Ron Paul’s Tea Party Money Bomb Upset By…
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Money, Ron PaulRon Paul?
Yep, it looks like the campaign wants money sooner rather than later, so they asked the guy who set up the Nov 5th money bomb to move the Dec 16th event to Nov 30th. However, there’s still going to be a money bomb on Dec 16th?
Bad move.
Ron Paul “Money Bomb†creator Trevor Lyman is said to be grateful, humble and somewhat “confused†about what to do next, given that the campaign of presidential candidate Ron Paul has issued a letter asking supporters to donate now rather than later. [...]The Ron Paul campaign wants dollars now, to pay for ads and other necessary items. Sources told FMNN, Lyman was trying to figure out whether he could move up the date of the latest money bomb, now scheduled to hit on December 16th. While FMNN had heard Lyman would take “a week” to mull over the issue, he has apparently moved quickly to set up another site – seemingly launching it yesterday in the early afternoon – to which supporters can contribute.
So why is this a bad move? Because Ron Paul’s campaign is now trying to control its supporters. Thankfully this one felt obliged and honored he was asked to do so. But that may not always be the case.
Plus, why jack with the Dec 16th date? The campaign could have announced on his site a 7-day pledge drive to raise a bunch of money before the end of the month. But it didn’t. And I bet now a lot of his supporters will be confused. Sure, the word will spread among the faithful, but what about the newbies?
I wonder if they’re going to start asking supporters to behave themselves in comment threads now too…
This entry was posted on Friday, November 23rd, 2007 and is filed under 2008 Election, Money, 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.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:58 am
I donated on the 5th and pledged for the 16th and as such, I agree that the campaign’s request to move the date to an earlier time is indeed a BAD MOVE.
The issue of course being, “Control”. Just doesn’t feel the same.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:23 pm
The plan was Dec. 16th and will remain as such. If the campaign is adamant about funds now, go see a bank for a loan. This a grassroots campaign, no a top-down organization. Sounds like the RP campaign has a few newbies on staff that are a little tone deaf.
November 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
These money bomb events seem to slow daily donations in anticipation of the event. This isn’t the first time they have pushed too hard in regards to fund raising. It’s a campaign and as such these things will happen. I’ll be donating on the 16th without much thought for this articles concerns. Peace
November 23rd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
It is a bad move. But I can see why they did it with the New Hampshire primary being held on Jan. 8. NH is a primary where Ron Paul either has to win or do extremely well.
~Becky
November 23rd, 2007 at 2:10 pm
The campaign didn’t ask Trevor to move the date up, nor are they trying to control their supporters.
The campaign sent an email to its entire mailing list explaining how funds are needed weeks in advance; e.g. they need to buy crucial airtime for the end of December “right now.”
Trevor posted the mailing. Please read that and hopefully it will clear any confusion.
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:11 pm
The goal is to get Ron Paul elected. This has nothing whatsoever to do with control and everything to do with the timing of the caucus. Please understand that like it or not the campaign needs money by certain deadlines. The deadlines are set by the states in which these events are held. New Hampshire has been juggling the dates the caucus will be held for awhile. The process is random. Ron Paul has not borrowed money yet for this campaign. That is the way he runs his campaign, and that is the way he will run our country, with fiscal responsibility. Pay as you go! This campaign is not a pushmepullyou between Ron nad his supporters. It is not about our egos or his. It is about what is best for our nation, and right now Ron Paul is the best chance America has to return to the liberty that made this a great nation at one time. Please let’s all take our egos out of the way and do what is best for America!
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Sout out to the cause. I understand that he needs money now but he has money last time I checked anyway this tea party’s gonna be the bomb. 1 Benjamen pledged from Beeradgeeze for Dr. NOOOOO. Later Patriots
November 24th, 2007 at 1:32 am
Why didn’t the Paul campaign just held a drive for $12 million on its website by the end of November, after the Nov 05th money bomb? They would have easily gotten the goal and then you would have had the super-duper money bomb for Dec 16th. The sky would have been the limit.
Also, the campaign shouldn’t have to worry about buying ads in early primary states. Why spend money on cheesy ads when the publicity from the Tea Party bomb would have propelled the campaign into the stratosphere? The email sent out by the campaign was cold, confusing, and ungrateful. Paul needs to start hiring saavy campaign managers, the ones he has now are clearly out of their league.
November 24th, 2007 at 2:30 am
It doesn’t bother me at all, not sure why it would either. I gave the max I could back in the 2nd quarter, and I didn’t need any prompt at all to do so.
I think people need to realize that freedom and individual power is just that, individual power. You can’t expect every thing another individual does to be exactly what you want etc. I expect the majority of people understand this, and didn’t really care about the email, or anything else.
November 24th, 2007 at 3:07 am
I agree with badmedia and others, I donated the maximum some time ago and am trying to figure out how else to support the campaign. If they need money before the tea party, fine; that doesn’t mean we can’t surpass Nov 5th anyway. I’m just happy to be able to support, wholeheartedly, a candidate for the first time in the last 33 years.
November 24th, 2007 at 5:56 am
Trust the man to run our country but not his own campaign? C’mon people. Lighten up a little. Ron needs the cash now (and will get more then too). The campaign didn’t ask Trevor to do anything…that was his own decision (probably with some help of a few Ron Paul friends).
Ron Paul is a savvy individual that is good at winning elections. The problem is that, this time, he’s got 10,000 un-official campaign managers. That’s a cool problem to have as a politician. New people will find their way just like a new-born roots for Mama. It’s instinctive in us to love freedom.
Oh…and please spread the word amongst all your ‘older’ family and friends that either may not have internet, or, may not like putting their credit card information on the internet. There are TWO official Ron Paul toll-free numbers to tell them about. One is 1-877-RON-PAUL (that’s 1-877-766-7285) and the other is 1-877-RON-2008. Trevor’s two sites fail to give these numbers out to the masses to spread around the web, missing a great opportunity to remove additional barriers that will cost Ron money. Both of these numbers can be found on the official Ron Paul website (they show up on the downloadable slim jims, etc.)
November 24th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Support Ron however you want. Remember this is still a free country. Also, let’s lighten up on all the spam and unwarranted attacks on those less fortunate than us who get the message. If the message is that good we don’t need to shove it down peoples throats. They will seek it out themselves.
Show your support. Search ebay for Ron Paul t-shirts and wear them every where. We know he’s the best, now convince the rest. Don’t laugh, just listen to Ron. We need to get people outside of the internet interested. Dr. Paul cured my hopelessness.
November 24th, 2007 at 10:42 am
MANY people are throwing parties on December 16th… everyone i know will be taking off from work for the all day LiberTea party.
Thats nice that a few thousand people want to donate earlier. We have a strong PROUD base, MORE the reason to boost our leader with funds.
We have people donating from around the world who are themselves interested in a more Limited American government..
I think alot of outsiders… insiders.. good and bad journalists are all UNSURE at what to expect. I think we will surprise the world once again on December 16th, 2007. It is our destiny as humans to be free.
For Liberty!
Per la Libertà !
November 24th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Brian:
What you described doesn’t change the money bomb. With or without an official campaign pledge drive to $12M, the sky is still the limit. As Trevor expalained, we shouldn’t look at this as a matter of “limited wealth” (refer to his blog post I linked).
It would be unwise for the campaign to rely solely on potential media coverage for such events. The November 5th coverage was big and largely positive, but there was plenty of negative coverage too (Glenn Beck, anyone?). Yes, I know there’s no such thing as bad press (or however the cliche goes), but it’s just unwise for the campaign to rely on media to craft their PR entirely for them. With paid ads, they can at least control the message.
Finally (in general, to everyone), I get the impression that a lot of people think the number on the front of the Ron Paul site is the amount of money he has on hand. That’s most assuredly not so, they are spending the money. As indicated in the mailing, they raised $2.8M in October but spent $3.1M.
November 24th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Settle the hell down already, we’ve seen blog after blog about this already. The campaign is just reminding people that time is our enemy right now. I agree with them, we just need to send money constantly.
There is a money bomb Nov 30 “Rudy’s Reading List”, Plus the others ones too. Money is the only thing that talks.
The campaign is not trying to control everyone but rather remind them that we are cutting to the wire here.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
The TEA PARTY DEC. 16 will be a freak. All records will be broken. I will break my own record by giving more to a candidate than I have every given before. Why not? Ya want a Hillary or a Rudy? Didn’t think so.
LIBERTY MUST SURVIVE
RONPAUL2008
TEAPARTY DEC. 16
November 30th, 2007 at 12:23 am
If you’ve already maxed out your contributions, why don’t you order a supply of slim jims and yard signs and give them to the members of your meetup group? As long as you don’t order the supplies from the Ron Paul website you should be OK. There are lots of other vendors who are selling campaign materials. Then to help the meetup group plant the signs along roadsides and canvas your neighborhoods.
November 30th, 2007 at 11:05 am
I don’t think the campaign is trying to control anybody. They are just helping people to realize, that in order to win, they need the money sooner than Dec. 16. I think many will still do the 16th and contribute earlier as well. I think it’s a good thing overall. It has caused a litte confusion, but it’s really not a big deal. Let’s hang in there and be as unified as possible. Don’t let others cause disunity in the campaign by focusing on the negative issues. We have the mainstream media to do that and we have to overcome all discouragement.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Trying to control the supporters. How funny. I got the email and it didn’t sound to controlling to me. Just an insight. No demand.
December 14th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I actuallly laughed when I read this !…..as I’m sure other Ron Paul supporters probably chuckled, Ron know’s this is probably the biggest grassroots movement in U.S. history, that will without a doubt , turn the political world upside down, and too suggest Ron’s campaign is behind the helm of the USS r3VOlution would not be accurate, the message is driving the sails…..I think its safe too say he’s not a novelty in the political arena, if the media is willing to go out of their way for negative press, can only mean Ron is rocking the boat……and I can just see those crates of tea falling into the harbor.
by the way……he’s still raising money outside of the online money bombs…..these money bombs should send a clear message to the Republican Caucus, A nomination to anyone other than Ron, is a win for Hillary!
December 18th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
I don’t know if the “main campaign” can even control us even if they wanted to. We have come from every corner of the world to help America which I think will end up changing the world for the better.
Whether you are a card carrying republican or democrat there is one thing that both have and that is Ron Paul supporters.
March 16th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Yeah I guess it’s better to have the corporate sponsored support like all the other candidates.
Ron Paul raised more private money in one day than any candidate in history.
October 26th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
“That is the way he runs his campaign, and that is the way he will run our country, with fiscal responsibility.” I couldn’t agree more. Win Ron Win, I say! I think the moneybomb is as good idea as any.