Why breaking $12 million now will help us most..

[Wayne Hammond]

I like the enthusiasm, but I'd still bet against it.

That's pretty much what some of the more "pragmatic" British Loyalists said back in the late 1700's.

Feel free to bet; just don't bet the house.

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[Menthol Patch]

I totally agree! If we can hit 12 million dollars on Nov. 30th that will bring us a huge amount of media attention and bring the Tea Party a ton of media attention.

We need to go all out for Rudysreadinglist!

 

[ItsTime]

This should be short term goal #1 long term goal the tea party. The amount of new donors and the amount of new people exposed to the Tea Party will be HUGE if we hit 12 million by the 1st.

 

[KewlRonduderules]

While I agree that 12 million raised on November 30th would indeed create a huge amount of publicity for Dr. Paul, I am concerned that given the circumstances how rudysreadinglist.com came up and the controversy behind it, I wonder how much money we really can make up on that date. Moreover, this grassroots fundraiser came about in such short notice. I wonder if we can generate enough publicity to actually raise that amount of money to beat the 12 million mark. I certainly hope that is the case. What will help though is getting an email from the campaign that day asking for donations but we cannot ask for that since this is totally grassroots.

I have somewhat of a concern also that I noticed on rudysreadinglist.com about the statement about beating 12 million on November 30th. What if we do not make that goal? How is that going to affect the grassroots? Will it take away from the momentum we have already attained?

Given the circumstances I mentioned above, I wonder if we would be setting the bar too high and then we will be very disappointed if we do not meet that mark. Additionally, you will have moles in here attempt to create chaos with that. That is something we really do not need.

I'd remove the 12 million dollars by November 30th statement from the site to safeguard ourselves and prevent damage done to our grassroots effort. If we do beat that number, great! But do we really need that number on there?

Just my $.02...

 

[me3]

I have somewhat of a concern also that I noticed on rudysreadinglist.com about the statement about beating 12 million on November 30th. What if we do not make that goal? How is that going to affect the grassroots? Will it take away from the momentum we have already attained?

Say it comes up short, and the $12 million goal is beaten Dec. 4th, it's still a lot of publicity.

This money bomb has a specific target and goal. Even 80% success will make the goal a reality. $12 million in early Dec., lots of publicity.

 

[Menthol Patch]

The blunt truth is that we can make the Tea Party more successful by supporting the Nov.30th money bomb!

 

[KewlRonduderules]

Say it comes up short, and the $12 million goal is beaten Dec. 4th, it's still a lot of publicity.

This money bomb has a specific target and goal. Even 80% success will make the goal a reality. $12 million in early Dec., lots of publicity.

My concern though is that the moles will disrupt things in here saying that we did not make our goal and attempt to disrupt the forums. We really do not need them to do that. So to safe guard ourselves, I'd say remove the November 30th goal: 12 million dollars. We don't need moles and media barking up our backs if we do not make it on the 30th.

Again, just trying to come up with a contigency plan so that we do not need to deal with unnecessary attacks.

Maybe it can be phrased in a different way to encourage donations on the 30th but without setting a specific number.

 

[Eleanor]

This should be short term goal #1 long term goal the tea party. The amount of new donors and the amount of new people exposed to the Tea Party will be HUGE if we hit 12 million by the 1st.

I am so very, very thankful to see this new focus being developed. Thank you, Trevor, for your post on the topic - and for everyone else who "seconded" the idea.

I really hope everyone can join together and make the $12 mil for the quarter happen on the 30th.

I mentioned it to a couple of folks I know who are strong Ron Paul supporters. They were planning to donate on the 16th but since there's a money bomb on the 30th they're happy to donate then too.

YESSSSS!! I hope there are many others who think like them.

 

[Menthol Patch]

If we can raise 12 million by the 30th it will have the media screaming about the Tea Party! They will be talking about it constantly! Even our enemies will be talking about it!

 

[me3]

Again, just trying to come up with a contigency plan so that we do not need to deal with unnecessary attacks.

If/when they attack, we will be too busy to deal with it. We'll be working full bore on the Tea Party.

We're a lot stronger when we work together, against our opponents, than making opponents of one another.

 

[Wayne Hammond]

I'd remove the 12 million dollars by November 30th statement from the site to safeguard ourselves and prevent damage done to our grassroots effort. If we do beat that number, great! But do we really need that number on there?

Just my $.02...

When RudysReadingList was started, the goal was primarily to increase the influx of cash in response to the email from HQ. My thinking process on this goes like this:

1. On one hand, I like it that we have the additional goal of $12 million by the end of the month... that will create quite a stir if we hit that mark...

2. On the other hand, if we don't hit that mark, it could be a negative...

3. On the other hand, I want to believe that we can hit $12 million, and I actually think it is quite possible...

4. On the other hand, we could promote the goal of $12 million in the forums; just not on the web site...

5. On the other hand, if we promote it on the web site, it could add another dynamic to the Nov 30th efforts - people respond to a specific goal better than they respond to a general goal. In other words, "Help us raise more cash on Nov 30th" is a lot less exciting than "Help us hit our $12 million mark on Nov. 30th".

After thinking through all these points, I'm leaning towards taking the risk and leaving that goal on the web site. Yes, it's a risk. But generally speaking, the higher the risk, the higher the return.

I say we just leave it, and do what we can to mitigate any downside risk by promoting www.RudysReadingList.com to the hilt and getting as many people on board as possible.

As we get closer to this coming Friday, we're going to see a lot more people jump on board, most of whom will see the $12 million as a realistic goal - it is those people who will make it happen. The Nov. 5th efforts exceeded most of our expectations, and that effort had it's naysayers as well.

If we don't hit the mark on Nov 30th, nothing really is lost - it was not an official campaign effort anyway - it's grassroots. I don't think the press would give it much coverage if we miss a goal. A headline like "Unofficial Ron Paul Grassroots Effort fails to make fundraising goal on Nov 30th" isn't going to happen. That's just not news.

I don't think there is a whole lot of risk here by leaving that goal on the web site.


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[gworrel]

When RudysReadingList was started, the goal was primarily to increase the influx of cash in response to the email from HQ. My thinking process on this goes like this:

1. On one hand, I like it that we have the additional goal of $12 million by the end of the month... that will create quite a stir if we hit that mark...

2. On the other hand, if we don't hit that mark, it could be a negative...

3. On the other hand, I want to believe that we can hit $12 million, and I actually think it is quite possible...

4. On the other hand, we could promote the goal of $12 million in the forums; just not on the web site...

5. On the other hand, if we promote it on the web site, it could add another dynamic to the Nov 30th efforts - people respond to a specific goal better than they respond to a general goal. In other words, "Help us raise more cash on Nov 30th" is a lot less exciting than "Help us hit our $12 million mark on Nov. 30th".

After thinking through all these points, I'm leaning towards taking the risk and leaving that goal on the web site. Yes, it's a risk. But generally speaking, the higher the risk, the higher the return.

I say we just leave it, and do what we can to mitigate any downside risk by promoting www.RudysReadingList.com to the hilt and getting as many people on board as possible.

As we get closer to this coming Friday, we're going to see a lot more people jump on board, most of whom will see the $12 million as a realistic goal - it is those people who will make it happen. The Nov. 5th efforts exceeded most of our expectations, and that effort had it's naysayers as well.

If we don't hit the mark on Nov 30th, nothing really is lost - it was not an official campaign effort anyway - it's grassroots. I don't think the press would give it much coverage if we miss a goal. A headline like "Unofficial Ron Paul Grassroots Effort fails to make fundraising goal on Nov 30th" isn't going to happen. That's just not news.

I don't think there is a whole lot of risk here by leaving that goal on the web site.


.

I agree that the $12 million goal should stay. November 5th fell far short of its $10 million goal but that was hardly mentioned. $12 million is not unrealistic at all. It is a concrete number that has specific meaning which makes it very powerful. It really helps to add focus and pull this together.

 

[ItsTime]

Contact your meet-up group leaders and your states myspace page owners. I will be contacting everyone I know about this. There will be an email going out to about 1000 New Hampshire Ron Paul supporters shortly.

 

[Naraku]

1. On one hand, I like it that we have the additional goal of $12 million by the end of the month... that will create quite a stir if we hit that mark...

2. On the other hand, if we don't hit that mark, it could be a negative...

3. On the other hand, I want to believe that we can hit $12 million, and I actually think it is quite possible...

4. On the other hand, we could promote the goal of $12 million in the forums; just not on the web site...

5. On the other hand, if we promote it on the web site, it could add another dynamic to the Nov 30th efforts - people respond to a specific goal better than they respond to a general goal. In other words, "Help us raise more cash on Nov 30th" is a lot less exciting than "Help us hit our $12 million mark on Nov. 30th".

Dude, that's five hands, why don't you take one of them and slap yourself with it?

 

[NinjaPirate]

I like the enthusiasm, but I'd still bet against it.

If we make the $12mil goal by the 30th I'll be the first to hand you a plate of crow.


Anyhoo, I completely agree with the 30th AND the 16th. Making one small money bomb/fundraiser between now and the 16th will not put a huge burden on our wallets because we still have plenty of time to recharge. I really never understood the "just focus on the 16th" mentality. Prior to Bydlak's e-mail, daily donations were sucking major donkey balls (pardon the crudeness. ). I realize the good intentions on wanting to hold off, but seeing donations trickling in the past couple days became discouraging.

I think it's very likely that the campaign will get media attention for acheiving the goal one month early!

I'm imagining what it'll be like on the Dec 1st.

CNN: Ron Paul has reached his goal of $12 million a month early, but the best is still yet to come because his grassroots fundraiser--The Boston Tea Party is still just around the corner!

If we can reach the $12mil goal by the 30th and raise $10mil on the 16th (with the teaparty being on a Sunday and near the holidays), the media will be all over this and other candidates will be crapping their pants, and left utterly speechless.

 

[Wayne Hammond]

Dude, that's five hands, why don't you take one of them and slap yourself with it?

Well, all my hands come in awful handy when I'm working on projects around the house...

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[ItsTime]

bump spread it! Make sure you include in your emails and messages that this is in no way an attempt to under mind the TeaParty but an attempt to enhance it!

 

[BIG_J]

I don't see how this (Keeping the 12 million goal on the website) could get spun badly:

1. If we hit it; then great; tons of publicity. etc, etc etc.
2. If we miss it; Oh well, we raised $x dollars in 6 days? Not quite sure how this is a bad thing?

"Next up on CNN, the Ron Paul grassroots campaign only raised 2 million this week"
? ? ?

either way we get publicity. Our whole goal, and what we've been struggling against since the inception of the campaign is name recognition. Getting more mentions on TV can only help things; because most people think that, 1 or 2 million dollars *IS* a lot of money; no matter which way you slice it.

 

[ItsTime]

The goal is 12 million for the whole 4th Quarter which ends DECEMBER 31st 11:59pm est.

I don't see how this (Keeping the 12 million goal on the website) could get spun badly:

1. If we hit it; then great; tons of publicity. etc, etc etc.
2. If we miss it; Oh well, we raised $x dollars in 6 days? Not quite sure how this is a bad thing?

"Next up on CNN, the Ron Paul grassroots campaign only raised 2 million this week"
? ? ?

either way we get publicity. Our whole goal, and what we've been struggling against since the inception of the campaign is name recognition. Getting more mentions on TV can only help things; because most people think that, 1 or 2 million dollars *IS* a lot of money; no matter which way you slice it.

 

[BIG_J]

Ha; yes, I mean put the 12 million goal on the rudysreadinglist.com website for December 1st.