What would you do if you were Ron Paul's campaign manager?

[parocks]

Or so we think. What if RonRules graphs are right?

right, and theres a thread, still in grassroots, not moved to hot topics, where that is discussed. Scenarios involving that belong there.

 

[MelissaCato]

Excuse me, just saying. Gezzz

 

[tbone717]

Anyway, since you asked, here would have been my suggestions:

1. Know that your surge in the polls right before Iowa was going to bring out the media attack and the newsletters. Have a prepared defense ready for that.
2. Follow up strong showing in New Hampshire with a blitzkrieg assault on South Carolina. This is where the campaign totally derailed in my opinion. Yes I know, some here said "well he wasn't going to win anyway" and that's true, but showing up and then abandoning ship, and totally bypassing Florida afterwards sucked all the wind out of our sails and gave the media a reason to ignore us going into Nevada.
3. Actually campaign. I'm talking old fashioned campaigning. Town halls, breakfasts, bus tours, meet and greets. Mega pep-rallies filled with people who already love Dr. Paul did not help us.
4. Attack Romney as soon as he started getting momentum, not Santorum/Gingrich. We needed those guys to siphon off Romney votes, but instead we went after them instead.
5. Advertise on traditional mediums.

Agree with all. Especially #3. This is easy and cheap media coverage, especially in small to mid-size markets. For those of us that live in a small to mid-size market, watch your local news some day. You'll see that it usually takes them 5 minutes or so to cover all the major stories in the area, and then they are on to human interest pieces, like the local fire company holding a pet vaccination clinic. These smaller markets have very little news to cover, and a visit by a Presidential candidate will usually get big coverage. So the candidate stops by in the morning and greets workers as they head into the major employer in the area, then you follow that up with a mid-morning town hall meeting at the local VFW or something like that. Drive 100 miles or so, and you are in another media market in the same state that afternoon, just in time to make the 6:00 news. It costs the campaign very little to do this, and gives the candidate some great exposure.

And I will add my own #6 to your list - have a well organized volunteer machine. There are some FEC laws concerning how the campaign can interact with the grassroots, but there is nothing preventing them from communicating with their volunteers. They should push everyone to register as a volunteer, set up a forum of sorts for daily communication with the volunteer base, and have an organized effort of traditional retail politics in place (tabling, canvassing, phone banking). If you can gather enough people to volunteer, then conceivably every weekend, you can have tables set up at local events (car shows, farmers markets, carnivals, etc) and have people on the street knocking on doors every night, and folks on the phone every day. You can also provide volunteer training, so that people who are unskilled at one-on-one communication can learn how to be effective. We had a lot of people that were willing to roll up their sleeves and do the hard work, but it could have been a lot more organized and focused.

 

[Drex]

Attack Romney on his liberal record.. that would then rally the ron paul supporters to donate more and they could continue the strategy.. but of course they're playing politics and settign up rand in '16 which is dumb

 

[CaptUSA]

What would you have done if you were the coach of the Patriots last year?

Nothing like Monday morning quarterbacking on Sunday afternoon...

 

[tbone717]

What would you have done if you were the coach of the Patriots last year?

Nothing like Monday morning quarterbacking on Sunday afternoon...

True. It should read "What should we do next time". The past is the past, we can learn from it and make changes for the future.

 

[KingNothing]

I would have done far worse than what they actually did.

Their accomplishments were astonishing. They had a VERY real shot to win Iowa and New Hampshire and the momentum from that could have certainly pushed them forward to the nomination. That is AMAZING stuff. After the voting in the early states, they did a wonderful job of infusing a libertarian brand into the party at the state level across the country. Our people are now active, involved, gaining experience, building connections and earning respect. That lays the groundwork for future campaigns. We have hope now, where we once had none.

Realizing that, who among us could have done better than Paul, Tate, Benson, and Wead?

 

[KingNothing]

Attack Romney on his liberal record.. that would then rally the ron paul supporters to donate more and they could continue the strategy.. but of course they're playing politics and settign up rand in '16 which is dumb

Attacking Romney's liberal record is a nonstarter. Everyone already knows about it. It's why he never broke 28-percent or so while the field was crowded.

What it came down to is simple: The anti-Paul vote was greater than the anti-Romney vote. That should come as a surprise to no one. That Paul and his campaign have managed to not only stay relevent, but to thrive, install our folks in positions of power and leadership across the country, and change the political narrative in the face of non-stop Party Establishment attacks is amazing. Good on us!

 

[parocks]

Attacking Romney's liberal record is a nonstarter. Everyone already knows about it. It's why he never broke 28-percent or so while the field was crowded.

What it came down to is simple: The anti-Paul vote was greater than the anti-Romney vote. That should come as a surprise to no one. That Paul and his campaign have managed to not only stay relevent, but to thrive, install our folks in positions of power and leadership across the country, and change the political narrative in the face of non-stop Party Establishment attacks is amazing. Good on us!

Anti-Paul and "don't know that Paul is still running" vote.

 

[KingNothing]

Anti-Paul and "don't know that Paul is still running" vote.

As you know, I am not a conspiracy guy. I'm not a truther. I don't believe there's an Alex Jonesian uncovered agenda to exterminate the population. But I am completely positive that prominent and wanna-be-prominent media members tend to appreciate, respect, admire and require access from Party Insiders who are willing to trade that access for favorable coverage. So the media parrots the words of those Party Insiders. The media takes those talking points -- Romney won. Paul has no chance. Romney won. Romney won. People like Romney now. Paul has no chance, haha silly Paul! Romney won --- and ran with them like the groveling sychophants they are.

There's only so much the Paul camp could do to fight that off.

 

[69360]

Three things different.

1. Got out in front of the newsletter story before IA.

2. I would not have send those last two emails. I would have just kept plugging along doing what I could afford to do.

3. I would have had lawyers, parliamentarians and Ron when possible at the state conventions.

Oh well hindsight is 20/20, the campaign wasn't run that badly really IMO.

 

[parocks]

As you know, I am not a conspiracy guy. I'm not a truther. I don't believe there's an Alex Jonesian uncovered agenda to exterminate the population. But I am completely positive that prominent and wanna-be-prominent media members tend to appreciate, respect, admire and require access from Party Insiders who are willing to trade that access for favorable coverage. So the media parrots the words of those Party Insiders. The media takes those talking points -- Romney won. Paul has no chance. Romney won. Romney won. People like Romney now. Paul has no chance, haha silly Paul! Romney won --- and ran with them like the groveling sychophants they are.

There's only so much the Paul camp could do to fight that off.

I am a conspiracy guy. The msm knows that Goldman Sachs and similar (The Fed) likes Romney, doesn't like Paul.

 

[K466]

Ron Paul had the most awesome commercials. I would have taken advantage of this strength much more and created many more web-only ads and lengthier videos making the case for liberty. You tube really makes for cheap advertising, it levels the playing filed, and heck, if he didn't win, we would have awesome video left over to convert people for years to come.

I'd also have Ron go through debate coaching and stick to a number of liberty talking points... if he wanted to, to actually win. But maybe that was never his goal.

 

[Ivash]

I also would have hired Frank Luntz at the outset and promised voters that Ron Paul would personally build a base on Europa with his bare hands by 2014...but not a military base, and it would be funded by private institutions. .

Frank Luntz might be a manipulative bastard, but he's exactly the kind of person you want on a campaign.

That hurt me to admit- I am personally neither a fan nor a friend of Luntz.

 

[Elwar]

First thing I would do as Ron Paul's campaign manager would be to fire Jesse Benton!

 

[klamath]

I would have done the following:

1) Would have continued the 2008 email list

2) Would have listened to every suggestion on RPF and even would have spent my time here chatting
3) Would have run attack ads on Romney, Santorum, and Gingrinch

4) Would have done the delegate strategy

listened to every suggestion on the forums??? Wow that campaign would have looked like the flight of a house fly.

 

[TrishW]

I would never have admitted defeat until after Tampa.

I would asked Ron Paul to always say he is in the fight to win the Presidency! (not many people want to vote or donate to a cause other than winning!)

I would have spent a portion of everyday trying to obtain a rich backer who cares about freedom.

I would have never given the RNC permission to over-ride rule 11.

I would have people at each convention making sure that it was fair.

I would have contested the votes in Iowa, and Maine.

I would have bombarded the press with news releases.

I would have dialed down some of Ron Paul wants, I would have changed... end the Fed to audit the Fed... No help for Israel to we will stand with her by an act of congress .... ignore Iran to try to reach agreement through peace talks.... Legalize drugs to allow states to decide.

Lastly, I would have tried to talk Ron Paul into fighting and accepting the nomination anyway he could get it... I do not care if he gets 1% of the vote! Take the delegates and make them ours! Stand Proud!

 

[Carlybee]

It's hard to say not being privy to what goes on behind the scenes. I would have urged supporters not to give away delegate strategy on a public message forum. I would have budgeted for legal recourse and used it every single time Ron Paul was slandered by the media and every time the GOP were allowed to break rules and engage in documented cheating. I would have a very media savvy spokesperson charged with making sure media lies were corrected or redacted. I would have gone after Romney harder. I would have been more specific with supporters what the ultimate end game was.