Update: Just spoke to bus companies

[Dave Aiello]

Listen, guys, we need a little help to get things rolling. Here's what I learned today.

Charter buses from des moines to Ames will cost approx 2k / each. They can run them as shuttles all day back and forth, or single-trip back and forth. Within 100 miles of Ames, we're looking at about 2k per 56-person coach bus. This would include Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, which are both heavily populated and exactly 100 miles from Ames.

WHAT I ALSO LEARNED is that other organizations have already reserved 200 buses, at least according to this company. This is possibly just a tactic they use in order to justify charging higher-than-normal fees for this event, which is understandable. However, if this is true, WE HAVE SOME WORK TO DO. I'm rather confident that Ron has no plans for buses in Iowa at this point in time.

I've posted detailed plans to start a grassroots PAC, by which we can organize and fund an operation this big. I think most of us understand the catalyst that the Iowa straw poll could potentially be for Ron. A win would serve to wake up legions of "I like Ron Paul, but he can't win" supporters.

The main goal of the PAC would be to organize this Iowa effort. This would provide the perfect platform for us to plan the busing, housing, canvassing, etc. in Iowa.

UPDATE: Our PAC will be called "Ron Paul Nation", and will be conveniently located at RonPaulNation.org (I have donated the domain name). The website is almost up and running, and we are working to put together a cohesive plan for our Iowa operation.

 

[teacherone]

what's the website concept?

maybe i can help.

 

[Mallory]

We need to get in touch with the campaign people and make sure some of the money from the May 5 moneybomb goes to this.

 

[Dave Aiello]

what's the website concept?

maybe i can help.

If you can do some of the web design, I can provide all the graphics. There is a company, however, which provides cookie-cutter political sites like http://www.iamlola.org . Due to the functionality that we'd need (money bomb module, donation processing), I think out best bet would just be to sign up for this service. Building from scratch, we'd likely have to outsource a bit of coding, which will cost time and money (more than the amount to get a netboots.net site up and running). Let me know your thoughts.

 

[rp08orbust]

I'd estimate that it will take at least 5,000 votes to win the straw poll. That's roughly 200 half-filled buses. If each bus is used twice, that's 100 buses for a total of about $200k. Logistically and financially, that should be very doable. The hard part will be finding that many Ron Paul supporters willing to attend for the day.

 

[teacherone]

I'd estimate that it will take at least 5,000 votes to win the straw poll. That's roughly 200 half-filled buses. If each bus is used twice, that's 100 buses for a total of about $200k. Logistically and financially, that should be very doable. The hard part will be finding that many Ron Paul supporters willing to attend for the day.

totally ignorant here...but are there that many ron paul iowans? and how to reach them?

 

[teacherone]

also...how complicated does this website have to be?

since this is a one off event all we need is a simple solution for signing people up to buses from a certain number of locations at a set time.

shouldn't waste too much money/time on the website-- rather on the actual bus rental.

 

[rp08orbust]

totally ignorant here...but are there that many ron paul iowans? and how to reach them?

Roughly 10,000 Iowans voted for him. Drew Ivers supposedly had a list of close to 20,000 supporters that is rumored to have disappeared from his hard drive on caucus day 2008. http://www.dailypaul.com/20818/rp-des-moine-campaign-hdqtrs-database-files-were-sabotaged

 

[Dave Aiello]

@teacherone - Although Ames will be our main goal, were also trying to set up a grassroots organizational infrastructure. This involves creating a PAC, through which we can raise funds and carry out desired operations. Raising a sum like 100k from a chip-in would be quite the task, and doesn't look good. We need a site with our clearly stated mission, our personnel involved, and a the means to hold a money-bomb for this initiative. If nobody is going to chip-in to get a site up and running, we've got some bigger problems at hand. I guess I will have to front the whole bill myself in order for this project to be taken seriously. This is very discouraging.

 

[teacherone]

sorry... didn't know this was tied into the PAC idea-- thought we were talking about busing people to the straw poll.

we have another PAC concept through our own Malkusm. maybe you two should communicate?

anyway, if you need a hand setting up a website for the ames straw poll buses, i know Joomla and can help out.

 

[rp08orbust]

@teacherone - Although Ames will be our main goal, were also trying to set up a grassroots organizational infrastructure. This involves creating a PAC, through which we can raise funds and carry out desired operations. Raising a sum like 100k from a chip-in would be quite the task, and doesn't look good. We need a site with our clearly stated mission, our personnel involved, and a the means to hold a money-bomb for this initiative. If nobody is going to chip-in to get a site up and running, we've got some bigger problems at hand. I guess I will have to front the whole bill myself in order for this project to be taken seriously. This is very discouraging.

I just donated $50. Will anyone else step up?

I haven't fully recovered from the discouragement I faced trying to persuade people of the importance of the 2010 SRLC straw poll. I made the straw poll a litmus test for whether I thought Ron Paul had a real chance in 2012. If he could not win their dinky little straw poll by turning out a mere few hundred supporters from the area, then there's no way he could win the Ames straw poll on the strength of his grassroots support. And if he couldn't win the Ames straw poll, there's no way he could win the Iowa caucus, and if he couldn't win the Iowa caucus, he couldn't hope to win the nomination. I ended up learning perl and making my own website, spending hundreds of hours on Facebook spreading the word about the straw poll, trying in vain to persuade Michael Nystrom to sticky a post about it, and spending way too much money buying tickets, transportation and lodging for supporters. I promised myself that if he somehow managed to lose the straw poll (which he did by one vote), I wouldn't spend anymore money on Ron Paul. (I've broken that promise with the above donation.) You may likewise be in for some major discouragement, all the more so because of the massive scale of your project.

 

[teacherone]

I just donated $50. Will anyone else step up?

I haven't fully recovered from the discouragement I faced trying to persuade people of the importance of the 2010 SRLC straw poll. I made the straw poll a litmus test for whether I thought Ron Paul had a real chance in 2012. If he could not win their dinky little straw poll by turning out a mere few hundred supporters from the area, then there's no way he could win the Ames straw poll on the strength of his grassroots support. And if he couldn't win the Ames straw poll, there's no way he could win the Iowa caucus, and if he couldn't win the Iowa caucus, he couldn't hope to win the nomination. I ended up learning perl and making my own website, spending hundreds of hours on Facebook spreading the word about the straw poll, trying in vain to persuade Michael Nystrom to sticky a post about it, and spending way too much money buying tickets, transportation and lodging for supporters. I promised myself that if he somehow managed to lose the straw poll (which he did by one vote), I wouldn't spend anymore money on Ron Paul. (I've broken that promise with the above donation.) You may likewise be in for some major discouragement, all the more so because of the massive scale of your project.

i wouldn't call losing by 1 to romney a failure. that's a good showing.

anyway: i still don't "get" the PAC idea ronpaulnation is proposing. goals, means, and ends need to be laid out clearly before people start dropping money on something.

if you are unable to grab even rabid paul supporters then perhaps your sales techniques are not up to par.

Use the SPIN method next time

SPIN stands for Situation, Problem, Implication and Needs-Payoff.

SPIN is all about asking the right questions, in the right order, so that you genuinely understand what your customer really wants and needs-and so that you can position your service or product as the obvious solution.

By structuring your sales conversations in this order, you won't have to worry about following a script. And yet the conversation will flow naturally so that you'll be able to help your client see how you can truly help them.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5776327

 

[Dave Aiello]

i wouldn't call losing by 1 to romney a failure. that's a good showing.

anyway: i still don't "get" the PAC idea ronpaulnation is proposing. goals, means, and ends need to be laid out clearly before people start dropping money on something.

if you are unable to grab even rabid paul supporters then perhaps your sales techniques are not up to par.

Use the SPIN method next time

i have 2 pretty detailed threads:

First: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?288461-Very-Important-Grassroots-PAC

Second: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?289203-Grassroots-PAC-UPDATE


Also, I could use your help on a small busing site. it isn't complete, but i've got a simple rider registration page almost done and functional. If you think you could incorporate something worthwhile into the site, that would be fantastic. I'm just a design/html/css guy with rudimentary php/sql knowledge.

 

[Dave Aiello]

Also - rp08orbust - your inbox is full. tried sending you a PM.

 

[teacherone]

i have 2 pretty detailed threads:

First: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?288461-Very-Important-Grassroots-PAC

Second: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?289203-Grassroots-PAC-UPDATE


Also, I could use your help on a small busing site. i made is live at libertyrides dot org for now. You can see it isn't complete, but i've got a simple rider registration page almost done and functional. If you think you could incorporate something worthwhile into the site, that would be fantastic. I'm just a design/html/css guy with rudimentary php/sql knowledge.

i'd love to help--but it looks like you've built that puppy from scratch.

i know joomla and can build a pretty sweet little joomla page.

 

[tangent4ronpaul]

Listen, guys, we need a little help to get things rolling. Here's what I learned today.

Charter buses from des moines to Ames will cost approx 2k / each. They can run them as shuttles all day back and forth, or single-trip back and forth. Within 100 miles of Ames, we're looking at about 2k per 56-person coach bus. This would include Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, which are both heavily populated and exactly 100 miles from Ames.

WHAT I ALSO LEARNED is that other organizations have already reserved 200 buses, at least according to this company. This is possibly just a tactic they use in order to justify charging higher-than-normal fees for this event, which is understandable. However, if this is true, WE HAVE SOME WORK TO DO. I'm rather confident that Ron has no plans for buses in Iowa at this point in time.

PLEASE visit this thread to get the latest. We NEED to get this website up and running, and I can't front the cost myself. I've been putting countless hours, and can put in $100 toward getting the site up and running, but we need some help with the rest of the cost. Details here: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?289203-Grassroots-PAC-UPDATE

Which other organizations?
How many buses total do they have?
I would def comparison shop and at the same time size up how many people the opposition is planning to bus in.

Some links I posted in another thread:

http://busforsaleguide.com/double-decker-bus.htm
http://www.busrates.com/?gclid=CLv_4Zzfv6gCFQbc4AodkzdypA
(25 companies rent double deckers)

the second one is a mega-search engine for renting buses.

consider buses from other (close) states, especially if they are charging a premium due to demand. Could be cheaper.

I thought the data on that hard drive was recovered. Worth checking.

looks like there are only 165 supporters in current Iowa meetups. (Des Moines and Newton) Doing a seed a meetup program for Iowa meetups that went away could bring people back. You do get 3 for the price of one, so re-opening then should cost nothing, just finding meetup owners willing to do it.

Then there are the YAL chapters, but many will be out of state students so I don't think they can vote. Not sure how many Iowans C4L has, but there is probably a lot of overlap.

best strategy might be to try getting 100% canvasing coverage of Ames and Des Moines and then set up houses / buses for all the larger cities in the state.

The Iowa Busses Directory says there are 8 bus companies in Iowa, but 2 of them sell busses and one is Grayhound - so that leaves 5 companies that charter:

http://iowa.uscity.net/Buses/

Track down Susan Wolfe - she did the RONVOY last time. She hasn't been here since '08 but her e-mail might work:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/member.php?19626-Susan-Wolfe

or via Meetup:
http://www.meetup.com/ronpaul-109/members/6138199/

She also appears to be on LinkedIn and this appears to be her business:
http://www.shirkwolfe.com/#/home/

As to the web site - what skills / resources do you need?

-t

 

[RachelFaith]

Hi, a few things to clear up. First, we can't use double deck buses, they are too high. Second, they can't make two trips, it is an all day event and hours from other parts of the state. They must be all day charters. Third, yes many many campaigns have already reserved them and we are falling behind already. Fourth, national must be willing to make this a priority with funds from the MB on the 5th. Lobby them hard. No signs here of any life yet. And lastly, the list is just under 18K and it didn't disappear. In fact it was emailed to all the district staff and 20 people have a copy of it. So if 1/3 to 1/2 of them can be motivated. RP can win.

 

[Indy Vidual]

...for a total of about $200k. Logistically and financially, that should be very doable....

$200k spent to invite the MSM to announce "Ron Paul won by busing in supporters", is that really a great idea?
This is a movement of ideas, can't we convince the local Iowa residents who are attending to vote for Ron and/or use car-pools?

 

[RachelFaith]

Romney spent 3 million and had hundreds of buses. This is the whole point. It is who can actually execute and pull it off. That is all that matters. Don't get confused over appearances.

 

[RachelFaith]

PS: If you are really going to raise money and be serious about building a list, you can robo call the entire state database of all voters with a push poll for $100,000. That is a call to all voters and ask them 5 questions about issues and then suggest Ron Paul. See how many press 1 for yes and then POOF, you know exactly who already likes him and also who doesn't but what issues matter to those so you can follow up later and push them. I have the whole state database file too.