A Shrewd Run for Congress - GOP United Against Ron Paul in '96 Too
Posted March 5th, 2008 by Michael Nystrom
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But he won anyway. Excellent article from the Concord Monitor. This is the amazing story of how our hero Dr. Ron Paul outgamed the entire GOP, including both George Bush Sr. and Jr. -- the two most powerful Republicans in the state of Texas -- who, along with the entire rest of the national GOP, chose to support the Democrat incumbent who at the last minute switched parties to run against Dr. Paul in the Republican primary.
Folks, he did it once before. With our help, he can do it again. Read on:
While Ron Paul mostly has been depicted in the media as a political oddity whose following is limited to libertarians and bloggers, Paul's past shows he knows how to win tough campaigns - even when he has to fight his own party's power brokers, as he did to win a congressional seat in 1996.
It was just two years after the "Republican Revolution" of 1994, led by Newt Gingrich and his Contract With America. Republicans were trying to expand their first House majority in decades. But Paul was hardly the kind of reliable partisan the party wanted to boost its ranks. Although he had served as a Republican congressman in the late 1970s and '80s, he had run for president against George H.W. Bush as the Libertarian Party's nominee in 1988, and he had a reputation for harboring quirky passions, such as restoring the gold standard for U.S. currency.
He visited the state's Republican congressmen in Washington to discuss his plans before announcing his candidacy. The Texas delegation could have decided to help Paul with valuable financial support and endorsements.
Paul said in an interview that he thought they'd be happy to have another Republican in the delegation, but that's not what happened. "I didn't think they were going to do what they did," he said.
Well, they went ahead and did it. Pulled a dirty trick on Dr. Paul. But read on to see how he won the seat! Many thanks to photoshopwiz for the link. Continue reading here...
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Inspirational article
Read the whole article as time allows. You find out who the bad guys are and who the Americans are real quick. Dr. Paul just points this out and let's the voters decide. Who needs the support of the Bush crime family when there are patriots who look to a honest man to protect their lives and liberties.
If you actually read the article...
You'll realize that he...
A) Came in SECOND (of three candidates) in the initial primary, losing 32% to 43% for Laughlin (with the 3rd candidate close on his heels at 25%).
B) Had a "second chance" because Texas has "runoff" elections when the "winner" gets less than 50%.
C) Won very late in the game because of a "fluke" video piece that was literally "dropped" into the hands of the campaign from an unspecified source (Rove?) -- "We weren't doing all that great," Paul said -- and thus allowed a last minute flip of the tables on Laughlin.
D) Won the general election with a fairly small margin (6,000 votes on a 200,000 vote tally -- 51.5% to 48.5% -- not exactly spectacular considering he outspent his opponent 2 to 1, a guy nicknamed "Lefty" for crying out loud).
In sum total... not exactly a well-planned or well-executed campaign strategy, he won the primary because he got lucky and in the end played "politics" against a party-flipper incumbent (one of the few ways incumbents can easily lose). And realistically, he squeaked by into office in the general mainly because of major national donations, and a general anti-Democrat sentiment (96 was Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" year, aka the "Republican Revolution").
Wrong.
The Contract on America was 1994 not 1996.
Great congressional run...
..just wish he'd employed similar savvy in his Presidential run. Retail face-to-face politicking was woefully missing from Dr. Paul's presidential run and it showed in the results. IF he'd used the same on-the-ground, personal touch tactics (and better media ads) in Iowa and New Hampshire instead of "helicopter campaigning" (drop in; give a speech; rally the already-converted; disappear) we might be singing a different song right now about his Presidential prospects. Oh well, live and learn--but don't forget lessons already learned.
Very Inspirational
You know, I'm amazed at myself for this, but I found that a rollicking good story and I was inspired by the political ability of this man to win against all the powers who set themselves against him.
Thank you so much for posting that.
I think we should find an RP-like republican who would like to
run against Mr. Peden, for his current "day job", and see if can unseat Mr. Peden. Nothing like starting at the local level and building from there.
They also
gerrymandered his district at least once and I believe the GOP once backed a Democrat against Dr. Paul.
Congratulations, Dr. Paul, on winning your 11th Congressional election!
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"I killed the banks"
Superbly written article
Any and all supporters must read this compelling history of our leader.
So many of us shoot our mouths off (I know I have) without thinking that Dr. Paul has been at this since most of us were still in school.
In School?
Well lets see, he was first elected to congress in 1976? I don't know about you, but that's the year I was born. I celebrated my 32nd birthday a couple of months ago.
Money Bomb-To Celebrate Ron Paul's Election Victory!
I think we should schedule another money bomb to the presidential campaign to celebrate the congressional reelection victory.
This has been going on for years
I've been a RP supporter for years.
The Bush machine has been after him for years.
Those people in Texas have been heros in the revolution.
At least those Texas people in his l'il district....
Another kick-ass performance today - 70+% to less than 30%...
Those are the heros
They keep Dr. Paul in congress, no matter what Bush has tried to do.
Bush keeps trying to defeat him.
How did Bush get to be labeled a "conservative?"
Just because he likes to execute people?
How is that "conservative?"
He has killed a lot of people now. As president, I've heard that up to one million people have been killed because of him.
I would not like to be him when I meet my maker.
Again, how is that conservative or Christian?