This Is Where The $12 Million Figure Came From - MEDIA TAKE NOTICE!

[ronpaulfan]

Today was a great day!! The only reason RudysReadingList.com exists is because Jonathan Bydlak (Fundraising Director) requested some funds a bit earlier and we subtracted a little from the December 16th money bomb.

Do you know where that $12 million goal for today came from???

Vulgar but true answer: Trevor's a$$



It was a valiant effort and it's great that we tried, but, we all knew $12 million was too high 11 days ago when the idea started. I made two videos advertising for the money bomb (1)(2) knowing full well it was out of reach

We set the bar high so we can increase our reach!

Yesterday the media already proved its bias to the entire country. Spinning how the top known Republican total of $10.3 million is chump change will only wake up more people to the need for rEVOLution

 

[bobmurph]

I think that's unfair. Myself, and many others were callling for an attempt to raise $12M by the end of November. To just blame Trevor is inaccurate, but also counterproductive.

 

[Edward]

I think that's unfair. Myself, and many others were callling for an attempt to raise $12M by the end of November. To just blame Trevor is inaccurate, but also counterproductive.

Agreed.

 

[synthetic]

Today was a great day!! The only reason RudysReadingList.com exists is because Jonathan Bydlak (Fundraising Director) requested some funds a bit earlier and we subtracted a little from the December 16th money bomb.

Do you know where that $12 million goal for today came from???

Vulgar but true answer: Trevor's a$$



It was a valiant effort and it's great that we tried, but, we all knew $12 million was too high 11 days ago when the idea started. I made two videos advertising for the money bomb (1)(2) knowing full well it was out of reach

We set the bar high so we can increase our reach!

Yesterday the media already proved its bias to the entire country. Spinning how the top known Republican total of $10.3 million is chump change will only wake up more people to the need for rEVOLution

Its not necessary to respond to the "media" about raising $500,000. In the grand scheme of things this negative "press", and I use that word loosely, was whipped up by a couple of obscure, nobodys trying to generate web traffic. Try to keep things in perspective.

 

[Exponent]

From what I gathered, the $12 million came from the aftermath of this email:

November 20, 2007


During the first few days of October, we announced our fundraising goal for the fourth quarter: $12 million raised by December 31.

But there's more: we need to have spent it by then, too.

If we were to raise the entire $12 million in the last week of December, we would meet our fundraising goal for the quarter. But Ron Paul would stand little chance of winning the Republican nomination, because that money would have come in too late.

Time is of the essence. You see, we need to raise money well before we plan to spend it. That's because most of the expenditures that we make need to be paid for weeks in advance. For example, we need to buy crucial airtime for the end of December right now.

The sooner we raise this money, the sooner that we can spread Dr. Paul's message - our message - in the early primary states. Time truly is money.

Fact is, we only have about two weeks to raise money for the early primaries.

If you wait a month from now to donate, your money will only be spent after Iowa caucus-goers and New Hampshire primary voters have made up their minds.

We are rapidly running out of time. The Iowa caucus is just 44 days away. New Hampshire is in 49 days. With so much ground to make up, we can't afford to waste a single day.

As a result, we are spending faster than the rate at which we are raising money. In October alone, we raised $2.8 million, but our campaign spent over $3.1 million.

We cannot afford to wait for bursts of press activity. What we need is sustained attention in the news. What better way to do this than by continuing to raise money at a rapid pace now? We need to keep our momentum going.

Help us win in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina, and Nevada.

Make your most generous contribution as soon as you can: https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate.

Jonathan Bydlak
Fundraising Director
Ron Paul 2008

The email makes explicit mention of the $12 million goal, very strongly pushes for moving the deadline up from Dec 31st to "as soon as" possible, and today's money bomb was set up specifically to fulfill this plea. Now I have no problem with the email. I also have no problem with the explicit goal of $12 million for today's money bomb. And to be honest, I have no problem with the fact that we didn't make it.

Now everyone is worrying over the articles that have already been written, and will likely be written in the coming days. But I suspect that these articles will reach such a small portion of the population that they are hardly going to matter. Sure, search engines and such allow us to find them very easily, but this is because we are constantly looking specifically for any mention of Ron Paul. So our perspective is naturally not going to the quite the same as an average person's perspective (which makes me agree with synthetic: "try to keep things in perspective"). It's really not something to worry about much. And it's definitely not something to worry about enough to start telling everyone else what to do and not to do.

 

[Original_Intent]

I agree. I heard a lot of people here calling for it to be the $12 million dollar day before Trevor said anything about it.

Passing that goal on to the media was a mistake, but after November 5th, he is entitled to a couple of "freebie" errors in judgement in my book.

He also did an outstanding job of pimping the Tea Party, I would say the coverage we got was worth taking $500,000 from the TeaParty (which it didn't - most of that will be replaced by new donors)

All in all a good day.

 

[Edward]

He also did an outstanding job of pimping the Tea Party, I would say the coverage we got was worth taking $500,000 from the TeaParty (which it didn't - most of that will be replaced by new donors).

Thanks for noting that.

 

[ursamajor]

I don't think anyone needs to be blamed for helping raise half a million dollars today! I think we did a great job. Aiming high is never a bad thing!

 

[Liberty Star]

This has been a remarkable campaign success so far that would be studied by present day and future political observers. Congrats to Trevor and each and everyone who are organizers behind money bomb, this forum, great Ron Paul site with unique measurement concepts, Ron Paul graphs and all the other innovative ideas by Ron Paul supporters.


Great job by all those who have made this such a success story. Biggest winner in the end would be preservation of liberties for all of us.




Today was a great day:

http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Ron_Paul_Raises_More_Than_Any_GOP_Candidate_In_Just_2_Months


Onwards to the Tea Party.


I hoped to see $12 Mil today too, but this was not a fully advertized event and even this gain is worth the trade off. Let's stay focussed on Dec 12 Tea Party , the main money bomb revolt day.

 

[gworrel]

Today was a great day!! The only reason RudysReadingList.com exists is because Jonathan Bydlak (Fundraising Director) requested some funds a bit earlier and we subtracted a little from the December 16th money bomb.

Do you know where that $12 million goal for today came from???

Vulgar but true answer: Trevor's a$$



It was a valiant effort and it's great that we tried, but, we all knew $12 million was too high 11 days ago when the idea started. I made two videos advertising for the money bomb (1)(2) knowing full well it was out of reach

We set the bar high so we can increase our reach!

Yesterday the media already proved its bias to the entire country. Spinning how the top known Republican total of $10.3 million is chump change will only wake up more people to the need for rEVOLution

This is an offensive post. I was one of those who was pushing for 12 million before the end of November at least 2-3 weeks ago. That was before the email from the campaign stating what seemed obvious to me--that 6 weeks between major money bombs was too long.

$12 million should have been easily achievable. What killed it was the incessant whining from those who had invested their whole psyche in setting a record on December 16th no matter what.

Trevor exhibited the good sense and flexibility in thinking to adjust as the need became apparent. He was not afraid to set a big but achievable goal and to work to promote it as best he could. Those who want to blame anyone for any shortfall today should probably look in the mirror.

 

[JWallace]

I think that's unfair. Myself, and many others were callling for an attempt to raise $12M by the end of November. To just blame Trevor is inaccurate, but also counterproductive.

Agreed.

We need to set goals. Sometimes they happen, sometimes they don't. The most important point is no other candidate -- none -- has the organically grown support RP has.

"United we stand, divided we fall"

 

[ronpaulfan]

Those who want to blame anyone for any shortfall today should probably look in the mirror.

I did more than most people. I spent three days making two different videos to promote Rudy's Reading List:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiDpSwsnZq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z44O1E033_Q


I didn't intend to offend in the post. I'm making light of the fact that the goal was set too high. I doubt I'm the only one who thought $12 million was way too much (I would have prefered a $10 million goal). The feeling just wasn't there building up to the 30th......November 5th and December 16th just have...energy around them. I don't know how to explain it other than that.

 

[Hayek's Heroes]

This wasn't Trevor's problem. It was Jonathan's. Jonathan should be focused on raising money from the non-net savvy supporters. (e.g., people not this forum) For the most part, the online community has been doing his job and generating a lot of publicity. The online community while disorganized sometimes does a pretty good job of policing themselves. The tea party is a great idea to correspond with a historic event and will generate a lot of publicity. It is quite asinine to think that after raising $4.3MM online you can ask for more within two weeks from the same group of supporters and hope that they have reloaded already. They should be targeting new supporters and understand who their core group of supporters are, everyday Americans. I guess they could sell out to the special interests like all the other politicians and have checks rain down on them, but that's not RP's style and that why we love him.

For the record I did give tonight, but I wasn't planning on it.

 

[Richandler]

I asked for 10 million by the end of November dozens of times after November 5th. Nobody on these boards cares about anything but their own conceited agendas.

 

[gworrel]

I did more than most people. I spent three days making two different videos to promote Rudy's Reading List:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiDpSwsnZq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z44O1E033_Q


I didn't intend to offend in the post. I'm making light of the fact that the goal was set too high. I doubt I'm the only one who thought $12 million was way too much (I would have prefered a $10 million goal). The feeling just wasn't there building up to the 30th......November 5th and December 16th just have...energy around them. I don't know how to explain it other than that.

I just think that Trevor deserves some credit for showing some leadership even when he knew many disagreed with him. Sure, it was an aggressive goal but so was the goal of raising $10 million on November 5th. We will not achieve great things with small goals.

Trevor has been put in a unique position by the media and he should absolutely make the best of it to advance the campaign. I don't envy him. It is pretty easy sitting here typing compared to talking to national radio and tv media. I've got a back space and delete key and get to edit my own words. Public speaking is not my idea of fun.

 

[Original_Intent]

I asked for 10 million by the end of November dozens of times after November 5th. Nobody on these boards cares about anything but their own conceited agendas.

I think all of our agendas are focused on getting Ron Paul elected.

People are free to disagree on what the best course of action might be, but hopefully with a few thousand minds discussing it the majority can come up with mostly correct answers.

 

[mrd]

I think all of our agendas are focused on getting Ron Paul elected.

People are free to disagree on what the best course of action might be, but hopefully with a few thousand minds discussing it the majority can come up with mostly correct answers.

Perhaps we should select representatives, apportion funds to them, and they can devote all their time to researching, debating, and choosing the best path forward for us all

 

[gworrel]

Perhaps we should select representatives, apportion funds to them, and they can devote all their time to researching, debating, and choosing the best path forward for us all

I shudder to think that there are some here who might fail to see the humor and agree with you.

 

[Second_Tier_My_Ass]

i don't think there's any way the media will be able to report negatively on this.

we didn't reach 10 million on november 5th. heck we didn't even come halfway, and it was all positive publicity.

what are they gonna say this time? "he only raised half a million in a day and he has only raised more money than any other republican candidate this quarter." if they try to say that we're losing support or that ron was a "one hit wonder," they know that they're going to have to eat their words in 16 days when we blow through $10 million in one day, for real this time.

they might be evil, but they're not stupid. they will probably give us the silent treatment.

 

[BlueGecko]

Umn negativity not needed on the second highest fund raising day