Pro- Ron Paul Columnist slams campaign for botching Philly Rally Media Coverage

[courtney]

I've noticed that Dr. Paul himself has stated on many occasions in the past that the campaign is on "self-propel." Perhaps this is literally the case: the campaign is on self-propel.

Not to necessarily knock it; however, if this really is a bottom-up campaign by design, then it really does bring into question the necessity of sending National our money, certainly anymore money.

National has millions on hand at the moment anyway. Perhaps a "shadow campaign" of sorts could use the December 16th money bomb funds instead, and then use them in competition with National. Of course, we'd need to run our activities and ideas through National too, I suppose.

But then, this idea may be plain stupid -- prolly is! Oh well, Just a thought from a non-politico. Nothing like brainstorming....

 

[nexus7]

Benton, snyder, etc. I don't like either of those last names. Strikes me of inner party for some reason. Anyway that isn't as important. What is dislike is the way they aren't coaching Ron to counter the polling question that the MSN always brings up. All he has to do is say, "hey wait a minute, I'm leading in overall straw poll victories and those are the only scientific polls there are".

Yet no one is giving Ron any tips. Yes I firmly believe that "some" of his staff SUCKS.

It is us who are doing the work, donating and propelling the campaign. Not his staff. And we will continue to do so.

 

[Perry]

I'm glad this is being brought up. I was very enthusiastic about the Phili event and it just seemed to come and go without too much word. Even the videos i saw were very uninspiring. All I could see were a few hundred supporters. If there were actually a video with 5000+ screaming Ron Paul fans it would be a powerful piece to use not to mention inspiring for hundreds of thousands across the net. As someone who speaks about Ron Paul with multiple people everyday yet will never once come in contact with the official campaign I can tell you that these events are the food that keep me going. I am very sorry that this incredible event had to be limited too those people that were able to attend. Let the campaign hear it and let's not make the same mistake twice. Time is running out. Within 90 days we will know whether or not Paul will be in the Whitehouse. We can ill afford to miss this sort of opportunity again.

 

[austin356]

This is not limited to media coverage I can tell you that. The campaign staff is possibly the most incompetent seen for a "real candidate" in many years.

They are either incompetent or do not want to win; Some people have said they dont want to win, but I think they just unable to properly run the organization.

 

[traviskicks]

Paul Mulshine, who is one of the best columnists out there, criticized the Ron Paul campaign, in particular Kent Snyder, for messing up on the Philly Rally. According to Mulshine, the reason there was so little media coverage was because of the campaign, not the media deliberately ignoring it.

http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/11953649863720.xml&coll=1

Well, here is another example of what you speak of, we have a RP rally tommorrow here in Las Vegas at UNLV and the campaign put out two full page ads in the Review Journal, the major paper here in Vegas with the wrong times for the rallies!

You can see the discussion of this on our BB:

http://ronpaul.meetup.com/47/messages/boards/view/viewthread?thread=3827598

Another lesson in central economic planning. The grassroots needs to take more control of the movement and be more invovled in the planning and decision makings or these mistakes/blunders will continue to happen. Local people need to be intimately involved at all levels of this campaign.

 

[traviskicks]

Benson, snyder, etc. I don't like either of those last names.

LOL! eh? Hey now, my last name is Snyder too.

 

[Mr. Coolidge]

I don't know about anyone else, but if I know that Ron is going to be in the area I take it upon myself to contact the local media outlets, informing them on where he's going to be.

This is a great point! It should be easy, no effort at all. Just call and let them know Ron's coming, and a "suggestion" that they cover him.

 

[traviskicks]

I don't know about anyone else, but if I know that Ron is going to be in the area I take it upon myself to contact the local media outlets, informing them on where he's going to be.

That's the spirit!

 

[dsentell]

campaign put out two full page ads in the Review Journal, the major paper here in Vegas with the wrong times for the rallies!

This is horrendous! All the people working so hard to make this happen only for the official campaign to screw it up. Remember how they almost destroyed the Philly Rally . . .

Guess the grassroots have to do everything!

 

[adwads]

We should try to get a little bit more organization on the whole "letting the media know Ron Paul has an event thing." Maybe a webpage with his schedule, that is media friendly? Or maybe creating a general media e-mail list? We're talking about this over in the Grassroots forum also under the topic filling in the gaps in the campaign.

 

[stevedasbach]

This is not limited to media coverage I can tell you that. The campaign staff is possibly the most incompetent seen for a "real candidate" in many years.

They are either incompetent or do not want to win; Some people have said they dont want to win, but I think they just unable to properly run the organization.

A candidate that no one expected to break 1% in the polls now has a shot at finishing in the top three in Iowa and to win New Hampshire.

It was Dr. Paul's debate performances, starting in May, that provided the foundation for everything that followed.

The people running the campaign had the good sense to use existing social networking sites instead of trying to maintain control.

The campaign made news with its strong fundraising and cash balance at the end of June and Semptember, well before the Nov 5th money bomb.

The campaign decided to display donation amounts and names in real time, which no other campaign had ever even considered. Without that decision, and the end of Semptember success, I suspect that MUCH less would have been raised on Nov. 5th.

The campaign wisely resisted the temptation to try to control the grassroots, which is what any other campaign team would have done.

They aren't perfect, and they are certainly don't have experience running a national campaign. But I suspect that anyone who "knew" how to run a national Presidential campaign wouldn't have made the decisions that enabled the grassroots to blossum.

Ron Paul's campaign staff have done a hell of a job, accomplishing far more than anyone believed possible last Spring. They deserve our thanks and respect, whether we agree with all their decisions or not.

 

[nexus7]

LOL! eh? Hey now, my last name is Snyder too.

No offense. =) I just think of talk show host Tom Snyder and loyd BENton. It's like the name JOHNson, JACOBson, etc. They always seem to pop up in govt. and politics. =) I wonder why that is? huh.

 

[austin356]

A candidate that no one expected to break 1% in the polls now has a shot at finishing in the top three in Iowa and to win New Hampshire.

It was Dr. Paul's debate performances, starting in May, that provided the foundation for everything that followed.

The people running the campaign had the good sense to use existing social networking sites instead of trying to maintain control.

The campaign made news with its strong fundraising and cash balance at the end of June and Semptember, well before the Nov 5th money bomb.

The campaign decided to display donation amounts and names in real time, which no other campaign had ever even considered. Without that decision, and the end of Semptember success, I suspect that MUCH less would have been raised on Nov. 5th.

The campaign wisely resisted the temptation to try to control the grassroots, which is what any other campaign team would have done.

They aren't perfect, and they are certainly don't have experience running a national campaign. But I suspect that anyone who "knew" how to run a national Presidential campaign wouldn't have made the decisions that enabled the grassroots to blossum.

Ron Paul's campaign staff have done a hell of a job, accomplishing far more than anyone believed possible last Spring. They deserve our thanks and respect, whether we agree with all their decisions or not.

You keep naming accomplishments that were made by DR PAUL or by DR. PAUL's SUPPORTERS, not by the campaign. The campaign has done very little very well. Everything accomplished has been in spite of the campaign and its leaders, not because of it. I could type back and forth for hours about countless first hand experiences but it ain't worth my time. I will go as far to say even after a myriad of interactions I am having a hard time remembering a single one that they did not botch in some way. Oh and by the way I dont have any intrinsic problem with their "decisions" its the implementation of practically all their decisions that sucks mega ass, and is really only worthy for a dog catcher election.

 

[walt]

sad, but true

 

[courtney]

I agree with ya Steve. I also want to clarify that my previous post here wasn't intended to reflect poorly on the campaign at all. It was only intended as a suggestion as the grassroots are already doing amazing -- no, unbelievable -- things already. I'm simply not in a position to criticize the campaign.

My suggestion was merely intended to be taken in the spirit of a true bottom-up philosophy. We may very well learn from this campaign that National isn't in need of just a whole lot of money after all, and that utilizing National's fundraising levels as indicators of campaign health will be obsolete in future campaigns.

Just as the Federal government from a libertarian's perspective ought to be small, lean, and tasked with broad macro responsibilities, perhaps it will be best to somehow keep the vast majority of the grassroots' money at the grassroots level in the future.

It just seems to me that the conventional wisdom of sending National tons and tons of money is not necessarily the wisest way to do things after all....

 

[ConstitutionGal]

Instead of being negative about the official campaign staff, do what we did in Nashville, WE got on the phone and on our computers and faxes and notified ALL the local press and then did follow ups with them the day before and the morning of the rally. As a result, all four local TV stations coverd the rally in-depth on their evening and late night newscasts and two even led off with the rally story! The largest Nashville newspaper ran a really good article the day before the rally and, thanks to the grassroots bugging the bejesus out of Jesse Benton for a couple of days, we managed to get Dr. Paul on two of the local (one is actually in syndication in several states - Phil Valeninte) talk shows.

Lesson is - we can't rely on the campain who is far away to do the local work for these events. We MUST continue to take the bull by the horns and deal with the local press from the local level and let the official campaign deal with the national press. Most local news outlets would rather hear from local people anyway as it gives them a 'human interest'/local perspective to their stories. Also, by dealing directly with the local media, we are able to make friends with them so, when they need/want additional info/material on Dr. Paul, they know who to contact. ..capish?

 

[Ozwest]

After the Dec. 16 money bomb, perhaps a mini money bomb with a goal of a million dollars or so could be organized for grassroots projects.

 

[jmarinara]

Thanks science it did not happen on nov. 5th and science forbids if it happens on dec 16th!

*sigh*

 

[Badger Paul]

Constitution Gal has spirit of the campaign down to a nutshell. Don't complain, just do it yourself!

 

[nexus7]

How the heck is someone named "GREENSPAN" on Ron's staff??

I'm not liking some of the other people Ron has taken on so i'm curious about this other person with such a known last name.

We're really going to have to step it up and push his campaign forward. We can do it. But I really think he should cut some of the dead weight in his staff.

We will win.