar and feather them. They were caught totally flat footed with the "newsletters" stuff days before Iowa and were totally unprepared for the media driven Santorum surge.

2. The Super Brochures are a super waste. Even if we accept the notion that they aren't hurting Ron (I believe they are based on marketing principles, which has been backed up by boots on the ground reporting this to be the case), they are a total waste of money because they are not gaining any votes. Spend the money on something that works people, don't just keep blindly believing somehow these things are winning hearts and minds. They aren't. Its a failed concept and a failed delivery. If you want to do mailers, do it according to widely accepted direct mail procedures.

3. Ron Paul's much vaunted "organization" in the caucus states is much weaker than the sunshine pumpers here believe and continue to believe. The terrible GOTV effort in Nevada, a state we were told over and over again that we had the greatest organization in the history of mankind, proves that. The polling from others continue to show weakness. Despite the bizarre claims some people here are making, being 4th place in a state with an election 2 days away is not cause to say "we've got 'em right where we want 'em!"

4. This is a continuation from the previous, but, Phone from Home appears to be a waste of time and effort. I expect to be shouted down by the usual suspects screaming "Yeah but the Paul campaign says its our secret weapon!" Please. Just like the Super Brochures, this is a huge drain on resources and man hours that has produced no clear results. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

5. Depending on the "youth vote" is a failed strategy. This was evident from the beginning. You can't win anything on the backs of people who by and large don't vote. Along with this, you can't win the GOP nomination with indepedents and democrats. Why so many here have trouble understanding that is frankly baffling to me.

Despite all of this, I am still hopeful, but the window of opportunity is closing very fast. We have to turn things around immediately. Based on the campaign's coma since New Hampshire, I am very worried it will be too little too late.

 

[DamienMaddox]

All of you people crack me up with your 1001 ways of what we need to do different. Yet, I have heard NOT one of you say I will personally get in my car and shuttle people I know that support Ron Paul to the voting booths. WAKE UP!!!!! PEOPLE. We have a voter turn out problem, nothing more. Sheesh, quit trying to re-invent the wheel and just get people you personally know to the polls. How freakin' hard is that? Really?

My Wife and I are starting a new strategy. We're putting up a domain shortly for a mailing list and information.

The first phase in our strategy is to hit malls, shopping centers, etc, to identify and recruit Ron Paul supporters to help us in our local campaign.

The second phase is to train our recruits, and identify the ones best suited to turn into other recruiters. The rest we will train to do canvassing and getting a feel for where we need to concentrate our resources.

Finally, the third phase will be to go door to door and target the people most likely to go out and vote.

The biggest key to our strategy is going to be information. We'll ask questions like how do you feel about Ron Paul? If you don't like him, what are your biggest reservations about him? We'll dig a little into their concerns and try to explain a little more in depth the reasoning behind his policies on those issues.

We're not looking to debate with these people, just asking questions and seeing if their concerns are a result of their own conclusions, or if they simply haven't had the opportunity to hear an alternative point of view.

As we recruit more people, we will fine tune our strategy as we get more brain power into our think tank.

 

[kpitcher]

to re-invent the wheel and just get people you personally know to the polls. How freakin' hard is that? Really?

It is very hard. Last fall there was a very divisive township recall in my part of the world, a small township with a total of 1400 voters. After a recall there were 3 spots open and all candidates did mailings, debates, signs, door to door, and I set up our first local township oriented robocalling. Out of those 3 openings 1 was a person against what happened to cause the recall, the other 2 spots were filled with status quo. Just going through the list of people who signed the recall petition to have the special recall election, a significant percentage didn't vote. Townships are closer to the voter than any election. It doesn't surprise me how hard it is to get people to presidential primaries.

 

[seekingliberty]

I have heard the same things from Democrats, Independents and Republicans- they love Ron Paul on domestic issues but they fear his foreign policy. Ron Paul needs to address this. He needs to do something. A town hall or a press conference, something that people will see. The media has really driven it into people that his foreign policy is not acceptable. I've tried to overcome this but I can't do it. Ron needs to do this to help us help him.

We ran into a guy yesterday who started talking to us about Paul. He didn't like Romney or Gingrich but he couldn't get over Ron's fp. He said he was great on fiscal issues and he didn't think that any of the others would be good and even said that he didn't know how much more our economy could take. He didn't like the idea of pulling out of other countries like Germany and Japan and thought that we needed to have our presence there. Having a strong Navy and having ships out there wasn't good enough. He admitted that we couldn't afford it any more but basically that wasn't acceptable. He's a faux news watcher and thinks that they are absolutely fair and balanced and all of the others are not.

 

[row333au]

Its an interpretation of the writer of how he reports things (he said camp which is very broad and different to campaign)

.... any proof its FB pages source and not from a legitimate? Any reason to be final and take you're word for it against all that was reported are just innuendos, opinions or lies???

Its thoughts of things to ponder by... its also about questioning of any realities or truth to what's being reported. And if it turns out to be true, then Ron Paul has grounds to make legal steps... (this is not about sour graping more, but this is about justice over cheating and defrauding the public, and set the right things....

Newt Gingrich Supporter: Everyone Is Voting For Ron Paul!
(Now is that misleading title again?)

(00:40) Were you surprise that Newt won the caucus here?
Ya, It all looks like all just Ron Paul people that all showed up here and I'm surprise at that (result) and that Mitt didn't (have any supporters???)

 

[RDM]

Extremely hard when you are out of state

It's what you do in your own state in your own town. That is directed to everyone in each of their own state and directed to those in MN which is the next event.