News from Iowa

[Bradley in DC]

Remind me again what the Rudy McRomney stance on abortion is again. What is amnesty or invasion?

I think Gulliani explained it best in the first debate

 

[Dave]

2 minutes ago "Mitt Romney" called to invite me to a live telephone town hall and direct me to his website.

 

[Dave]

the phone message was definitely not live.

It came from a local number on caller id. This has not been true for the other candidate's calls.

I wonder if RP HQ has thought about getting the phone list (buying, I suppose)from the Iowa GOP and making some of these calls as well?

 

[Dave]

Two interesting pieces of mail today...

1. A slick ad from Brownback
2. An invite to the "Presidential Candidates Forum" in Des Moines on June 30. This event is sponsored by Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance. Confirmed to attend are Brownback, Gilmore, Huckabee, Romney, Tancredo, and T. Thompson. I think this shows you who the candidates are who are trying to use Iowa to propel themselves onto the national stage.

 

[ARealConservative]

Two interesting pieces of mail today...

1. A slick ad from Brownback
2. An invite to the "Presidential Candidates Forum" in Des Moines on June 30. This event is sponsored by Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance. Confirmed to attend are Brownback, Gilmore, Huckabee, Romney, Tancredo, and T. Thompson. I think this shows you who the candidates are who are trying to use Iowa to propel themselves onto the national stage.

Dave - are you an organizer for Des Moines? If not - do you know if the organizer is calling into the conference call tonight?

 

[Dave]

Dave - are you an organizer for Des Moines? If not - do you know if the organizer is calling into the conference call tonight?

I just saw your post. I can't answer your question - I must not be an organizer and I don't know about a call. Sorry.


I had a voice mail from John McCain tonite inviting me to breakfast next Saturday. That's so thoughtful of him.

 

[FSP-Rebel]

I think that Paul would be good-served by showing up to the Iowa situation to combat the other Neos. But, if not, He should eventually run a few commercials in order to spread his name. It's time that people understand where Paul stands on the issues, but at the same time that they understand that he's the only consrvative in the race. I mean, how can other people choose between the regular candidates w/o realizing that Paul is the only person that recognizes the Constitution, or is a good student thereof.

 

[ChicagoLawyer]

Official: Campaign will be contesting Iowa Straw Poll

I was on the RP HQ conference call yesterday and I asked "what's planned for the Iowa Straw Poll?" One of the staff responded that they will be contesting it vigorously, and that further instructions will be forthcoming from the campaign.

I hope that is true, but as has been said above, the instructions better start coming much quicker. I think HQ has just been a bit unprepared for organizing all of the grassroots support that has mushroomed. It might be that they never imagined they'd have this much to do this soon. They said they'd been working 20 hour days, and I believe them.

Let's just hope a lot more direction will be coming. Undirected grassroots activity is great in theory, but if it has no direction from HQ there will be a lot of wasted energy spent by people who haven't been involved in national campaigns before. Believe me, I've been there and reinvented the wheel too many times. Thinking I was saving the world when actually I was doing the equivalent of screaming at a wall.

 

[Scribbler de Stebbing]

Does Iowa have a state fair (of course) and other large events where we could set up a booth with banners, lit, DVDs, etc?

I'm still looking for a way to come down with some other Minnesotans to help out in Iowa. If anyone feels the slightest breeze of direction from the campaign and can point others of us in the right direction, do share.

 

[Dave]

Does Iowa have a state fair (of course) and other large events where we could set up a booth with banners, lit, DVDs, etc?

The Iowa state fair is August 9-19 which means the August 11 Ames Straw Poll is the first Saturday of the fair. The state fair draws over a million visits each year and I'm sure every candidate will make an appearance there at some time. I've heard a rumor that F. Thompson may skip the straw poll since he's so late getting into the game and instead spend the day campaigning at the fair.

The fair staff provide some kind of opportunity for candidates to do a "stump speech" inside the gate if they want. Then there's lots of roaming around and doing all the quintessential Iowa photo-op nonsense - the sterotypical corn dog eating, looking at the hogs, sitting on hay bales and tractors, etc...Yawn.

I've never seen a booth for an individual candidate. That doesn't mean it couldn't be done, I just don't know the fair's rules. I think there's quite a waiting list to get a booth of any kind. What I have seen is candidates spending some time at the booths for the Iowa GOP and Iowa dems. These are staffed by volunteers and Iowa politicians doing all the gladhanding and passing out bumper stickers, wristbands, tattoos, fans, and other trinkets. I think you should contact the Iowa GOP to find out how to promote Dr. Paul at this booth.

The other really big event in Iowa this summer is RAGBRAI - the big bike ride/party across Iowa July 21 to 28. I've never ridden it but I've been to some of the parties. I really think this crowd would be into freedom. I'd say at least 15,000 people ride but it's a huge party in every town they ride through, especially the overnite towns. There were some posts in another thread a few weeks ago about trying to use this event to promote Dr. Paul. I think it's a great idea. Anyone planning to come to Iowa this summer to work for Dr. Paul should really look into this - it might be the time of your life. There's never enough room for everyone who wants to ride but tons of people just ride along anyway. Some background is here:

http://www.ragbrai.org/

Beyond that, try this link to find ALL the events in Iowa this year. Search the events calendar - there's over 400 listed events in July alone. This would be a good place to start, too.

http://www.traveliowa.com/

 

[Dave]

I was on the RP HQ conference call yesterday and I asked "what's planned for the Iowa Straw Poll?" One of the staff responded that they will be contesting it vigorously, and that further instructions will be forthcoming from the campaign.

I hope that is true, but as has been said above, the instructions better start coming much quicker. I think HQ has just been a bit unprepared for organizing all of the grassroots support that has mushroomed. It might be that they never imagined they'd have this much to do this soon. They said they'd been working 20 hour days, and I believe them.

Let's just hope a lot more direction will be coming. Undirected grassroots activity is great in theory, but if it has no direction from HQ there will be a lot of wasted energy spent by people who haven't been involved in national campaigns before. Believe me, I've been there and reinvented the wheel too many times. Thinking I was saving the world when actually I was doing the equivalent of screaming at a wall.

Great post. I, too, hope those instructions are coming soon - there's less than 10 weeks to the straw poll. I hope the HQ organization is growing so we can get some more direction/coordination. I hear you loud and clear on wasted energy.

That said, my hat's off to the people at HQ. I know they're on their heels with the explosion of activity in the last few months. I'm confident with Dr. Paul's leadership that the right people will be put into the right places and we can start turning this energy into momentum.

 

[ksuguy]

There's never enough room for everyone who wants to ride but tons of people just ride along anyway. Some background is here:

http://www.ragbrai.org/

Do you know of any Motorcycle rallies? I'm not into bicycling, but I would be up for a weekend trip up to Iowa on my Motorcycle.

 

[Dave]

Do you know of any Motorcycle rallies? I'm not into bicycling, but I would be up for a weekend trip up to Iowa on my Motorcycle.

I don't ride those bikes, either - but I've often thought about it. I think you're really onto something since that's a big 'freedom' crowd, too. Iowa is one of very few states without a helmet law and motorcycles are HUGE here. I know there's all kinds of rallies all over the state but I don't have info on them.

I'm sure you could google 'Iowa motorcycle rally' or maybe call the Harley dealer (or your favorite) in Des Moines and they could point you in the right direction to get information.

I think you've got a great idea, ksuguy. People could really build on this.


The diversity of the Ron Paul crowd shows you the power of the message.

 

[ksuguy]

Yeah, I think it could work too. Another great place would be Sturgis. It happens at the beginning of August and hundreds of thousands of people show up from all over the country.

I've never been myself, but I think it would be a great place to get the word out. If we can set something up, I'd definitely look into going. I'd probably be a bit out of place riding my Kawasaki KLR650 wearing all my safety gear, but it should be fun anyway. Maybe we could get some help from the ABATE people that oppose helmet laws and other restrictions on motorcycling? I always wear a helmet when I ride, but that is by personal choice. I don't think other people should be forced to do so if they don't want to.

 

[lonestarguy]

Dave,

Paul here in Austin. Are you familiar with Aaron Russo's, "America From Freedom to Fascism"? I believe it is definitely online, viewable with a high speed connection. I'd like to get your opinion on that as to whether that could be a primary dvd handout. I'm hearing others use that to great effect. I believe Aaron has cleared it for duplication. He is a huge RP supporter. I'd also like to get your opinion on the brochures in this post from sparx about the flyers and other materials created by chordchaser. The brochures can be modified for each locale as to city specific contact numbers, etc, for voters requesting even more data..........

Tell me what you think. Below, the post from sparx.

Campaign Literature - Printable Fliers

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You may or may not have seen these, but just for everyones reference...

Free downloadable brochures and door hangers made by Chordchaser may be found here:

http://www.myspace.com/chordchaser

Direct blog and links from chordchaser:

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

FREE RON PAUL CAMPAIGN LITERATURE!
Category: News and Politics

Listed below are links to full-color and grayscale versions of Ron Paul campaign brochures and three different door hanger files I created using Adobe Illustrator. The door hanger files each contain 5 different door hangers and instructions for printing. All files are print-ready Adobe Acrobat PDFs. They have Ron's bio, a list of his principles and his views on important issues—and they are 100% free! If you are a Ron Paul support organization and you request it I will customize them with your organization's name, address and URL.

Brochures:
http://www.mediafire.com/?4mxmxxnm3wu
(Full Color File)

http://www.mediafire.com/?3wnkdmokmmz
(Grayscale File)

Door Hangers:
Desktop Printers
http://www.mediafire.com/?3t5dytvdgez
(for desktop printers)

Commercial Printers
http://www.mediafire.com/?azginjzncwy
(for commercial printers—offset)

Commercial Printers with Bleed
http://www.mediafire.com/?60zjmjwoj3d
(for commercial printers—offset with bleed)

P.S. I made a campaign video, posted on youtube, check it out:
Campaign Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-Y_I0sxeoc

 

[lonestarguy]

Ksuguy and others interested in the Biker Rally community and Iowa Biker activities,

The annual Republic of Texas (R.O.T.) motorcycle rally just concluded today, 3 June, in Austin, Tx. 50,000 bikers spent time and big money, estimated economic activity in the several dozens of millions.

We have people in the Austin biker community who are big supporters of RP. As a matter of fact, RP had a motorcycle escort thru Austin on his way to the 19 May fundraiser here at the Texas State Museum.

Lessons learned over the just concluded ROT rally and other notes:

--As is the story across the nation, RP name recognition is low. Not insurmountable, but it's something you'll be dealing with. To be sure, there are factions within the biker community that are familiar with RP and are with the movement. But it appears small, so there is huge room for improvement.

--We deployed large 4x8' RP for president signs and Ron Paul Revolution Banners along the Friday nite parade route that in the downtown area upwards of 200,000 people congregated. The question we most encountered over the weekend was, "who is Ron Paul?"

--What is of great help in talking with bikers, so many of who are former military is that RP is a Vietnam era Flight Surgeon. So, boom, right off the bat, there can be an instant bond. I'm an ol' air force guy myself, so at the rally I sought out other vets, heck the bikers leather vests and/or T-shirt are often dead giveaways as to who is a vet.
My lead-in after extending my hand and saying, 'hey, your a marine veteran, I'm Mr. air force. (Very short chit-chat, you served where? and then I'd say I got a couple of questions for ya. How would you feel if the feds came out with a national mandatory helmut law because they thought it was in your best interest and that of the children? You'd prefer personal choice in the matter, wouldn't ya? (nearly 100% reply, personal choice indeed. Then I'd launch into.) Sir, in my mind, there is only one Presidential candidate who identifies with the open road, personal freedom philosophy of the biker community. His name is Ron Paul. Former air force veteran and 9-term congressman from Texas. He is a huge supporter of the military veteran community. And a huge supporter of you living your life as you see fit, not as some bureaucrat in DC. (I'd hand him a flyer or whatever material one has available during these brief 'personal evangelism' situations). I'd shake his hand firmly, thank him for his/her time, emphasize RP, that he needs us and we need him.......... next!

--In a perfect world, we would have had one of the bikers best friends, the proverbial red oil rag overprinted with Ron Paul, a pithy comment about Freedom of the Open Road.......All roads lead to www.RonPaul2008.com We could of handed those out like hot cakes. I got one of the rags that the CMA (Christian Motorcycle Association) hands out at these rallies. Great for creating an instant brief bond and conversation starter by handing a biker something functional he/she can use.

--Set up a booth if you can inside the rally with a sign with RP for President and a banner or some such that quickly makes the point of how RP's message meshes with that of the lifestyle of the biker community.

--Place Signage along the heavily traveled thorofares that the bikers use.

--When you hear people say, 'its a biker rally' as if bikers only purpose is to rally for beer and xxx, just let it roll off your back. Because there's always a small ignorant few no matter what. I mean, the biker community really grew up and coalesced around state helmut laws that they've been fighting for years. I heard that as we paraded our 4x8 signs through the crowds and our yard signs on ax handles, whooping it up for RP. We got some eyeballs on those signs no doubt.

--Your always gonna encounter a certain percentage across any group who are just gungho when the troops are in the field as ours is across the globe. I waste little time with those people. Hey, give it a try, maybe you can turn one. But even within the biker community, many realize they'v e been bamboozled by W.

--Now truly, in a perfect world, we would have large teams of RP supporters following around the biker rallys all over the country. They are prime pickin', no doubt. Get those rags, flyers and dvd's (freedom to fascism) handed out.

It truly is fun mixing it up with these fellow Americans, the average age group of the biker is definitely in the mid-forties. I can't wait to hear how others fare with this group.

 

[ARealConservative]

Does Iowa have a state fair (of course) and other large events where we could set up a booth with banners, lit, DVDs, etc?

I'm still looking for a way to come down with some other Minnesotans to help out in Iowa. If anyone feels the slightest breeze of direction from the campaign and can point others of us in the right direction, do share.

Our area (Davenport IA) is creating a ride list of people that want to go to Ames to vote for Dr. Paul in the straw poll. As the list grows - we coul use some more drivers.

Also - check to see if anybody in your area is going to the 10,000 lakes festival. I'm going with my family and would like to meet other activists.

Eric

 

[Dave]

Dave,

Paul here in Austin. Are you familiar with Aaron Russo's, "America From Freedom to Fascism"? I believe it is definitely online, viewable with a high speed connection. I'd like to get your opinion on that as to whether that could be a primary dvd handout. I'm hearing others use that to great effect. I believe Aaron has cleared it for duplication. He is a huge RP supporter. I'd also like to get your opinion on the brochures in this post from sparx about the flyers and other materials created by chordchaser. The brochures can be modified for each locale as to city specific contact numbers, etc, for voters requesting even more data..........

Tell me what you think.

Paul,

Disclaimer - I've NOT seen the film so I'm stretching here...

I've read about the film. While I'm sure this film is very effective for some people I think it may be too overwhelming for many audiences - so I guess it depends on whom you're trying to reach. I think 'mainstream' GOP caucus-goers might warm up better to more of a 'Ron Paul 101' approach - something that doesn't put people on their heels right away. I really think videos of Ron Paul speeches would be a better place to start for most beginners. We don't want people to think we're promoting Russo instead of Dr. Paul. I need to watch the film.

I couldn't open the brochures but the door hangers look great.

 

[Dave]

It truly is fun mixing it up with these fellow Americans, the average age group of the biker is definitely in the mid-forties. I can't wait to hear how others fare with this group.

This is just wonderful, Paul. I have this visual image of 10,000 freedom-loving motorcyclists rolling into Ames for the straw poll. Tell me that wouldn't turn some heads. Need lots of Iowans, of course, to actually do the voting.

I think you guys are onto something great with pursuing the motorcycle enthusiasts. Why don't you or ksuguy start a new thread to get this topic 'rolling'?

 

[ARealConservative]

Do you know of any Motorcycle rallies? I'm not into bicycling, but I would be up for a weekend trip up to Iowa on my Motorcycle.

We have a huge Sturgis on the River type of event in Eastern Iowa in a couple of weeks.

I have ridden RAGBRAI for many, many years when I was younger. Now adays taking a week of vacation to bust my ass up and down hills seems kind of stupid.

I am going to try to get Eastern Iowans to head slightly north and give out free water and ice cold watermelon along the course (very popular when you get hot riding) - and then talk to the flock of riders that pull in about Dr. Paul. This will be on Friday. On Saturday we have the Bix fest which is also a huge event.