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Facebook less into Paul's '16 rollout than Cruz's
The Hill ^ | April 8, 2015 | Julian Hattem

Posted on 04/08/2015 8:09:27 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

When it comes to engaging people on Facebook, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has some work to do.

About 865,000 different people commented on, shared a note or otherwise engaged with the Kentucky lawmaker when he announced his campaign for the White House on Tuesday, according to Facebook.

In all, Paul’s announcement generated a total of 1.9 million interactions — both positive and negative — during the day. By comparison, 2.2 million Facebook users talked about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) when he announced his campaign last month, generating a total of 5.7 million interactions.

The metrics are just one sign of how the candidates are being received, but offer a glimpse into the early state of play on social media, where battles in the 2016 election are likely to be waged like never before.

Paul’s inability to match Cruz is somewhat surprising, given that the Kentuckian has often stirred up support among young libertarians who are active on the Internet. On Tuesday, he also answered questions on Facebook in what seemed like an attempt to gin up that digital support.

Paul has made a concerted outreach to Silicon Valley in the months ahead of his Tuesday announcement, and will surely return to the tech Mecca to try and drum up support.

People in his home state of Kentucky were the most likely to be chatting about Paul on Tuesday, followed by those in neighboring West Virginia and the District of Columbia. New Hampshire — a critical early primary state — was fourth on the list.

In the week leading up to his announcement, Facebook users talked about Paul in relation to issues about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, the social network said. That chatter may have been linked to the backlash against an Indiana “religious freedom” law, which opponents said would give businesses a license to discriminate against LGBT businesses. Paul declined to weigh in on that legislation.

Facebook users also chatted about the senator in relation to foreign policy issues and matters of the Constitution.


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Computers/Internet; Politics
KEYWORDS: abcdisneynews; coolkids; facebook; internet; randpaul; socialistnetworking; tedcruz; webpresence
Have dad's supporters fled?
1 posted on 04/08/2015 8:09:27 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They have to wait until the munchies wear off...


2 posted on 04/08/2015 8:12:29 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I don’t see where Paul fits in this field. Other than just a placeholder for his old mans supporters. He hit a high point with his drone filibuster but has been basically meandering since then trying to pander to factions of the left who will not vote for him. I agree with Paul at least 70% of the time and like that he’s tried to pull the party to the libertarian positions in the same vein as Reagan did. He loses me when he speaks sloppily about Ferguson and other hot issues of the day. I see him as an unpredictable wildcard anymore and not a reliable leader. In a field with a strong Walker and Cruz, and possibly Rubio, I don’t see where he fits.


3 posted on 04/08/2015 8:18:08 AM PDT by ilgipper
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Bottom line, Rand was not as impressive as Cruz.


4 posted on 04/08/2015 8:18:11 AM PDT by kenmcg
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To: Resolute Conservative

LOL


5 posted on 04/08/2015 8:21:55 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: ilgipper

I agree. With Paul, who knows what will come out of his mouth? Certainly he doesn’t know. And there is a good reason for that. He’s not convinced yet of what he believes; he’s a little too situational in his decision making to really be a real conservative. His dad’s own brand of hodgepodge thinking is like Rand’s. The fruit, or in this case the nut, doesn’t fall far from the tree.


6 posted on 04/08/2015 8:39:38 AM PDT by elhombrelibre (Against Obama. Against Putin. Pro-freedom. Pro-US Constitution.)
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To: Resolute Conservative

LOL. Rand is the Dems dream along with FOX who are having orgasms about him because they know he stands for drugs, homosexuality illegals etc.

Notice how even MSNBC is praising him unlike they did to Cruz, Walker, Sarah etc


7 posted on 04/08/2015 8:40:09 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: stephenjohnbanker

You can see it on Twitter...Rand’s hard core supporters were the only enthusiastic ones as expected...otherwise his announcement buzz was pretty quiet on social media.


8 posted on 04/08/2015 8:40:22 AM PDT by gwgn02
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To: elhombrelibre

this from yesterday sums how left wing the man is

” I see an America where criminal justice is applied equally and any law that disproportionately incarcerates people of color is repealed.”


9 posted on 04/08/2015 8:40:44 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: gwgn02

They had cars telling them to cheer and clap LOL. Must have been too stoned out to hear what he was saying .


10 posted on 04/08/2015 8:41:22 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: manc

That’s amazingly stupid. The law is to be colored blind, not destroyed when legally convicted criminals are of any particular color or race. And so using Paul’s race-based, if black Americans commit more murders than whites (and I don’t think this is the case in the aggregate), and if they’re more likely to go to jail, we’d not have a law against murder.


11 posted on 04/08/2015 8:49:45 AM PDT by elhombrelibre (Against Obama. Against Putin. Pro-freedom. Pro-US Constitution.)
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To: elhombrelibre

exactly.
The man is as dangerous as Obama in my view


12 posted on 04/08/2015 8:54:05 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: ilgipper
I agree with Paul at least 70% of the time and like that he’s tried to pull the party to the libertarian positions in the same vein as Reagan did.

Do you mean Reagan's conservative economics, or his anti-libertarian social conservatism and strong national defense goals?

The problem with Paul is that he is trying to move the GOP left, into social liberalism/libertarianism.

“”Evolve, adapt or die. That is the fate of our current Republican party. We must evolve as a party and find a way to attract millennials to the conservative movement or we will never succeed in realizing our ideals of individual freedom and freedom from government interference.””

“I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues,” Paul advised. “The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues.”

13 posted on 04/08/2015 9:28:50 AM PDT by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Democrat=Marxist
Republican=Conservative
Independent=Republican who swore he would never vote Republican
Libertarian=Independent who smokes dope

This should smoke them out


14 posted on 04/08/2015 10:07:01 AM PDT by bray (Cruz to the WH)
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