Rand Paul: I'm 'absolutely not' looking at leaving race

[LatinsforPaul]

Rand Paul: I'm 'absolutely not' looking at leaving race

Paul championed the campaign’s ground game in Iowa, saying he thinks people will be "shocked and surprised" to see how organized it is.

“I think really that people are missing the whole point,” he said. “I think we may well be the most organized campaign in Iowa at this point.”

Paul's chief Iowa strategist, Steve Grubbs, said the campaign has finished building out its county-level organization, with co-chairs in each of Iowa’s 99 counties, as well as volunteers in voting precincts statewide.

“Here’s the thing that every campaign has to tackle: You’ve got 1,700 precincts across the state, roughly, and you want to find somebody in as many as possible,” Grubbs said. “A well-organized campaign is going to come in somewhere between 1,100 and 1,300, typically. We’re on track to hit those numbers. We’re a little ahead of schedule.”

“We plan on being on the ground (in Iowa) as much as we can, also with the considerations that I do plan on continuing to do what I’m supposed to do in my day job, which is representing the state of Kentucky,” Paul said. “Our ground game in Iowa is significant, and we feel that it matches up, if not exceeds, most of the other candidates in the race.”

 

[hells_unicorn]

This was a big part of what made Santorum so successful in Iowa, when you get your ground game working, all this national poll B.S. doesn't count for squat. The only thing I worry about is corrupt shenanigans with delegate selection, hopefully these people will be as disciplined and tenacious as the ones who took over Iowa in 2012.

 

[CPUd]

This was a big part of what made Santorum so successful in Iowa, when you get your ground game working, all this national poll B.S. doesn't count for squat. The only thing I worry about is corrupt shenanigans with delegate selection, hopefully these people will be as disciplined and tenacious as the ones who took over Iowa in 2012.

It is 1 good thing about having Carson in the race. While the party hacks are trying to convince the disillusioned trumpers to go for Rubio or Bush, the Paul and Carson supporters will be taking seats.

 

[adam220891]

Good.

I'm absolutely not done campaigning either.

 

[Liberty74]

This was a big part of what made Santorum so successful in Iowa, when you get your ground game working, all this national poll B.S. doesn't count for squat. The only thing I worry about is corrupt shenanigans with delegate selection, hopefully these people will be as disciplined and tenacious as the ones who took over Iowa in 2012.

Wrong. Santorum was not successful. Everyone knows CNN put out a "Republican" only poll 2 weeks out from Iowa that showed Santorum about 5 points higher than normal. His normal polling by accurate polling companies (75% Rep and 25% Indy cause of the open caucus) was about 8-10%. I think the CNN Santorum in at around 15% (fake surge) and the media all reported Santorum was surging when in fact he was NOT after being in Iowa for 6 plus months. The fact was that Santorum simply did better among Republicans only. The sheep all followed the media. Goes to show how powerful the media can be even with false data and facts. People will believe SHIT.

Ron lost because his TEAM did not refute such polling tactics that knocked Ron out of first. It was all a fucking LIE. I hope Rand has a RAPID RESPONSE team to refute media BS from now until the end of this nomination. If not, it will be the death of Rand or any campaign for that matter. Clinton was extremely good at having a rapid response team on any issues that popped in the media - Sea Serpent Head anyone?

 

[erowe1]

Wrong. Santorum was not successful.

He won the Iowa caucuses.

 

[hells_unicorn]

Wrong. Santorum was not successful. Everyone knows CNN put out a "Republican" only poll 2 weeks out from Iowa that showed Santorum about 5 points higher than normal. His normal polling by accurate polling companies (75% Rep and 25% Indy cause of the open caucus) was about 8-10%. I think the CNN Santorum in at around 15% (fake surge) and the media all reported Santorum was surging when in fact he was NOT after being in Iowa for 6 plus months. The fact was that Santorum simply did better among Republicans only. The sheep all followed the media. Goes to show how powerful the media can be even with false data and facts. People will believe SHIT.

Ron lost because his TEAM did not refute such polling tactics that knocked Ron out of first. It was all a fucking LIE. I hope Rand has a RAPID RESPONSE team to refute media BS from now until the end of this nomination. If not, it will be the death of Rand or any campaign for that matter. Clinton was extremely good at having a rapid response team on any issues that popped in the media - Sea Serpent Head anyone?

I don't disagree that the media helped him and that there was poll manipulation involved towards the end (along with a massive attack campaign on Ron by lunatic talk-radio clowns), but Santorum's numbers had built up over time prior to that media campaign, and if he'd stayed where he was polling, he still would have had a decent 3rd place showing. I think people also don't give any credence to the fact that Bachmann's campaign collapse resulted in almost all of her supporters going to Santorum, which gave his numbers a boost. Given Bachmann's rabid foreign policy views, her people would have either gone to Santorum or Romney, not Paul.

Retail politics does make a difference, especially in places like Iowa. And again, I absolutely despise Santorum, I had that S.O.B. as my state's senator for 12 years and he was an utter disaster. The only thing that made him look semi-conservative was the fact that we had one of the most notorious RINOs in the history of politics in Arlen Specter as our other senator during most of that time period.

 

[Working Poor]

I really want to thank Rand Paul for being willing to take the trashing that he is getting I know it must be really difficult for him. He is doing it for us and I think we need to help push as much as we can. We can't let the media kick our asses again.

 

[Robrank]

Wrong. Santorum was not successful. Everyone knows CNN put out a "Republican" only poll 2 weeks out from Iowa that showed Santorum about 5 points higher than normal. His normal polling by accurate polling companies (75% Rep and 25% Indy cause of the open caucus) was about 8-10%. I think the CNN Santorum in at around 15% (fake surge) and the media all reported Santorum was surging when in fact he was NOT after being in Iowa for 6 plus months. The fact was that Santorum simply did better among Republicans only. The sheep all followed the media. Goes to show how powerful the media can be even with false data and facts. People will believe SHIT.

Ron lost because his TEAM did not refute such polling tactics that knocked Ron out of first. It was all a fucking LIE. I hope Rand has a RAPID RESPONSE team to refute media BS from now until the end of this nomination. If not, it will be the death of Rand or any campaign for that matter. Clinton was extremely good at having a rapid response team on any issues that popped in the media - Sea Serpent Head anyone?

Wrong, Paul's campaign let himself shoot himself in the foot by staying in Texas the week before the Iowa Caucus instead of campaigning there.

 

[WeTheVigilant]

Great news, Rand needs to fight through the attacks from mainstream media and keep his campaign afloat until he starts gaining momentum at just the right time.

 

[georgiaboy]

I really want to thank Rand Paul for being willing to take the trashing that he is getting I know it must be really difficult for him. He is doing it for us and I think we need to help push as much as we can. We can't let the media kick our asses again.

I agree. Rand & Kelley & family, thank you and know we are with you all. the. way!!

 

[William Tell]

I really want to thank Rand Paul for being willing to take the trashing that he is getting I know it must be really difficult for him. He is doing it for us and I think we need to help push as much as we can. We can't let the media kick our asses again.

+2!

 

[kahless]

He should not leave the race. Santorum polled about the same as Rand at this time and eventually won Iowa.

 

[francisco]

I really want to thank Rand Paul for being willing to take the trashing that he is getting I know it must be really difficult for him. He is doing it for us and I think we need to help push as much as we can. We can't let the media kick our asses again.

I agree. Rand & Kelley & family, thank you and know we are with you all. the. way!!

Well Said!

As a supporter, I'm in for the long haul as well. I'm going to do all I can despite the naysayers, not to mention the trolls. You know who you are. Those not supporting Rand need to go somewhere else. If the shoe fits, GTFO, I'm tired of listening to your lame crap.

 

[Uriah]

This was a big part of what made Santorum so successful in Iowa, when you get your ground game working, all this national poll B.S. doesn't count for squat. The only thing I worry about is corrupt shenanigans with delegate selection, hopefully these people will be as disciplined and tenacious as the ones who took over Iowa in 2012.

Many people keep repeating Santorum's strong ground game in Iowa and the fact he visited 99 counties. Well, when he came to my county in 2012 there were fewer than a dozen people at his event. And most of his events were small and still are this cycle. The reason Santorum won was because evangelicals in Iowa attempt to vote as a bloc to strengthen their voice. Bachmann(who was the top evangelical choice before Santorum's rise) attempted a 99 county tour as if it was the holy grail of campaigning in Iowa. It's not... not even close. What she did in my county and repeated across dozens of others was stopping in town for 10-15 minutes to shake some hands and then leave. People all over Iowa felt stiffed. Her 'ground game' was a complete joke. Couple that joke of meeting Iowans with staffers leaving her campaign and it set up an air of... this smells like s***. There were two remaining strong Christian conservatives in the race; Santorum and Paul. Paul was able to scoop up some of them but there was last minute smearing going on in the state with robocalls and mailings. Santorum got all of the media attention which allowed his campaign to catapult to the front and win Iowa despite Paul trending upwards for weeks.

Santorum has some strong backers that know how to run campaigns. He even has some enthusiastic and active volunteers like he did in 2012 but his following is small. The stars aligned for Santorum once and I predict they won't do so again.

EDIT: To add, Paul was trending upwards because of his ground game.

 

[CPUd]

Many people keep repeating Santorum's strong ground game in Iowa and the fact he visited 99 counties. Well, when he came to my county in 2012 there were fewer than a dozen people at his event. And most of his events were small and still are this cycle. The reason Santorum won was because evangelicals in Iowa attempt to vote as a bloc to strengthen their voice. Bachmann(who was the top evangelical choice before Santorum's rise) attempted a 99 county tour as if it was the holy grail of campaigning in Iowa. It's not... not even close. What she did in my county and repeated across dozens of others was stopping in town for 10-15 minutes to shake some hands and then leave. People all over Iowa felt stiffed. Her 'ground game' was a complete joke. Couple that joke of meeting Iowans with staffers leaving her campaign and it set up an air of... this smells like s***. There were two remaining strong Christian conservatives in the race; Santorum and Paul. Paul was able to scoop up some of them but there was last minute smearing going on in the state with robocalls and mailings. Santorum got all of the media attention which allowed his campaign to catapult to the front and win Iowa despite Paul trending upwards for weeks.

Santorum has some strong backers that know how to run campaigns. He even has some enthusiastic and active volunteers like he did in 2012 but his following is small. The stars aligned for Santorum once and I predict they won't do so again.

Yeah, Santorum either lost a bet, or someone convinced him he was going to be able to pick up where he left off in 2012. Back then, they were nuts for him in LA and especially here in TN. But as soon as he dropped, the so-called GOP in TN got in line for Mitt.

 

[brandon]

I'm glad he's staying in. I really hope he can drop some libertarian talking points in the next debate.

But we also need to look at *why* people stay in the race at 2%. Ron Paul stayed in because is was a message campaign. Most other people stay in because is lets them raise money for their future endeavours. Just something to consider.....

 

[CPUd]

I'm glad he's staying in. I really hope he can drop some libertarian talking points in the next debate.

But we also need to look at *why* people stay in the race at 2%. Ron Paul stayed in because is was a message campaign. Most other people stay in because is lets them raise money for their future endeavours. Just something to consider.....

Rand is staying in because he wants to be POTUS.

 

[r3volution 3.0]

There's no reason for Rand to drop out, or for any objective observer to think he would.

....much ado about nothing.

The media's just trying to belittle him, which must mean that today is a day that ends with day.

 

[cindy25]

unusual amount of MSM pressure to get Rand (and Jeb) to quit. no pressure on Santorum, Christie, Patacki, Graham, Gilmore?