Politico: Ron Paul money machine heats up (explains where the money goes)

[jbuttell]

dude we have to get him off mcdonalds if we want two terms

Agreed. Maybe he can take it, but my body tells me I made a mistake every time I eat there.

 

[RonRocks]

hey... i dont wan't to tell Ron what to do... but shouldn't he wear a helmet? just sayin. it is kinda dangerous to be bicycling without protective headgear and some cities or states would write citations for lack of it. i don't want him to be riding on a bike and he gets into a serious accident during his Presidential term >.>.

This is Ron Paul we're talking about, he lives by the motto 'live free or die.' Ron Paul-When presented with condoms, says...I can't sacrifice liberty for security, that's just against all my principles, sweetie

 

[D.A.S.]

I'm guessing the reason why website expenses are so high is because of the Phone from Home site. That itself uses advanced software that I'm sure costs a lot of money.

Bingo! That Phone from Home system should be taking up a pretty good amount of resources, to handle all these people dialing through it simultaneously from around the country and even around the world. That's not your grandma's website.

I agree, polling expenses are a bit on the high side. I'm sure the campaign does need its internal polling when you can't count on the mainstream media and mainstream GOP to advertise your candidacy, but so far the freely available polling data hasn't been too far off from the outcome.

It's hard to gauge how effective the TV ads have been. They have an effect when they have a shock factor about them, the sort of ads that bring debate questions to Ron Paul and lead into Ron Paul dismantling other candidates on stage for what they really are. But ads like "Big Dog" probably aren't having much of an effect. Ron Paul's name seems to be so polarizing in the GOP that I doubt a TV ad would change that. Instead, direct face-to-face voter outreach via town halls would probably go much further than TV ads.

As far as food and lodging expenses? Come on, folks -- where do you expect an army of volunteers in IA and NH to stay and what do you expect them to eat? By definition, volunteer means you're not getting paid for what you're doing. So since a sacrifice is being made for the sake of helping the campaign, we have an obligation to house them and feed them if we want their full-time help. If you think people will take off work, go volunteer for the campaign full-time, and pay for the food and lodging while doing it, you're kidding yourself. There are people like that, who have saved enough money to be able to quit their job for a while and volunteer for Ron Paul's cause unconditionally, but this is more of an exception rather than a rule. And it's pretty obvious that they are being very frugal with food -- going to burger places rather than diners... Heck, even burger places are expensive! The cheapest option is to buy food at Sam's Club and cook it, but how do you do that on the campaign trail? Hire an army of cooks? No, everything adds up.

 

[sailingaway]

The polling data HAS been way off, and even from other polling data. Ron's polls showed him up a month before the 'publicly available ones' did in NH and Iowa, and he was able to tell he was on the right track. Politicians use it to tailor their message, see if something hurt them or helped them, etc.

 

[D.A.S.]

The polling data HAS been way off, and even from other polling data. Ron's polls showed him up a month before the 'publicly available ones' did in NH and Iowa, and he was able to tell he was on the right track. Politicians use it to tailor their message, see if something hurt them or helped them, etc.

No, I agree with you -- I think they DO need internal polling to do their job. I just said the polling expenses are on the high side, but some polling is of course required to gauge progress in different areas, to identify winnable areas and weak spots.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Maybe ask Carol to throw on the old apron and break out the Ron Paul cookbook. Maybe fix up a big old pot of soup or something.

Hey, If nothing else, it makes for a great photo-op.

Seriously though. They have to eat so it is what it is.

 

[Uriah]

Regarding the polling, the campaign needs internal polling ahead of time. Before the results. It's not to see who is in first just for the fun of it. Having internal polling helps the campaign know where to put resources and how to target voters. It helps the campaign prioritize. They have probably polled every state in the union by now and are polling to figure out what makes the voters in each state tick. It takes resources to poll effectively.

 

[coffeewithchess]

they have to eat, I'm sure it was a lot of staffers, in fact given the phone bankers in NH were saying they were getting sick of pizza, I suspect it was so people who were phone banking didn't have to leave for lunch and dinner.

It's called sacrifice. Peanut butter and jelly, Ramen noodles...bringing a bagged lunch.

 

[HankXavier]

My team will do it for what you've got because pizza is always cheaper than your liberty.

 

[harikaried]

kinda dont like that one person had to max out to pay for staffers pizza

I would assume this is mostly for feeding the Youth for Paul volunteers.

 

[cornell]

If you want the campaign to have volunteers, you're going to have to feed them. The alternative is to hire people to canvass, phone, etc. who you would STILL have to feed!

This is really a non-issue, the reports themselves indicate that the money was all spent at budget fast-food type places, not fancy restaurants.

 

[Barrex]

I read article comparing campaign spending of candidates (dont remember where). They noticed that Ron is only candidate that is living what he preaches. He is only one that eats /cheap fast food to save some money. They also mentioned that he is only one that doesnt waste money on expensive hotels.

They pay salaries ($134,000) for all that stuff.
.Maybe grassroots could offer making ads, designs, articles, blogs, web designs, brochures.... and stuff like that for free. I know that here is enough talented people who would be willing to contribute that way. I have seen their work and I was really impressed with it...Campaign probably dont know that grassroots got that kind of potential.That is not Rons or campaigns fault We could cut that by significant amount. By we I mean grassroots. So it is ours fault. With little organization we could get all those things done and approach campaign... I might be wrong but I dont think I am. I have seen people creating web pages, blogs, videos, graphics, comics(really funny and good ones)....everything FOR FREE and it was excellent quality.

 

[LibertyIn08]

I read article comparing campaign spending of candidates (dont remember where). They noticed that Ron is only candidate that is living what he preaches. He is only one that eats /cheap fast food to save some money. They also mentioned that he is only one that doesnt waste money on expensive hotels.

They pay salaries ($134,000) for all that stuff.
.Maybe grassroots could offer making ads, designs, articles, blogs, web designs, brochures.... and stuff like that for free. I know that here is enough talented people who would be willing to contribute that way. I have seen their work and I was really impressed with it...Campaign probably dont know that grassroots got that kind of potential.That is not Rons or campaigns fault We could cut that by significant amount. By we I mean grassroots. So it is ours fault. With little organization we could get all those things done and approach campaign... I might be wrong but I dont think I am. I have seen people creating web pages, blogs, videos, graphics, comics(really funny and good ones)....everything FOR FREE and it was excellent quality.

A lot of that could be construed as in-kind donations, actually.

 

[AjaxPress]

Hello all. I was accepted in the Youth For Paul program in <TEXT DELETED>.

I'm putting my schooling on hold for a week for free. I'm driving up there from Nevada and back for free. The campaign is offering to cover food/lodging/gas for people who are up there. While I can't go into specifics about the program, I can assure you we aren't staying in anywhere equivalent to the Waldorf Astoria. I have neither the taste nor inclination to have $50 dollar steaks everyday. If you think having a bunch of college students (who are otherwise not being paid) to eat at McDonald's and Burger King is an extravagant expense then you'd probably have your mind blown by what Mitt Romney's people are paying for his services. That Ron Paul has such an enthusiastic base of support willing to work for free or for peanuts is a godsend.

 

[Mckarnin]

I'm guessing the reason why website expenses are so high is because of the Phone from Home site. That itself uses advanced software that I'm sure costs a lot of money.

That's a good thought and I hope that is exactly why, because PFH is rolled in. I hadn't thought of that explanation for this go round. Now I feel better.

 

[speciallyblend]

comment i left,

bottom line for politico and the gop. 2 options for the gop nominate and WIN with Ron Paul 2012 or elect obama by running status quo biggovgop republicans! NOBP, this sums up reality for politico and the gop in 1 min and 30 seconds! ​

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73096.html#ixzz1n1F8XD2c​

 

[Matt Collins]

Since when did everyone here start taking every word printed in the media as gospel?

kinda dont like that one person had to max out to pay for staffers pizza. but i'll chalk it up to a good job so far. i guess its cool.

Most of that pizza probably went to volunteers in the office. As mentioned in a previous post, if food is kept around the office for volunteers they are likely to come back and stick around a while.

COSTCO pizza? huge, cheap, mediocre pizza. lol.

Maybe there isn't a Costco near any of the RP offices? Maybe it's more time/cost effective to have it delivered than to send a staffer out to go buy pizza. Division of labor and all that...

Where can I see the detailed food bill report?

www.FEC.gov

172k for polling also seems ridiculous, especially with so many public polls being released. Hell, Rick Santorum doesn't even have a pollster, and he's won four more states than us

Have you ever run polls before?

Well if it's the same guy who they had in 08' he's a swindler or at least a bit of a fast talker who makes deals that are much better for him than RP.

It's not the same guy.

 

[sailingaway]

Hello all. I was accepted in the Youth For Paul program in <TEXT DELETED>.

I'm putting my schooling on hold for a week for free. I'm driving up there from Nevada and back for free. The campaign is offering to cover food/lodging/gas for people who are up there. While I can't go into specifics about the program, I can assure you we aren't staying in anywhere equivalent to the Waldorf Astoria. I have neither the taste nor inclination to have $50 dollar steaks everyday. If you think having a bunch of college students (who are otherwise not being paid) to eat at McDonald's and Burger King is an extravagant expense then you'd probably have your mind blown by what Mitt Romney's people are paying for his services. That Ron Paul has such an enthusiastic base of support willing to work for free or for peanuts is a godsend.

+rep!!

And I am glad you aren't expecting the Waldorf Astoria.

In Iowa the campaign rented out a YMCA summer camp....

Come to think of it, they probably ate pizza...

 

[RonRules]

Thats a good thing. Needs to do more, and less polling.

Some polling is necessary in order to better target ads. Everything i see in this expense report is reasonable.

 

[tod evans]

hey... i dont wan't to tell Ron what to do... but shouldn't he wear a helmet? just sayin. it is kinda dangerous to be bicycling without protective headgear and some cities or states would write citations for lack of it. i don't want him to be riding on a bike and he gets into a serious accident during his Presidential term >.>.

Count me one of the anti-helmet law folks!
Individual responsibility.