Posted on 02/02/2016 4:11:20 PM PST by springwater13
Trump clearly had the votes to win Iowa but he didn't put the boots on the ground to get out the vote. Cruz had an epic ground game with 10,000 volunteers, data analytics, SUPER PACS, etc. It's amazing that Trump still came within a few percentage points on a shoestring operation. That's to Trump's credit but he still lost.
The Cruz campaign's pollster said Trump's numbers in the public polls were buoyed by a group of voters who do not typically vote in the caucuses but were strongly attached to Trump. These unlikely regular caucus voters needed a push. Trump did not have the infrastructure.
The depressing thing is if Trump didn't want to self-fund tens of millions of dollars for infrastructure comparable to Cruz, all he really had to do was ask. He could have easily asked for small dollar donations at his website. Asking his supporters to invest in his campaign and still kept his credibility against Super-PACS and special interests/lobbyists. A $20 donation isn't going to influence him.
THe one thing we who follow politics have learned is that it’s impossible to predict the outcome of elections. We just have to watch and see how things unfold.
We’re opinionated and we have preferences, that’s part of the fun. Think how boring FR would be if we all agreed and it was a big echo chamber. I’ll say right now that while I want to see a non-politician businessman like Trump have a chance to run the country, I’ll happily vote for Cruz or Rubio if they end up as the nominees. I don’t know why it’s so hard for others to say the same about their less-preferred candidate, but that’s their problem not mine.
We all have a lot more that we agree on than we disagree on, and one thing for sure is that any of the candidates on the Republican side would be better than Bernie Sanders and ALMOST all of them would be better than Hillary (sorry Jeb).
You don’t get to be Donald Trump by failing to adapt, so we will see how the primary season unfolds.
Or did Cruz put all his eggs in one corn basket? We shall see...
#groundgamematters
It went to Ford in 1976, Dole in 1996 and Bush in 2000, all of whom went on to win the GOP nomination. It's not everything, but it's not nothing. Leaving out GOP incumbent re-election campaigns, during which they ran unopposed, that's 3 out of 7 Iowa caucuses going to the eventual GOP nominee. Santorum's was a shoestring campaign - raising $22m by the end of the primary cycle. Cruz is at the start of the cycle, and had already raised $47m as of year-end 2015, before his Iowa victory.
Cruz has the firepower to go a few rounds with the Donald, unlike Santorum, who was outgunned by Romney's negative ads. And of course, Cruz hasn't even begun to go negative - he has mainly gone after Trump's past positions, temperament and ignorance of the issues that candidates show know about, instead of Trump's checkered biography. Whereas Trump has gone all-in on Cruz's biography what with the attacks on his eligibility and his loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank.
If Trump thinks he's getting heat, he ain't seen nothing yet. Just wait till the race narrows down to Cruz or Rubio and Trump. Then he'll get the moral equivalent of napalm via negative ads that target his sleazy business deals - ads that will stick with potential business partners long after the 2016 campaign is over.
A huge victory, without cozying up to the ethanol lobby unlike some other candidates who wanted to increase the ethanol subsidies. Cruz showed that you can stand up to them and still win.
He took advice from MICHAEL SAVAGE, end of story.
The big test will be next week, NH. Even from what I had seen, Trump polled ahead of Cruz. Whole different game.
People are just going to have to do their own thinking.
They shouldn't allow propaganda to purchase the mind.
Bwahahaha... TPA and corker bill?? someone needs to come up with new material and talking points. Those are all worn out and useless. But keep going, if you think that is helping your candidate.
Lost?? Really?
Lets see, Cruz has 0.6 percent of the delegates required for the nomination. Trump has 0.6 percent and so does Rubio.
Come on people, win / lose? It is too early in the game. It is like saying that during the Broncos 1st possession of the Super Bowl they got 9 yards and the Panthers got 8. Then running off and saying that the Broncos are winning.
Iowa is designed to eliminate the bottom tier of also rans.
How did Cruz gain money for that?
Trump doesn’t need anybody’s money. I think that is better.
Trump had thousands at many events for weeks across Iowa. They were huge. And yet he gets beat by a guy that only had a paltry hundred or two at his events. Amazing that Cruz was able to win by so much.
Whatever. Support your cheater of a candidate. He never would have won had he not lied about Dr. Carson. Oh that is right he knew nothing about it.....yeah right. Obama and Cruz are 100 percent the same....blame others. I guess well hear that for the next 4-8 years.....I had no idea......great.
The nomination from losing Iowa? I think losing Iowa is a badge of honor quite frankly.
Where Trump under performed was in Iowa cities and suburbs and this was due strength from Rubio...not Cruz.
Trump demonstrated he could hold his own with social conservative voters even if they don't share his values and that his popular message will bring voters to the polls.
Add some organization to that mix and Trump could ride a popular wave to the nomination.
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