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I was disappointed that Ron Paul only got 3% of the votes in yesterday’s Florida primary. The trendline for his vote percentages in most of elections since Iowa has been downward.
I think Ron Paul is doing great in the debates and in broadcast interviews. But his campaign seems gun-shy about stressing Paul’s stalwart position on the Iraq war. Some of the ads the campaign is paying to run have the punching power of wet noodles. The Paul campaign has lately made far more effort stressing Paul’s devotion to veterans than his opposition to the Iraq war.
Did the dropout of Dennis Kucinich from the presidential race end any chance for a fervent delivery of the antiwar message to the American people?
We’re talking Florida here– not that I’m suggesting fraud or anything, but you got to admit that Paul getting a mere 3% is a lot more plausible than Giullani making a comeback.
I agree that the ads the RP Campaign are going with are weak. And Florida was disappointing. But in the days before the Fla primary RP declared it’s his strategy to ignore Fla and aim for Maine. If I understand it correctly Florida has a winner-take-all primary while Maine doesn’t.
Guiliani put everything on Fla and spent a lot of money there. McCain and Romney also put a lot of money there to try to get the 57 delegates there. RP’s campaign figured he has no chance of winning that primary so opted not to waste much money or time on Fla. Maine doesn’t have a winner take all primary to if he does well there he ought to win some delegates.
His strategy is to play the delegates game. He hopes that no one candidate will get 1191 delegates needed to win the nomination. If that’s the case then the delegates that the candidates won would be free to vote their wish on the Sept convention. That’s where RP aims to win it. If he can manage to keep his campaign to stay alive and gain momentum from now till the convention then he hopes to turn the delegates over to his side.
I hope, I pray, that RP’s strategy is the right one and that he will reap the fruits. I can’t imagine McCain being the next prez.
No need to imagine. Just look at who’s in the White House now. McCain will be a McClone of the last 8 years.
“Bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran” - John McCain
I have an idea why Florida went to McCain. This is what happened in New Hampshire: The elderly voters remember him from his campaign in 2000, and actually thought McCain was against the War in Iraq!
Yes, older New Hampshire voters who voted for McCain in their primary on Jan 8th have said that they thought McCain wanted to end the war!
Obviously the Florida voters haven’t been watching coverage of his “100 more years in Iraq” and “My friends, we are going to have more war” stump speeches. Then again, the mainstream media hasn’t really been playing them, but they’re all over the internet on sites like Youtube.com.
Will - I don’t fault the RP campaign for not doing heavy advertising in FLA.
But I am perplexed that the ads that they did run there sounded lackluster. And I am hearing that they are running the same or similar ads in other states.
1) There are claims that allot of US military personnel support Paul with donations. Perhaps there will be a surge once absentee ballots are counted. Wouldn’t that be a kick?
2) I think Paul needs to personalize this freedom stuff. Quarter Back Mike Vick is in jail for dog fighting. I know it will be controversial but I think Paul should state he would pardon Mike Vick. It seems putting someone in jail for dog fighting is excessive. Yes I agree that PETA and other animal lover crazies will freak out. But really, can you name one person Ron Paul would free if elected?
Yes, he has talked about the release of non-voilent drug offenders.
not that it means much, but nader launched an exploratory committee today.
60,000 people in Florida voted for Ron Paul! 3% of Florida voted for Ron Paul with nearly NO MEDIA COVERAGE.
John McCain and Mitt Romney get FREE campaign coverage by the MSM.
Hey, Guliani will be out. He will announce today that he is quitting.
Huckabee should be next – He is broke. Plus have you noticed that the MSM has limited his exposure due to his recent endorsement of Ron Paul’s “get rid of the IRS” issue.
We Ron Paul supporters should be excited!
It will come down to three candidates. Our movement is growing – despite virtually no Television coverage.
Can you imagine watching Ron Paul debate John “Juan” McCain and Mitt “which way today” Romney. The MSM will have to give him airtime in the debates. When he is allowed to get his message of Freedom out – it will truly be a “Slam Dunk”.
Of course this does not solve the problem of Voter Fraud!
We will win! I truly believe it.
We should be excited and give him the money – all the money he needs – to go past Super Tuesday and all the way to the Republican Convention where the PEOPLE will elect their candidate – not the Fox News Network.
Keep the faith. The Revolution of the United States was actually “fought” by 2% of the population. Ron Paul just got 3% in Florida. Added with all the other states, plus the 2nd place finishes in Nevada and Louisiana, Ron Paul is doing VERY WELL.
We all know of the shenanigans in Nevada, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Wyoming.
I have the faith we will WIN!
That’s what we’re talking about! Thanks, Terry.
Several posts here and at other sites are complaining of the lame commercials and ads run by the campaign.
I am not privy to campaign insider info, but I am under the impression that these ads are the ones that the focus groups approved of the most.
PEACE
Steve
I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case, but using focus groups is the best way to weaken a potent message.
The Ron Paul campaign has always been about strength of ideas and it’s a shame and a waste to allow soft ball ads to eliminate their power.
I haven’t seen many of the ads, only a couple actually, but they didn’t strike me as being as powerful as some of the clips his supporters edited for Youtube!
We need fresh blood on the TV ad front…
Yes, we need to show the American people that having an Empire endangers the very essence of our Republic.
How about starting with an ad that says that we have over 700 overseas military bases, with a troop presence in over 130 countries around the world, in such remote places such as Tuvula. Then tell how much this costs and then ask the question, “Is this good for America?” Ron Paul then fades in and condemns the whole empire building project.
I really think that most Americans don’t have a clue that we have bases all over the world, and troops in 2/3 of the world’s countries. If they knew this they would at least start to ask the question, “Is this good for America?”
As others have mentioned, the campaign ignored Florida because of the winner-take-all rules. Paul is going for delegates period and Maine looks pretty good, so that is where the effort is. I agree his commercials could have more antiwar bite, but his debate performance tonight was excellent (despite Anderson Cooper’s efforts throughout the debate to suppress Dr. Paul).
Anderson’s attempts to diminish Ron Paul’s stature among the four of them at the R debates in Miami were probably done to appease his masters at CNN and to ingratiate himself with powerful establishment forces, but for this manuvering and suppression, he needs to be roundly criticized by us. We all know where he can be reached.
correc: “California” not “Miami” Sorry.
It might have something to do with his time working at Langley.
Florida has a bunch of old people. Most of them are dedicated socialists. Florida has a lot of big city types who want a massive welfare state.
I don’t know if they’re socialists haha, but they are old and do not have the access to information that we do sadly.
Oh yeah those “Red Commie bastards” they are out to conquer the World you know!
Socialists have nothing to do with it. It is the “capitalists” who buy the votes for people like McCain.
It was nice to see the mayor of 911 go down in flames.
When is Paul going to come out strongly for impeaching Cheney now?
Last poll I saw 85% of the electorate wants Cheney impeached immediately.
Kucinich introduced the measure.
It is campaign dynamite.
Who who would for the impeachment? The Democrats along with the Republicans in Congress that were complicit in the acts themselves?
Forget the impeachment as part of the campaign, why should Dr.Paul’s message be so overtly personal, pointed and negative?
He should not get into a fistfight with one personality, it would be a waste of his campaign’s energy and money, which would better be spent EDUCATING the public…
Unless one considers prosecuting criminals “personal, pointed, and negative”, one has very little idea what you might mean.
Indeed, informing the public about impeachment, and actually carrying it through, seem to me to be not only singularly educational enterprises, but also more constructive than losing a presidential bid.
Curiously enough, polls suggest that impeaching Cheney immediately is also what a vast majority of the electorate wants.
Paul might actually win many more votes moving in this direction, and perhaps not even lose his bid.
So my perplexity.
Why has Paul not come out strongly for impeaching Cheney and why has he not made impeachment a central part of his campaign?
Moreover, I criticized Kucinich on the same score, though he did make it an item at least, and also had already acted in bringing the motion before the House.
I think there should be a litmus test for all presidential hopeufuls.
“Do you think it was in America’s best interest to invade Iraq?”
If the answer is yes, reject the candidate.
Anyone who says it was a good idea to invade Iraq should be rejected.
Why is the current POTUS topic about economy? Can’t anyone see the cost of the war, and the interest to China, is a huge downward pull on us?
How do we end this lunacy?
By electing Ron Paul, obviously.
Paul would be better off combining with Gravel, and Kucinich and working toward immediate impeachment of Cheney.
Gravel and Paul both seem to believe that, becoming president, either could use the powers of the office to restore the Constitution, and reform the government and the country.
But the ill-got and unconstitutional powers of the office, especially under Bush, are part of the problem. Indeed a central part.
Anyway, neither Gravel nor Paul has a chance.
There is a hidden vicious circle in their logic.
Folks, let’s be real here. Ron Paul is NOT going to get a GOP nomination.
No chance in hell.
While it is useful to have him pointing out the corruption and statism of the Republican candidates, his inevitable failure to be the candidate is never in doubt.
The most important thing Ron Paul should do is try to support and publicize the case of Sibel Edmonds, the FBI whistle-blower. If he yells about it loud enough and long enough, and brings it up in debates, more people will become aware of it.
Since he has no chance to be a Presidential candidate, the least he can do is try to bring down the Bush administration on an avalanche of treason convictions.
Impeachment may not be feasible - but getting a whole slew of Bush neocons indicted on treason charges would be almost as good.
ASSUMING Paul is not going to be elected or that yours is the only ‘real’ position because you say so, is not and argument, just your opinion. Paul is actually in the best position to expand the visibility of his candidacy, via spending his cash on commercials (his competitors are too broke to do so), while riding the Republican race for a few more months until he BECOMES a household word (which he isn’t now).
By spring, either we’re on our way to a brokered convention, or McCain (or Paul) will have won enough delegates. At that point, he can run 3rd party instead of, or in addition to seeking the GOP nomination. This should lead to Paul getting at least Perot-like numbers in the election, if not an outright victory for the antiwar cause.
Amen Clifton keep running now and third party later,hopefully with Pat buchanan as VP.
The ads I’ve heard are terrible. Ron Paul needs to get right to the heart of the matter. When he mentions the federal reserve he needs to ask the question — where does a dollar come from?, and then answer it. He has been tenative on this. He then needs to ask McNuts, Mitt, and Huckleberry to tell the people where THEY think a dollar comes from. (Huckleberry’s plan for a federal sales tax CAN’T work because the federal reserve needs a tax on income.) The good Doc needs to explain this. Not in an epistle, but in a 30 second sound bite, which he can do. As for the empire, the Doc needs to hammer away at why the US is everywhere — to protect the private interests of the corporate elites. When the others talk about “energy independence” the Doc should laugh at them to their faces. The reason the US has these bases is to protect the foreign interests (energy) of these elites. Did anyone else notice how clueless McNuts was when Ron Paul asked him an economics question at the Faux News debate? Had it been anyone other than the MSM pet, that candidate would have been run out of the campaign, al a Howard Dean. We need ads that address the specific problems that the US is facing today.
No one can complain this election cycle that we didn’t have good choices available. The voting public has chosen Empire. Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel supporters need to get together to iron out a tolerable governing policy that they all can live with. I think on many issues they see the same problem but have different solutions. We need to use entertainment (such as Indie films) to de-construct the Fox 24ish world view peddled by Bush, Hillary and the rest of the imperial criminal gang. We need to make interventionism a slur, something to be shunned like people have been taught about isolationism.
12:41
What is Ron Paul hiding? Where is the device? Is he the device? Is he trying to prevent the hero John McCain from winning? Answer dammit!
12:42
Although every time he spoke, pure gold came out, yesterdays debate was a blow the the RP campaign. I was completely shut down by AC 360 (should be AC 180 after yesterday’s show).
Hand it to Huck who, even though was ignored less than RP, he spoke out about it. He did so at every opportunity.
RP just took it. He waved his hand a couple of times to get permission to speak but the AC kept on ignoring him. RP should have been a lot more assertive.
Anyway, if RP can’t be 4th tomorrow in Maine. He needs to pass at least one or two of the other 3 stooges and win some delegates.
on the side. Today I am disappointed in AAAAnold.
Correction:
He was completely shut down, not “I”
I wasn’t there.
Paul’s campaign approved commercials all suck! I wish his campaign would hit his anti-war, economic and civil liberties positions exclusively and hard. Take the extreme position so you don’t have to cover ground later. Unfortunately, behaving like every other campaign staff, they are afraid of costing Paul votes. Preserve that three percent by not going after the 10 to 30% of Republicans who oppose the war, oppose the Patriot Act, think Bush is a juvenile yet dangerous tyrant and know the fiscally conservative Republicans are anything but.
Feb. 1st is another Ron Paul money bomb. Besides preserving that 3% you guys sure have given past donors little to be happy with where their money is going. I doubt you will see ever $2 million. Let Paul be Paul. And if you lack the guts to roll the dice, step aside. There are plenty of ironed assed individuals in the R3VOLution who still remember this is about getting Paul’s messages out.
Draft Ron Paul Pat Buchanan for third party run
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pn6hqIPe4o
http://www.digg.com/politics/Draft_Ron_paul_And_Pat_Buchanan_to_run_third_party