screwed up virtually everything
This is in response to the post below. My response is posted below the quote. I believe its time to have a thread dedicated to where you believe HQ went wrong.
In short, they screwed up virtually everything... and squandered nearly $30 Million dollars doing it.
(And yes, Virginia, $30 Million *IS* a lot of money. Especially when it is OTHER people's money.)
Main reason for failure by HQ is simple.
The management team didn't have a clue what they were doing. They may be nice guys, and are probably loyal to Ron (to a fault, IMO... sycophancy is NEVER helpful) -- but they have little or no experience in REAL business or running major campaigns.
(And JB, while I agree that "experience" isn't everything, and it CAN be replaced by TALENT and ABILITY... sadly, Snyder, Moore & Co. was sans those qualities as well).
On another note, it seems like ALL of the campaigns hopes were focused solely on the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries.
Though it was never communicated to the grassroots, from the expenditures it is clear that the campaign was always an ONLY a NEW HAMPSHIRE WIN centered strategy, with a pittance of effort thrown at Iowa as well, everything else (including the "precinct leader program" which received less than $10K in funds) was an afterthought, and mainly happened because they had so much cash left they had to run out the clock and do... well something (however half-baked).
Once NH was lost, the campaign AND the candidate essentially stopped trying. (In fact, the candidate stopped trying several weeks before NH... he wasn't really into the "retail campaigning" bit, and once it got cold... well, he is over 72, and pneumonia is a major concern.)
The grassroots movement encompassed some of the brightest, most literate, affluent and resourceful minds that this nation has to offer. The grassroots truly accomplished incredible feats leading up to the primaries. The complete lack of willingness to harness this resource when it was needed most completely baffles me.
I would agree with one of the other posters... THE ABOVE is a truly well-made point.
My take... in general, I think the campaign faltered and COMPLETELY FAILED for SIX major reasons:
1) The candidate and campaign did NOT realize what his ACTUAL appeal was. So instead of campaigning on a SOLID MESSAGE of "PEACE, PROSPERITY, FREEDOM and INTEGRITY" -- we got:
a) anti-immigration, isolationism (nee non-interventionism), and "monetary reform" (egads!) ...oh, and along with some vague theme of "hope" (but hope in what?)
b) the anti-war vote went to McCain.
c) the anti-tax vote went to Huckabee.
d) the prosperity vote went to Romney.
e) the "integrity" vote was split between the above three.
f) we were left with the "well-informed voter who is also willing to vote his/her conscience even if it is for a losing candidate" -- which is 5%.
2) The candidate NEVER really wanted to run. Because of this:
a) Since the candidate never really wanted to run, he left the entire campaign in the hands of those who had convinced him to run -- therefore it was never really the "Ron Paul campaign", but was actually the "Snyder & Moore show, with occasional guest appearances by Congr. Ron Paul & family.".
b) The only "oversight" Ron apparently gave was to LIMIT his own involvement, and establish certain "minimum" parameters for his presence at events (i.e. college campuses with X,000 guaranteed attendees, etc).
c) It seems that one of HQ's mottos was to "Please inconvenience the candidate as LITTLE as possible" ...aka, recipe for disaster.
3) The campaign management were LIBERTARIANS. This meant that:
a) They were really NEVER a part of the Republican party -- which meant they had no functional "Rolodex" to crack open, no favors to cash-in on (or grant) and no network within the party itself -- in the end this was an aggravating factor contributing to the "outsider" treatment (over and above Ron's own status as a "rebel").
b) They think getting 5% of the vote is a VICTORY and a HUGE WIN! (Libertarians are almost genetically-geared to losing... but they normally get 1% of the vote... so 5% seems terrific by comparison!) This seems like sarcasm, but it is an indictment that many Libertarians have made MANY TIMES about themselves and their own big "L" party... deal with it, the truth hurts sometimes.
4) The campaign had little experience in business, or advertising, or PR, or running national campaigns; this meant that:
a) They really had no idea how to advertise (witness the missing "campaign theme", the worthless literature, and the even worse Media ads, and the "blackout").
b) They also had no "rolodex" or network of people capable of Getting Things Done... much less getting them done right.
c) They also had only hearsay knowledge of what things SHOULD cost or how long it should take to do them (witness the perennial $100M figure and the "months" to create ads... both of which are total canards, not even Romney spent $100M, and even "debtor" McCain could get NEW ads on the air within days).
5) Campaign management built a CULTURE of NON-COMMUNICATION. Other than the Thermometer widget giving the Real-Time feedback on donations (remember the phone call back in Mid September JB? I do... you were CLUELESS!) -- other than that ONE item, the campaign exhibited a "culture of secrecy" and demonstrated complete inability to properly communicate; this was true with:
a) The media -- failure to REPLY to media inquiries? Failure to get SOLID info out on the candidate and to HELP the media cover the campaign. FAILURE to hire someone with EXPERIENCE and CONTACTS with the media (need NOT be a "politico" -- could just be a good PR firm).
b) The grassroots (and if they were "afraid" of crossing the legal line... well that's what LEGAL ADVICE is for... you go get it!) -- information COULD have been given via email, the website, etc. Don't think sign waving is effective? Say so. Want people to do canvassing? Say so & equip them EARLY ON... not after the campaign is OVER. (And the "Daily Dose" was done ONLY to stifle complaints. Value-wise it stunk, mostly being "wrappers" for info published by OTHER websites... worse than a joke.)
c) Anyone and everyone. (NOT returning phone calls... Excuse Me? Not replying to emails...WTF? Not even sending acknowledgment RECEIPTS for orders? )
6) Finally, and most importantly,
PRIDE, ARROGANCE, and a self-fulfilling "VICTIM" mentality. What do I mean by that? Well several things:
a) A complete inability to acknowledge errors and change course.
b) An inability to step back and say "I am not the right person for this job... we need to hire someone ELSE."
c) Instead of "courting" the media, they made the media the enemy, and then ENCOURAGED and FED the perception (IMO, the "blackout" of news FROM the campaign led to most of the worst problems [the wild-theories, conjectures, the "billionaire" BS, etc.] that troubled the grassroots).
d) In short... BLAME anyone and everyone else because you want to do a CYA (note that THIS is still in play right now).
The whole campaign was run in much the same way that an "Nu Skin" or "Pharmanex" or other MLM program is run... sucker people for cash, give them some pep talks and otherwise keep everything hidden (oh, and run off with as much of the cash as you can at the end!) Did you make "Platinum" level yet Lew?
I have tried... but other than doing a "Florida-centered" strategy... I cannot think of ANY way the official campaign could have been run in a WORSE fashion... not even if they were TRYING to lose. (You just wouldn't screw up THAT bad on purpose... it had to be incompetence!)
GRASSROOTS?
Were some of the antics by supporters problematic? Sure were. Were the endless speculations, theories and conjectures on the forums distracting and wasteful of efforts? Yup. But they all happened BECAUSE of the "vacuum" of information from the campaign itself.
Were SOME supporters HARASSING the media? Yup...
Did you EVER see ANYTHING from the campaign even "asking" them to stop with a single email or spoken message? Or was the "silence" of the campaign seen as implicity consent? The media certainly thought so! (Even something as simple as: "We request that all supporters be respectful and courteous to everyone at all times." Ron said "have fun" 500 times... maybe he also should have said "BE NICE!" 500 times!)
