Iowa Straw Poll Ron Paul Roundup
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Iowa, Romney, Ron PaulFirst off, Paul’s wife has been hospitalized, and I wish her speedy recovery. From reports, though, looks like she’s doing fine so good news there.
Now then…expectations are high and apparently Ron Paul supporters are out in full force today. This has the media paying attention, and they’re starting to make non specific promises that if Paul places high today, he’s going to start getting a lot more coverage.
The Texas congressman is the X-factor in the straw poll. He has a HUGE presence here but does that translate into votes from actual Iowans? We really don’t know the answer yet. Make no mistake: If Paul bursts into the top 3, his candidacy is going to start getting a lot more attention very quickly.
Meanwhile, it also appears as if the media is noting a “dirty tricks” campaign by some Paul supporters, where they’re encouraging Iowans to hop on buses Romney rented and use Romney’s tickets to vote for Paul.
This would be hilarious if it worked, and completely genius.
“Some say if Mitt is willing to bus Iowans to Ames for the straw poll, they should take him up on his offer!” says a flier in Iowa and on the Internet in advance of the straw poll for the Republican presidential candidates. The flier says that after riding the Romney bus to Ames, and allowing the Romney campaign to pay one’s $35 entry fee, Iowans should then carefully weigh their options and “they may decide to vote for Ron Paul.”The flier is topped with a banner that says “2008 Ron Paul News,” but Jesse Benton, a campaign spokesman, said it was the handiwork of independent supporters over whom the campaign had no control. “We can’t tell our supporters what to do or not do,” Mr. Benton said, adding that the campaign did not want to get “entangled” with federal finance regulations involving potential in-kind contributions.
And the Paul campaign says this isn’t a make or break day for Paul. I disagree…
Mr. Benton would not speculate where Mr. Paul might finish, but said he expected most of the candidates to receive between 1,500 and 3,000 votes. “If we can be somewhere in the middle of that pack, that would be a big success for us,” he said. “Our goal is to prove that we can translate our online support into bodies in Ames and prove we can run with the pack. We feel we have a lot of room to grow, while other campaigns might have reached their peak.”
Sure, middle of the pack like he is right now? Having 30,000 supporters around the country is fantastic, but if the Dean campaign showed the world anything, it’s hard to translate that into real votes. Some of less astute fans of Paul may call me names, but I think the more seasoned political observers who support Paul understand just how important it is to place well, if not first, in this contest. Again, it harken’s back to 2004 when Dean won the MoveOn.org online poll. Paul has to rocket out of nowhere to capture the country’s imagination.
What would be a dream scenario for Paul would he wins and the Romney campaign cries foul because of the dirty trick campaign by Paul’s supporters. That would make Mitt look weak, and that’s what Paul needs right now.
More as it develops…
UPDATE:
Video courtesy of TheNewsRoom.
This entry was posted on Saturday, August 11th, 2007 and is filed under 2008 Election, Iowa, Romney, Ron Paul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 11th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Well it’s important to note that Clinton got low polls (~2%) and came in last in the early straw polls. But he did end up winning.
And the days of Howard Dean and now is hundreds of ears apart if we’re talking about the internet. There is so much more “social networking” sites then there were in the last election. Youtube, myspace, meetup, etc etc. So I think the internet will play a bigger factor then it did in the yesteryears.
However there are still many people who rely on the mainstream media and vote for the so called “front runners” and it is very important to get high in this straw poll so they can capture that large audience.
Hopefully all goes well, and hopefully the real elections stop using these machines that have been proven to be hackable. :-\
August 11th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Ron Paul raised $75,000 in one day! http://digg.com/politics/Ron_Paul_Campaign_raises_75_000_in_one_day
August 11th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
I don’t feel this is a make or break day for Paul. For the other “second-tiers”, yes, but not Paul. He has money, he will continue to raise money - he just had a record day the other day.
The other 2nd tier candidates blow their load here and depend on a good showing to get a bump in donations or they are out. Not so with Paul. Maybe because he isn’t 2nd tier.
But I have a feeling he will do well.
August 11th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Who are the three declared candidates leading Ron Paul? Am I missing something?
August 11th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
This is not a make or break for Ron Paul. His numbers and support is continuely on the rise. He had his biggest fundraising day ever just two days ago. He’s only been in Iowa for a week while the other candidates have spent weeks in Iowa. Ron Paul is in good shape as the race turns to New Hampshire.
August 11th, 2007 at 5:07 pm
Well. I do not think he needs to be in the top three due to the fact he spent 1 week there. It is not fair to think a 1 week investment will get you to the top. Interesting fact will be that he will pick up tons of cash from here on in and get noticed so that by the time he gets back there he will be among the frontrunners. McCain is done. T Thompson is done. Hunter done, and probably Brownback and Tancredo later.
August 11th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
If Ron Paul gets 5 or 6 percent that will be a big win. We wish him luck, but more importantly, we wish good health to Carol!
August 11th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
since when are politics fair johnnyb? i listened to ron paul speak for 5 minutes and was instantly a supporter ( and so were the other 10 people in my office that day after i showed them one of his videos)
anyways, i believe ron paul will come in first or second place because once you hear him speak and see how sincere he is about empowering the people (regular people, not just rich people or large buisness owners) to take care of their own affairs and return to a constitutional society, well we will just see.
August 11th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Ron Paul did very little campaigning in Iowa, if he beats out others who have been here for months that will be huge. I think Romney had put alot of money in this event and if he doesn’t win by 35% or more it will be bad news for him.
August 11th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I’d like to point one thing out in regards to Dr. Paul and Dr. Dean. Both of these men had/have huge support on the Internet. Howard Dean is now chairman of the DNC. Like it or not, he deserves a lot of credit for the 2006 victory by the Democrats. I think the GOP would be smart to start embracing Dr. Paul’s view because these are the views that fiscally conservative, freedom loving live and let live people in both parties are attracted to.
August 11th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
FOX is reporting there were “problems” with the Diebold machines, possibly due to “humidity.”
Geraldo has not mentioned Ron Paul ONCE.
August 11th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Ron Paul took 5th out of 11 places. He took 12% of the votes. Oh yes, lemme guess his spammers somehow spammed the voting boxes?
August 11th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
We need Ron Paul, he is America and we need Americans who want to work for America! Don”t forget that. Lets not give our country away like everyone else did. remember NAFTA and now Amnesty!!!
August 12th, 2007 at 10:48 am
I find this whole process very suspicious. They used Diebold voting machines, which have been shown time and time again to be security nightmares. They had “machine troubles” which delayed the tally. On top of all this, only about half of the attendees voted? Let me guess, no paper trail? Some people got robbed. Mind you they paid $35 to vote why wouldnt they vote (i do understand alot of people were not from Iowa). Ron Paul has a strong message, and i just worry that the little CNN’s and little Hannitys running around never truely listin, they are caught in Doublethink.
August 12th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Looks like Faux News did it again in reporting the top three winners in the Straw Poll, skipping the fourth and fifth place winners and then jumping from sixth to ninth place. WTF?
It will be interesting to see how the “conservative” talk show hosts report on the Straw Poll. Be sure to listen tonight to Drudge and then to the rest tomorrow.
Ron Paul has momentum, and will be the next President of the USA.
Ron Paul 2008
August 13th, 2007 at 4:17 am
ron paul? Isn’t he the guy who starred in the Lord of the Rings? How pathetic is it to tell your supporters to jump on the Romney buses because you are too cheap to afford your own. Sounds a little shady to me. Mr Paul should stay home and take care of his wife… she should be more important than trying to climb mt. everest. He can’t win. Romney governed while Paul voted yes and no. Romney fixes, Paul votes… Romney excels in education, business, building organizations, and leading them. Watch his organization get larger and larger. GO ROMNEY…
August 14th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
hawnstyle,
This is the second time you have posted this ridiculous paragraph. I believe you are a shrill. All you do is badmouth without substance. Ron Paul has voted according to the constitution much more than flip/flop Romney. I asked Iowans why they were supporting Romney and most could not give a policy but that he was the one offering the free BBQ steak and air conditioned bus. Ron Paul supporters drover themselves, and had to walk 6 parking lots away when Romney’s “team” had the bus drill down pat. I believe Romney spent probably $1000 per voter there, so if that doesn’t buy you a win I would feel sorry for him. The vote was fixed, there were 26,000 tickets purchased and they only counted 14,203. Where are the rest of the votes that were prepaid for?
August 15th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
How do you know those tickets were Ron Paul’s. They could have all been for Romney. Besides, that is what I was talking about. He votes yes and no… That’s not a leader.
You Ron Paul supporters are big cry babies. The medias not fair, Romney’s buying votes. He will be a puppet like Bush.
Romney is going to win Iowa, then New Hampshire, and then the snowball will start to roll. He has an organization, Paul has spammers…
For the record, I like Ron Paul the person. But he is NOT a leader… I rest my case. GO ROMNEY!!!!!!!