On the other hand he seems to be having some problems nationally:
Posted on 12/26/2015 10:43:34 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Donald Trump seems to think he has revolutionized political campaigns. Without spending much money, he is on top of the national polls but is behind in Iowa and losing ground according to some polls in New Hampshire. Trump is running a campaign without spending money on polling, paid advertisements, or get-out-the-vote efforts. He probably views it as cost-effective, but it may end up costing him the nomination.
His long-promised “next phase†defined by new spending, such as a wave of television commercials, has so far failed to materialize, week after week. His advisers have not revealed the existence of any pollsters on their staff or any advertising team. He has no real research operation to examine his own vulnerabilities or those of his opponents and, based on Federal Election Commission filings, little in the way of a voter contact operation to identify and turn out his supporters.
Mr. Trump had hurt himself in Iowa by not augmenting his news presence with a parallel effort to push his message through ads, mailers and phone banks. “Such an effort would have also inoculated him from attack,†he said....
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
On the other hand he seems to be having some problems nationally:
I've been involved in some campaigns over the years. Politics isn't all complicated. In it's most simplistic form, it's about connecting with voters and getting them to the polls.
People may or may not be voters. Voters may or may not be primary or caucus voters.
TV ads that Rovian consultants love do not impress me at all. Email solicitations really don't impress me. Robocalls will get me to vote against that person if I'm on the fence. Debates are overrated (the goal is to not lose them). Mailings are hit or miss. Internet contact is hit or miss. Door to Door impresses me. Town halls and rallies (Trump's M.O. - which I have seen many times to different effects) are a good start, but don't help long term unless some organization comes from it.
I'm biased, but Cruz's organization is by far the best I've seen to this point. Jeb's is probably the worst by any "top tier" (loosely defined) candidate considering his finances.
The union groups had thousands at the capitol to protest Right to Work here. They had thousands out to recall Scott Walker. That didn't happen. Rallies don't vote.
I don’t think he needs a “get out the vote†idiot to tell him how to run a campaign.
He doesn't need a GOTV idiot to tell him how to run a campaign. He needs to hire competent GOTV people go out and GOTV for him and make sure they do the job.
I wonder if the author of this article is affiliated with of one of these ‘consultant groups’ that Trump hasn’t paid.
Bingo. That was my guess.
I’ve posted on other threads — and you’ll see a little of the subtext here in this thread itself — that Cruz has been blowing it with his aggressive money-begging mailings, including the fact that it is difficult to unsubscribe from them. I saw both supporters and detractors complaining about this issue throughout FR.
2ndDivisionVet is aware of it, so he’s been directing complainers to someone on Team Cruz. However, I’m not sure if Team Cruz is nonetheless continuing this policy.
“I’m biased, but Cruz’s organization is by far the best I’ve seen to this point. Jeb’s is probably the worst by any “top tier” (loosely defined) candidate considering his finances.”
That may be true but this election, finally, won’t be about an organization but about common sense and a CANDIDATE that is unscripted, unpredictable, and adaptable like none we have ever seen. That is what you hear from so many Trump rally attendees. In a sense that implies an orginization, but one more along the lines of a family. That is what Trump’s rallies are like. And people love it more than I have ever seen people love anyhting to do with a presidential election.
So far he has. I suppose the test will be when people start actually voting.
Trump and Yeb Bush have both proven that spending lots of money does not mean that much.
*We’re* his ‘get out the vote ground game’.
I can’t go a day without being reminded to register for the primaries.
GOTV is important when your candidate is viewed as an excrement sammich and you need to convince the base to turn out. People WANT to vote for Trump, they are excited to do so. News for the pundits, everything Trump does or says is GOTV.
Mission already accomplished, at least in Iowa for now.
Trump hired the campaign runner who helped Santorum win the Iowa cuacuses in 2012.
Yes, that nonsense that people will go to a rally but not vote? Really? Four of us drive 70 minutes to go to a rally-—does anyone seriously believe we won’t dive FIVE to vote?
Well my guess and I don’t blame Trump is that he just doesn’t want to put a lot of money out on Iowa. If he loses Iowa he will still win the other primaries. And he may well win Iowa anyway.
And moreover, why would he pay for polling (really????) and advertising when they are giving him all of each he could ever want free?
Yes, and furthermore, they’re not taking into account Trump’s word-of-mouth GOTV ground game that is happening amongst his vast number of supporters.
Maybe, but Iowa, being a caucus state, is different from New Hampshire and other primary states. Having helped out in two Iowa campaigns, I think I know a little more about it than the average bear.
That is always the populist reply - But yet, populism normally winds up losing. Especially on the Right. One might consider why that is so.
Well my guess and I don’t blame Trump is that he just doesn’t want to
put a lot of money out on Iowa.
****************
Iowa is Iowa and the GOP caucus turns about 20% of the registered voters. That
leaves about 80% from which to draw from. Now a caucus is different than just going to
the polls, pulling a lever and going on your way. So we’ll see if any Iowans want to
spend the time at a caucus to support Trump or if they’ll not bother to exercise
their selection vote.
Oh My Gosh!!! I just wouldn’t know WHO to vote for if it weren’t for cars plastered in bumper stickers, neighbors lawns filled with campaign signs, or the volunteers knocking on my door letting me know who to vote for.
I used to correct stories like this, bc I too have read that Trump’s ground game is formidable.
Then I noticed something. Trump never tweets about his strategy, his campaign status, his tactics, his plans or his ground game. He never talks about them. In fact, by bringing out periodic ‘schlong’ moments, he even guarantees he’s never asked about the nuts and bolts of his campaign.
It dawned on me that Trump loves stories like this one. He may even plant them! He WANTS people to think he has no clue about how to win. He LOVES being underestimated.
It’s like that famous line from Devil’s Advocate: they’ll never see him coming.
I can’t imagine that Trump would like anything better than for them not to see him coming in IA. That’s part and parcel of his MO. He’d far rather be thought clueless than for people to have an inside on what his campaign is really doing.
So perhaps our best move is to play along. O woe is us, Trump has no ground game! We’re doomed!
Haha.
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