What is the Ron Paul Campaign Doing?

Ok, I know that this will be a rather long read but it is VERY inspirational and puts things into perspective of how the campaign is going and how we have a very real chance to win. This was written by Warren, one of the MeetUp group leaders in Wisconsin...

Now is not the time to falter...

The following was a great read, and was hi-lighted and sent to me by Angela (leader of the Waukesha group) I agree completely that it should be passed along. GO READ IT NOW if you can:

Ron Paul's Moneybomb Fizzles: Rudy May Get Last Laugh After All

Reading that, it made me go back and actually REALLY READ through recent emails from the campaign... in doing so I found that I had indeed overlooked several important statements.


1) TWENTY STATES of MASS TV and RADIO ADS -- In the December 29th email, all I apparently saw was the $23 Million request -- I totally overlooked that they had stated quite clearly what the purpose of the request was:

To run radio and television ads in 20 states simultaneously will cost a fortune. Not to mention the cost of voter contact mailings to those 20 states. And then there is the cost of contacting hundreds of thousands of people by phone. All of this, plus other projects, will cost $23 million more than we presently have in the bank.

Do I think they could be BETTER at communicating this information? No doubt. The above was "buried" in the 4th paragraph of a 7 paragraph plain text email. (No bold, no italic... no "subheading"... just buried. Obviously Kent Snyder, the Campaign Chairman and author of the letter could learn a few things about letter construction and improved communication.) Granted I *do* still wish they would make 100% clear what they have spent so far and how they have spent it... but the above request DID clearly state the purpose. (Let's just hope they use GOOD ads this time... I guess the *quality* and the content of the 20-states worth of the ads is something one must step out in faith on.)


2) IOWA campaign held-back on resources anticipating problems & opposition -- In the January 7th email entitled "How Do I Say Thank You" the following was (once again) "buried" in the second to last paragraph:

In our Iowa campaign, since it was a caucus, we were dealing with party activists for the most part, not the people. And some of the activists were very unhappy to hear our views, trying to scream them down! Others thought that peace violates Christianity.

OK, again it could have been subtitled and made a lot clearer (and perhaps even titled better?), but it is fairly obvious that there WAS a purposeful reticence (and not just an after-the fact justification) to spend more money in a state and to a "select few" (Iowa Caucuses draw only a minor single digit % participation) who are known to be somewhat "oppositional" to the message. I also DO wish they had owned up to the failed database and poor use of the college students -- who sacrificed their Christmas vacation time with little to show for it but bruises and experience. (However those students who DID go through it learned SOLID lessons, hopefully the campaign did too? Time will tell, I guess.)

3) New Hampshire was a miscalculation & was on purpose NOT the subject of major ad campaign -- Why? Well as is laid out in the rest of the same paragraph in the January 7th (day before NH primary) email cited above, the campaign THOUGHT that New Hampshire would be a "cake-walk" and that advertising there was unnecessary (and they were thinking and hedging their bets for Super Tuesday):

But New Hampshire is another story. There is a state and a people tailor-made for us. Live Free! Then there are Michigan, South Carolina, and Super Tuesday and its nearly 20 primaries. Frankly, we need $23 million more to have a chance of beating the establishment candidates.

I think in the above there is a pretty solid *hint* that they though NH was a "slam-dunk" and the failure there caused them to "pull-back" from Michigan AND South Carolina in anticipation of Super Tuesday. Again this was never clearly spelled out, but it WAS hinted at.

4) "We have made mistakes." -- The January 10th "Onward" email I *know* that I read thoroughly, but even here I missed something the first and second time around. And that is the sentence already cited: "We have made mistakes." Perhaps because I regularly "own up" to my personal mistakes, I missed the rarity and clarity of the OWNERSHIP of that statement; this is NOT a George W. Bush disavowal of responsibility -- it does not say "Mistakes were made." Instead, it clearly states "WE" -- followed by "MADE" -- followed by "MISTAKES."

Now obviously, one could WISH that they had included some "listing," however short, of the mistakes they believe were made, AND some assurance thereby that the appropriate LESSONS had been learned. As he often does, Ron "assumes" that we know the mistakes he is talking about -- perhaps, and this is a hopeful thought, this is because they (the campaign) had gone over and reviewed the mistakes so many times that they sincerely THOUGHT everyone knew the whole list. (Got news for the campaign, if you don't tell us... well, we don't have ESP and don't have microphones bugging HQ meetings [at least not yet.. though that sounds like a good idea, no?]) But on looking at it in the CONTEXT of the immediately prior January 7th email about NH being "tailor made" I think I have seen (and already pointed out in #4 above... they "assumed" NH was already won, and therefore did NOT splurge on ads during the final days.)

5) "we are in this all the way through a brokered convention." -- As it was the last sentence in a longish introductory paragraph of the January 20th email "Message From Ron" on the Nevada results, I missed this statement. It is a critical statement... one that should have stood by itself, in it's own paragraph as it is MUCH too powerful to be buried.

Thanks to you, we are in this all the way through a brokered convention.

See how much of a difference THAT makes. Hmmm...

Also, this makes clear the campaign's full (and yes, risky!) strategy -- that this year there will NOT be a clear "consensus" winner of the nomination prior to the convention. But that instead the convention will be a rare BROKERED one; and that for once, Ron Paul intends to run a "brokerage house."

OK, so to me at least there IS NOW a clearcut STATED CAMPAIGN STRATEGY. The goal is NOT necessarily to try to become the "consensus winner" (though circumstances MAY yet make that possible) -- but instead the goal is to fight this out across ALL FIFTY STATES... claiming 2nds, even 3rds, and enough 1sts to end up with a SIGNIFICANT (perhaps 1/3) delegate count. To be fair the campaign has more or less said this already -- it just never seemed real. And doubtless it is "crazy" because it IS entirely different than Huckabee, Giuliani, McCain, Romney and Thompson (and all the others who have already dropped out) -- all of them have bet ALL of their cash up front, hoping that momentum and a "consensus" will carry them through Feb 5th. News for you them is that there currently is NO consensus. Both tactics are risky. But ALL the other candidates have bet the same way -- only Ron has bet on a different color and number on the roulette wheel.

6) "working hard in Florida, in Louisiana and then Super Tuesday 20 states." -- OK, perhaps this one is obvious, within the January 20th email -- but still it needs to be emphasized that the campaign IS pushing into the remaining "early" states (and I am assuming from this that the state of Maine *may* just be bypassed as relatively small and another NH) Hopefully doing so is NOT yet another mistake.

BTW as far as "fessing up" I was unaware until yesterday that Louisiana has an important part of it's caucus process on Jan 22nd. Seems the OTHER campaigns have missed that as well. Louisiana meetups say there is HEAVY dissatisfaction with the Federal Government (duh!) and that while the election there is chaotic, they have hopes for a good result (meaning high delegates for Ron Paul).

7) "I promise you that I will continue to pour all my heart and mind and strength into the battle." -- Again at the end of the January 20th "Message from Ron" email -- an overlooked sentence. Why overlooked? because it was "buried" in the midst of the last paragraph -- almost immediately following the very distracting (and easily dismissed) "Please make your most generous donation"
sentence we are all sick of , and the following blue web-donation site link -- which especially in a plain text note tells you "look ONLY at me because I'm blue and clickable." And for most people, the rest of the paragraph goes completely UNREAD, because... hey why would they put something important there?

I promise you that I will continue to pour all my heart and mind and strength into the battle. I know you will too.

Again communication 101... see how much more powerful that is standing by it's lonesome. BOTH sentences reaffirm that there IS dedication to winning here... something I had begun to doubt.

What this all means.

It means that the campaign has NOT wasted it's cash to date. It means that they closed the wallet & trimmed back in the early states ON PURPOSE in order to make certain they could still play at least a fairly STRONG HAND on February 5th, even if the 1st Quarter donations do not amount to anywhere near the Goal they have set.

In short, we have a pretty solid poker hand, and a few "wild" cards as well (with the Economy and Iraq War) -- while all of the rest of the candidates have maybe a pair or a single high card. And we are sitting on enough chips to make a winning ante... one that may just "buy" the table and the whole game.

If Ron had even more chips, the victory would be virtually assured. (As to the content of the cards -- the TV ads, possibly several "attack ads" -- with all of their skeletons it would greatly surprise me if we were UNABLE to use their own words and videotaped statements against them as knockout blows (like Rudy in Drag, or his blatant statement that "I am NOT a Republican" -- likewise Romney's similar statement, or McCain's 100-year occupation of Iraq -- all of which make the 20-year old "newsletter" pale in comparison!)

Keep in mind that while WE, the technically-savvy internet people have probably seen ALL of these things, the general public has not. And the several Republicans I know who "think" they support Rudy... have no idea what he is really like; their support of Rudy will disappear like a puffball the very instant they see Rudy-in-Drag being "nuzzled" by the Donald! (There was a precursor to this a week or so back, when listening to a WPR show the guest jokingly called Giuliani a "serial cross-dresser" -- 15 minutes later, an incredulous caller who claimed he HAD been a Rudy supporter repeated that phrase and asked the guest for evidence... on being told it was a "well-known" thing in Beltway and that yes, it was factual... the caller was noticeably deflated. And this was only by HEARING it described... he still had not SEEN this video... I guarantee just 10 seconds of that aired on national TV in an attack ad would completely END Giuliani's bid.) And whether they were done with Hollywood "professionality" or not... they would have the same effect.

Note: For those who believe Ron will not attack or run negative ads... that is actually very true. But he is NOT afraid to use opposing candidates own words, images, statements and video against them -- THAT is fair game (especially when they declaim to NOT be Republicans, well in doing so the absent themselves from Reagan's 11th Commandment), and Ron is NOT afraid to play that... he is simply awaiting the right time to reveal those "trump" cards. (OK, I'm mixing my card-game metaphors... but Whist is even more complex than Poker, and subject to more dramatic turns. Something tells me Ron, like Captain Horatio Hornblower, is a really good whist player!)

Final statement... people need to step up to the plate and donate to the campaign again... especially Wisconsin folks. I know that our work here WILL BE important as well, but Feb 5th comes first.

I would donate more myself, but as you are all (painfully) aware... I am maxed out...

So it is up to all of you. Whether it is $5 or $10, $20 or $50 or even more if you can afford it, please contribute so that the PUBLIC can see what the others are TRULY like, and Ron Paul can get OUR message out.

Don't wait for money-bombs... just do it when and as you are able.

--
Warren L. Miller
Organizer, Wisconsin Ron Paul Organizers (Meta-Group)
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/687/