Bad Timing (Letting Ron Paul Down on Eve of Super Tuesday)
Posted February 3rd, 2008 by Dr. Tim
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Dr. Paul asked for $5 million in additional funds by February 5th, Super Tuesday. As of now (Feb. 3), we are $3.3 MILLION SHORT!
Dr. Paul raised more money in the 4th quarter than Romney and McCain COMBINED! What an accomplishment! So, are we going to let him down now? At perhaps the most important point in the campaign thus far...when all he's asking for is another $3.3 million?
Check out this chart at Ron Paul Graphs and you'll see that Superbowl Sunday is off to a SUPER SLOW START:
C'mon people! Let's keep this thread alive and get donating!
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YES...
keep this going! Also, could help by no reply but 'flag' that troll post SURVEY: You support Ron Paul but have chosen to stop donating. Why?
Bad Timing
is not the problem as much as most of us are max-ed out now.
Never Surrender - Never Retreat
As an old campaigner who's been in this fight since 1979, let me say that it has been, and will continue to be, a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. This current upward ride has by no means reached its peak, yet, but you should not make the mistake of thinking short term. We must continually build on our successes, and for those of you who are true converts to the revolution, this will be a life long commitment. Even when we win, the victory will have to be maintained. Never surrender - never retreat!
Heres how to raise the money
I mentioned this on Friday and nobody helped. Dr. Paul has 120,000+ friends on MySpace. If all those friends were contacted and asked to give $50 that would be $6 MIL. So we should be able to rake in the dough if there are enough volunteers on DailyPaul that want to dedicate time today to divide up the pages of RP friends on MySpace and contact them. You will need a MySpace subscription to do this if you want to help. Once we complete the contacts on MySpace we can move to FaceBook. Any thoughts, we will need to move FAST.
Does it matter on the differences we're hearing.
Bottom Line is Ron Paul has stated as long as the money keeps coming in he'll be in to the end, period. So, If you have money and can afford Plz donate NOW, If you can't afford it Plz donate when you can. We need to keep the flow of money coming in consistently. Donate, Donate, Donate...there is no amount of money too small, We're at war...and Ron Paul needs as much money as possible. Goal or No Goal, whether we met the goal or not is all irrelevant. Their is not any money totals to small or great we MUST see that the money continues to flow in from the east to west, north to south...Keep the Flow of money running let's make it like a massive river We MUST keep the Flow of Money Strong...Donate what you can, when you can. Donate, Donate, Donate
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"We, the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution." Abraham Lincoln
Okay It appears I'm the one who has been confused I think
I misunderstood this Ron Paul wanted 5 million dollars by Feb. 5th we have accomplished that, here's a letter from Ron on Jan. 28th...I'm not going to post the entire letter just the relevant part for this topic...
We want to win as many delegates to the Republican National Convention as possible, even if other campaigns don't see some areas of the country as "important. But in this work, I need your help. Help me get many, many delegates to this historic convention, by these three methods.
1. Donate. Your generous contributions are essential if we're going to keep going until September. We need, frankly $5 million by February 5 to run more TV and radio ads in the Super Tuesday states. Your help means everything: https://www.ronpaul2008.c....
...
and if you notice on HQ main site the "Going for Gold tab it mentions the 5 million dollar boost by Feb. 5th So, I"m still confused can we have somebody who knows the FACTS straighten this out, Please
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"We, the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution." Abraham Lincoln
He asked for a $5 mllion "boost" by Feb 5th. See the $8.4M
next to the gold bar on the website?
Actually I understood BOTH...
I understood that what he was TRYING to say was that they wanted an ADDITIONAL $5M (which on top of the $3.3M or $3.4M would mean a total of $8.3 or $8.4M)
The only WRITTEN indication that the actual goal is $8.4M is the tiny little gold text at the far right of the progress bar on the widget.
BUT in REALLY BIG letters on the same widget it says $5 MILLION (boost).
And I also understood that in general the supporters were going to read that THE GOAL was $5M by Feb 5th. Why? Simply because people do NOT read the fine print... they read the BIG BOLD HEADLINE.
IMHO, the problem here is indicative of the entire campaign; and that is the INABILITY of the CAMPAIGN to communicate clearly and effectively.
The other is the assumption that the "grassroots supporters" are completely in charge and responsible for meeting whatever "goals" the campaign sets. What arrogance! I mean what special fund-raisers or other efforts has the campaign been doing in connection with this "goal"? Have there been ANY at all?
And as I have said before in other posts here and in other places, what has the campaign done to TRULY answer the question of the grassroots as to WHAT DID THEY DO WITH THE $20M from 4th Qtr?
Sure they filed the papers with the FEC... but where is the email to the supporters explaining how it was spent in plain English? Many people want to know why their previous investment does not seem to have brought any fruit.
I agree we have let him down.
It's fickle supporters that may be the downfall of this campaign. Even if you think he won't get the nomination, for freedom's sake we must keep RP in the race. How can a person go from being awakened to what is going on in this country, supporting Dr. Paul, and donating money to the cause to then deciding "well I don't think he can get the nomination, so I'll stop supporting the cause and go with another candidate that will further ruin our country even though it's already on the brink of disaster". Boy that's what I call a "fearless American", give me a break!
I ran into a man in his 40's canvassing yesterday who said he liked RP, but wouldn't put up a sign basically because he was afraid of reprisal from his neighbors and said people in that neighborhood would rip the sign down, trash his car, etc. WHAT A WIMP! Pretty funny that the lady next door who was a widow on dialysis agreed to put one up and said that both her kids are leaning toward RP too.
Our country is in the trouble it's in due to the many people that sat by and let it happen, because they are too afraid to take a stand. I thought us in the Ron Paul Revolution were different. Please don't let these others bring us down. PLEASE.
I also think the "campaign" has let down the solid supporters
They have received FAR MORE money than they planned or ever thought they would receive.
Yet what has happened? In what way did the official campaign TRULY run an aggressive campaign effort, or a cohesive campaign effort.
You cannot simply make a bunch of mediocre "TV ads" and throw them onto TV's and expect to get more than a minuscule return as a result -- you have to produce EFFECTIVE ads -- ads that actually create a compelling vision, ads that MOTIVATE the general "voter" to actively support the campaign.
I said at the beginning of January when the RPPCC chairman asked for another $23M -- that in the end the campaign staff would use THAT and the failure to meet that goal as a means of diverting blame for a failed campaign away from themselves and onto the grassroots, rather than being accountable for their own actions.
I see now that I was both right, and wrong... the campaign is not even over and the blame is being placed on the "supporters."
Foolishness.
another jobless american
Believe you me, I'll be donating when I have money to donate!!! Give me 2 to 4 weeks to get back in the game
Ron Paul asked for 5 million
Ron Paul asked for 5 million by feb 5th, he got that plus some, what is the problem?
With all due respect...
With all due respect, I believe they asked for a $5 million BOOST, which is why the ticker graphic has $8.4 million as its goal before Super Tuesday.
That 8 million is the goal
That 8 million is the goal for the quarter I do believe.
Nope....
the $8 million goal is for "by Feb 5".
The original request was for $24 million which due to lack of response was reduced to a request for a $5 million "boost" to get to $8.4 million.
And this is happening at THE most critical juncture for media. Pundits early on said it would take a candidate $100 million to win the nomination and $500 million to win the presidency. Dr. Paul was planning an efficient $44 million nomination run based on the excitement of the $20 million raised in Q4.
Then donations went *po0f*.......
I beg to differ
Q4 was the most critical juncture. Winning a few early states would have locked us into a great position for Tuesday. We exceeded the target by $8 million the goal of "$12 million to win". If $12 million was enough to win, $20 million should have been a lock.
How could they expect the grassroots to raise $24 million in one month, when our concerted efforts could not even pull that off in an entire quarter. Even $8 million in one month after many people have tapped themselves out is a big expectation. The only way getting these kinds of numbers would have been achievable would be if there was a large influx of NEW supporters. The best way to have achieved that would have been to win a state or two, or at least a few 2nd places.
Ultimately, the campaign should not rely solely on the grassroots. We gave everything we could in the 4th quarter, it was up to them to use that "to win" and organize more support. We are not going to be able to win solely as a grassroots effort.
Lastly, when did we start listening to pundits? How wrong have they been up to this point?
Now, I love the candidate, and I've given my time and my money. I think his campaign staff squandered some opportunities and essentially wasted a lot of the funds. Let's just hope we can pull off a few states this week and use that as a means to work on the remaining 20 or so states.
Sorry, but...
...I do believe you are wrong.
If I remember correctly, the campaign did not have 3.4 million when he asked for the boost. And, I was perplexed why folks were talking about 8+ million, then I noticed the campaign had the thermometer go up to 8+ million.
I do not necessarily agree with those that say the 8+ is a quarterly goal, I simply think the campaign provided enough room in the thermometer in case the grassroots gave much more.
The campaign certainly wasn't going to argue with those misquoting the amount, and I followed suit. If the grassrots filled up that thrmometer, then great, if we only reached the 5 million mark, then we met the goal that was announced. It was a win-win situation.
But, to say we let RP down, I believe is completely and patently false.
Just my dollars worth (about two cents).
No kidding: goal met
Sheesh.
Goal is NOT met. We had 3
Goal is NOT met. We had 3 million when he asked for that. Se above about the 23 million he really needed. We need 8.4 million total by the 5th, for what HE needs..
An Idea That Might Help
The campaign keeps asking the people who have already donated for more money. Some are maxed out. Some are on limited budgets. It’s time to ask others for support.
Could Dr. Paul’s radio and TV ads end with a request for donations? Instead of saying, “I’m Ron Paul and I approve this message”, perhaps he could say “I’m Ron Paul and I approve this message. If you agree with this message help support our campaign by donating today at RonPaul2008.com.”
TV ads lend themselves to having banners across the bottom of the screen. There could be a lot of information conveyed in 30 seconds using banners. Along with the usual tidbits about Dr. Paul’s record, information like Dr. Paul’s campaign is completely funded by individual contributions not lobbyists or a massive personal fortune could be presented to the non-internet savvy population. Information on how to donate if you don’t have a computer (phone # or PO Box) should be included. It seems like banners could be added to existing commercials without incurring large production costs.
It’s just an idea. What do you think?
Catch 22...
There is no money left for campaign ads.
Pundits said it would take $100 million to win the nomination and $500 million to win the presidency.
Based on the excitement of the $20 million donated in Q4 Dr. Paul planned an efficient $44 million nomination run. Ads are now running in only a handful of the 20 or so Super Tuesday states and the donations are only trickling in.
*sigh*
Just wait till those stimulus package checks start rolling in...
I think that so many people are talking about donating their stimulus package checks that we are going to see our biggest quarter yet after that. Time will tell.
huh? How about they set realistic goals.
Look, the campaign asked for $12 million "to win" in the 4th quarter . We gave $20 million. That was more money than any other Republican candidate raised in that quarter. We didn't win a single state, with the possible exception of the contested results of Louisiana. If the campaign could have put one or two gold medals on the wall, fundraising would have surged.
Now we put together over $5 million in one month in the 1st quarter of 2008. That's more than what was raised in the first month of the last quarter, and assuming we stay even at this pace we should be able to raise about $16 million in this quarter, which is not far behind the total of last quarter.
Yeah but...
The other candidates got their big hauls in Q2 and Q3 PRIOR to Q4.
Taking Q4 in context of the bigger picture:
TOTAL RAISED (all quarters in 2007)
------------------------------------------------------
Hillary -- $115 million
Obama -- $102 million
Romney -- $ 88 million
Giulliani -- $ 60 million
McCain -- $ 41 million
Dr. Paul -- $ 28 million
Not as rosy as the "MOST MONEY IN Q4!!!!!!" positive affirmations floating around.
As the election cycle started various pundits predicted it would take a candidate $100 million to win the nomination and $500 million to win the presidency.
Also, keep in mind that all of the other candidates were household names while our guy is "Dr. who?".
McCain has been a daily fixture in the national and international news media since the invasion of Afghanistan making loud proclamations and putting on shows for the press in Iraq.
The success of Q4 caused Dr. Paul to plan for a $44 million or so media effort. Remember, the pundits said it would take $100 million. It's a big country and media advertising is expensive.
Intentionally or unintentionally the grassroots made a collective decision to not give Dr. Paul his media campaign by cutting off funding at THE most critical juncture.
Simple as that. Strange but true.
The other candidates...blah, blah, blah
The other candidates got their big hauls in Q2 and Q3 PRIOR to Q4.
And if you LOOK at the FEC reports, the other candidates also SPENT nearly all of that money prior to Q4.
By the end of Q4, the RPPCC had the MOST money on hand of any Republican Party candidate.
Fred was broke, but got a bus and drove around Iowa doing LOTS of retail campaigning.
McCain was broke for MONTHS beforehand and was running a skeleton of a campaign... riding a but around SC, doing retail campaign visits to NH, and even a tiny bit in Iowa.
Huckabee had MUCH less cash, but managed to campaign effectively in not simply Iowa, but to turn from that in less than a week to do a relatively effective (or at least respectable) campaign in NH and SC as well.
Ron Paul... spent a lot of his time stopping by rallies at Universities and colleges giving "educational" talks to students and occasionally a collection of people who already supported him and had driven miles to see him. Once the weather turned cold, he made very few retail campaigning trips or events, and... purportedly because they were saving the cash for an ideally timed media "blitz" they claimed they were NOT wasting their money on advertising in those early states.
And by the end of the 4th Qtr -- and before a single primary had been run in earnest -- the campaign had essentially spent (some might say "squandered") $17M -- which means ALL of the funds raised in the 3rd Qtr AND essentially the ENTIRE $12M that they had requested for the 4th quarter.
The only money they had left? The additional $8M that the grassroots had donated OVER AND ABOVE the requested goal for the 4th Qtr.
I think you're putting the blame on the wrong people.
Did anyone ever think of asking "Why" people are not donating?
I have not donated since the "Tea Party" money bomb. I would tell you why, but my last post literally disappeared after literally about 30 seconds. So, I am not going to tell you my reason yet for fear of this ending up in a cyber black hole for whatever reason. Maybe one of the people here who is more invested than me in this website and does not get their posts eliminated (even from their tracking history) would be interested in doing a post. It is a shame because I think that others may have the same reason as I do, but it somehow gets lost or disappears.
It's drupal...
This site uses Drupal -- and the module used that runs the forum is KNOWN to have these issues under heavy loads of traffic. Don't take offense -- it's the software and many people hate this about Drupal.
Ha!
Yeah, we "trolls" who have been disappointed in the HQ campaign performance thus far.
Let's Reign! (Rev. 5:10)
Please explain yourself. I am confused by your response.
Thank you.
My guess
I believe people are hurting financially and we all are mathematically, having some reservations whether Dr Paul can win the nomination.
I don't think Ron Paul supporters have totally gone away. I think they have investigated other options of what to do with their vote and support if Dr Paul doesn't get the nomination.
The best way to handle this is for the campaign HQ to give us an honest overall briefing of where we stand. I know we still have a chance, but the media is a powerful tool that can scare and distort like no other.
make the meetup groups call
make the meetup groups call all their members 100 000+ or so.
Donations
Where's Trevor on the marketing for this one? The last two MB's were not marketed as well, but it's still pretty dang good! ALL of the others are not growing like we are. News came out yesterday that Ron Paul won the most donations AGAIN in the 4th quarter of '07. He collected more than the other 3 dolts, combined!
To me, this shows a vote against Ron Paul is a vote against the troops!
The only way we can lose is to forget that we are winning!
The real reasons...
The real reasons why donations are way down:
-- Many earlier supporters of the liberal bent(and there were alot) have left for the Hillary/Obama camps.
-- Many earlier supporters have left to vote for McCain/Romney over the electability issue(BUNCHES of these)
-- Many supporters are very unhappy with HQ and its perceived effectiveness and are withholding donations as punishment(lots and lots of these too).
-- Many don't believe Dr. Paul can win the republican nomination and are saving their donations for a 3rd party run(maybe not as many as the other three but still a significant number).
All makes sense... except:
-- Many supporters are very unhappy with HQ and its perceived effectiveness and are withholding donations as punishment(lots and lots of these too).
This seems to fall into the TRAP of thinking that somehow the campaign is "entitled" to this money, and to think that donors are "punishing" the candidate is obtuse. Quite frankly, that's nothing but Keynesian thinking.
Rather, if you look at it from an Austrian economics perspective: many supporters have lost CONFIDENCE in the official campaign staff -- are NOT seeing what they believe should be an EFFECTIVE campaign or SOLID ads or anything else of the kind -- and they do NOT believe that they actually know what to DO with the money given them -- so they are withholding their money (as all free-markets do when confidence is lost) and CEASING TO INVEST in what they feel is a BADLY run company, with a good, but POORLY marketed product.
Maxed out!
Many of us don't feel the way you do and we have maxed out! I would give so much more if the government didn't control my ability to do so.
Keeping the faith!
Go Ron Paul!
I believe you nailed it.
Especially the Liberal one. Obama I think has gotten the most.
www.ronpaul2008.com
There is life at the end of the tunnel my friends!
Yeah... and the bizarre
Yeah... and the bizarre headscratcher of anti-war republicans flocking to McCain?!?!
o_O
Welcome the recession
It has its ups and downs. The up being that it proves what Dr Paul has been saying for years...on the downside it means we get hit just as hard as the sleepers
I agree, but people are
I agree, but people are broke. It breaks my heart that we haven't given him what he needs.
People are in bad shape. My family and I would give more if we could. How can you give when there is nothing. If you look at the numbers ton's of people donated but only small increments. Food, gas, insurance, has us wiped out. Give me cash and I will gladly donate it for you, but people are broke.
Food prices
No joke, the first time we went shopping in 2008 (grocery), the prices on some food items (staples, just normal stuff, nothing exotic) were about 30% higher than they had been just two weeks prior in calendar year 2007.
Health care costs went up recently, which exceeded (and then some) my merit increase that I received in November to my salary.
I have not yet received the 2008 cost of living increase that is customary in my job, a month into 2008.
Inflation is very real. Real wages are down for most Americans. Energy prices are sky high (some people are spending $300 a month to heat their homes), which drives up all other prices.
We have recently cancelled high speed internet, cancelled cable TV, and a number of other monthly recurring expenses.
I am very sad that we could not get Dr. Paul up to 8.4 million this week. I wish I could give now, I really do. But when it comes to feeding a houseful of young children or donating, I think Dr. Paul would agree that feeding my children is important.
I agree
I agree. We need to keep donating. But the problem this time was lack of time I think. If you think about it the Tea Party Bomb had almost 6 weeks of notice and made about 6 million. And each money bomb after had a little over 1-2 week and made around 1 million each. I think there just wasn't enough time. Right after the Tea Party bomb, if we had set the date for the 51st anniversary we could have done a lot better. At this point we should just stress donating whenever you can.
I don't think it's time, I
I don't think it's time, I think it's lack of money.
maybe a combination of both?
maybe a combination of both?
You're being negative! =(
I agree you with 1000%. Watch out for the "negativity gestapo" though. ;)
Not trying to be negative...
...just reminding people that there's work to be done.
I totally agree that dollars aren't everything, but they are something. And right now they're something Dr. Paul would like to have 3.3 million more of by February 5th.
It's just that, looking at Dr. Paul's record over the past 30 years, his unwavering devotion to the cause of liberty is unparalleled, and for that, I believe that we all owe him a debt of gratitude. A debt that we should do our best to repay when the opportunity to do so arises.
Well, that opportunity is here...now...today...and that was the reason for my original post.
Hard to Compete with Free Advertising
Even with $20 million raised in Q4, Dr. Paul hasn't gotten nearly the amount of exposure that Huckabee has, thanks of course to media bias and all the free publicity the Huckster has received.
Unfortunately, I don't see that changing any time soon. I honestly think that even if it gets down to 2 candidates after Super Tuesday, one of them being Ron Paul, the MSM will still do there best to ignore him.
This whole election process has been a very sad thing to witness, but at the same time, it's certainly been an eye-opening experience for many of us.
But regardless of what happens in this election cycle, Dr. Paul has energized a movement that will not fade away anytime soon. His new book will help see to that. I'm ordering 5 copies today! What better gift could you possibly give someone?
More money is not what we
More money is not what we need at this point. What we need is people going door to door getting the word out. All the other candidates are broke BUT they have the MSM working for them. We NEED more soldiers out there doing the dirty work.
Unfortunately, I live in Tokyo but if I was back home I'd be out waking people up every chance I got. This is a foot race for us now not a money race....
Dr. Paul says...
...the campaign needs money.
I think he knows better than we do. ;)
I disagree emphatically...
We need both canvassing and media campaigns. Media campaigns are like tilling the soil in preparation for the canvassers.
All the other candidates have household name recognition. Most people have never even heard of Ron Paul. Seeing and hearing his name on television and radio lends legitimacy in the minds of many people.
I think THE biggest shortcoming in this campaign is the lack of media. The canvassers are all spirited and out in force and doing their jobs. But the ground is hard and unbroken.
tapped out
Some of us are tapped out
others are maxed out
I have given on the last 3 money bombs. 12/31, 1/21, 2/1 all $100 buck each even though I can't afford it. I hope to donate more, but I need to wait while.
(btw, I donated $100 in each month of April, May and June, then I went broke)