That's easy! Cruz supporters. They lie and distort so much they will never win, like Teddy, All LOSERS!
Posted on 02/14/2016 8:39:26 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The senator's super PACs have launched an unprecedented ground effort in South Carolina and seem intent on going where few super PACs have gone before--door knocking.
We all know super PACs have permanently changed the face of American politics. But in South Carolina, right now, we're getting a preview of the unprecedented ways they can alter a campaign.
South Carolina, as you may know, is kind of a big deal. It has a large population--4.8 million people--and a bad reputation because it's a place where candidates love to break out their dirtiest tricks.
Or, in the case of Ted Cruz's super PACs, their most experimental. The cluster of well-funded super PACs boosting Cruz's candidacy is trying out a new tactic in the Palmetto State, indicating the extent to which super PACs are encroaching on traditional campaign turf.
And it has Cruz's rivals scared.
Said super PAC, called Keep the Promise--which is actually sub-divided into several different PACs, each funded by a different billionaire family--has blithely tossed the traditional super PAC playbook to the winds. In fact, they've taken on typical campaign operations: gathering voter data, targeting likely Cruz supporters, and knocking on thousands of doors to get out the vote.
The super PAC has had upwards of 250 people canvassing the state, targeting the homes of persuadable Republican voters. Thus far, they estimate they've knocked on more than 93,000 doors. And by Election Day, they're shooting to have knocked on 100,000. In any given week, they say, 100 to 150 individual people spend eight-hour days doing the door-knocking. And most of them get paid.
Traditionally--to the extent that we have age-old super PAC traditions--super PACs pay for expensive TV and radio ads. Federal election law forbids them from coordinating with the campaigns they try to boost, so shelling out big bucks to produce and air TV ads has been their natural role. And that's what most of them have done in this cycle--from a pro-Rubio super PAC running birther-esque ads ominously intimating that Cruz is darkly influenced by his Canadian roots, to the pro-Bush Right to Rise PAC, which got President George W. Bush to star in a spot boosting Jeb.
That's the norm. Campaigns run events, corral volunteers, and staff regional offices; super PACs slap up ads.
South Carolina politicos describe it as an effective, relentless operation. And it has some of Cruz's opponents feeling a little jittery.
"I'll be very shocked, honestly, if Ted Cruz doesn't win the primary," said an operative for a rival campaign, citing Keep the Promise's blanketing of the Upstate.
Trump has led by double digits in all the recent Palmetto State polls. But some are skeptical that his lead is really that commanding. And they point to the different ground games--particularly, to that of Keep the Promise--as evidence for their doubt.
Keep the Promise staff explained that the group has been door-knocking across the state, in a few targeted regions and counties, since last November. In early January, those door-knockers started focusing on persuasion: identifying likely Republican primary voters who favor an Evangelical Christian candidate, knocking on their doors, and having conversations aimed at persuading them to back Cruz.
"What we are doing right now is what I dreamed about doing as Scott Walker's state director," said Dan Tripp, who formerly helmed Walker's South Carolina operation and now runs the show there for Keep the Promise.
"It's hard, dirty work," Tripp said. "If we're asking somebody to go out and knock on doors for 8 hours, that's a lot of gas, that's a lot of time and it's hard work. So we've built a budget around paying our canvassers."
The ease with which super PACs can raise money--no contribution limits, no spending limits--means groups like Keep the Promise have resources that campaigns may not. In the case of Keep the Promise, that's thanks to a handful of billionaire families who decided Cruz was their guy. One Keep the Promise backer, Robert Mercer, is a hedge fund billionaire who keeps a very low profile and has drawn criticism for tax-dodging. Keep the Promise supporters also include Dan and Farris Wilks, brothers from Central Texas who made their first billion thanks to the fracking boom and have invested their wealth in supporting social conservative groups and candidates.
Thanks to their largesse, Keep the Promise has been able to pay a mobile army of door-knockers and voter-persuaders.
"There is nothing fun about doing a get-out-the-vote push," said Katon Dawson, formerly a Rick Perry operative in South Carolina, noting that he was also impressed by the super PAC's efforts. "It's the hardest work you can do in any campaign. It's hard, it's expensive."
Now, the Cruz campaign itself is also doing door-knocking and canvassing. But Tripp said he isn't worried about redundancy; while voters often get irritated by millions of robo-calls about a candidate, they're less likely to snap at someone at the face of a sympathetic human being slogging through their neighborhood in January. And the PAC may have an even farther reach than the campaign proper
Matt Moore, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party said the PAC may have an even farther reach than the campaign proper since Keep the Promise is the first and only long-term, large-scale super PAC canvassing operation in the state.
And he knows firsthand just how effective it is.
"His team even appeared at my parents-in-laws home in suburban South Carolina," he said. "To my knowledge, they're the only campaign that has been to their home."
He added that Keep the Promise is the only super PAC he knows of that has any sort of ground game in the state. Paul Lindsay, a representative for Right to Rise, said his PAC also has a professional canvassing operation that recently moved down from New Hampshire to South Carolina. But it hasn't made nearly the splash with locals as Keep the Promise.
And the Keep the Promise team is pretty confident that their ground game tops that of their closest rival, Donald Trump. The mogul's team has sent RVs of volunteers around the Upstate door-knocking. But Tripp said those efforts are more about marketing than anything else.
"We're not gonna punch down when it comes to the ground game," he said of the Trump efforts. "Honestly, I don't think they've been much competition at all."
They took power from the many and put it in the hands of one.
When that didn't work, the cast aside the one in favor of another. Instead of getting back to a lawful government they chose chaos instead of order.
We are at a crossroads, constitution or chaos. Trump is the chaos candidate. Cruz is the constitution candidate, the rest are status quo candidates.
Slumlord. Talk about a loaded phrase. 2D, I sure didn’t expect this sort of ... trying to be nice. Ok, so.. we have a crappy but affordable apartment. What happens to the monthly rent if the landlord updates the property? Play along.. The. . rates. . . go. . up! And poor people go elsewhere 2D. Just a fact.
I doubt that Cruz’s father was in the KKK, either.
Report: Trump’s Dad Was Arrested In 1927 Ku Klux Klan Brawl With Police
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fred-trump-arrest-1927-kkk
OK, I don’t particularly like Jeff Rose, but why don’t you give us a link for your proof of charges in the first graph
Well the records are sealed at the college level. You will have to ask him about the matriculation charges. But evidently the secret has come out and Cruz will face a storm of scandal for hiring a known matriculator. Did you see the post where it was pointed out that one of the incidents was in broad daylight. Think of the future that poor co-ed faces knowing that everytime she sees Cruz, in the background is his campaign manger. I happened to get the information from someone that was there at the time. It was all hushed up at the time...You might have to ask Cruz as to why.
Trump may be an adulterer but I don’t know of him being charged for matriculation in broad daylight. As for being a Strip Club owner...didn’t the next owner of the casino install the girlie club? Not Trump himself?
Ted Cruz is the consistent Conservative who talks about the Constitution. The only problem is that he is ineligible to be President under the original intent of said Constitution. So we better stick with the consistent Conservative line.
The ease with which super PACs can raise money—no contribution limits, no spending limits—means groups like Keep the Promise have resources that campaigns may not. In the case of Keep the Promise, that’s thanks to a handful of billionaire families who decided Cruz was their guy. One Keep the Promise backer, Robert Mercer, is a hedge fund billionaire who keeps a very low profile and has drawn criticism for tax-dodging
In 1927 Indiana had 500,000 KKK members. Thanks for pointing out that one of a huge number of people were KKK members 100 years ago. Seems a bit desperate. Keep going though, this is fun.
Do you mean the nasty, slimy, lying, cheating, sleazy Ted Cruz who has ONLY had one wife? The one who not only beats his wife and kids, but beats his wife WITH HIS KIDS, using them like baseball bats to force that harlot to do the bidding of the Goldman Sachs masters who own his soul? Or do you mean the Ted Cruz who forced American conservatives to allow John Roberts onto the SCOTUS, despite the intense opposition of three to four monks living in Patagonia, because Ted foreordained that Roberts would bless Obamacare five years late? Or perhaps the Ted Cruz who planned for ten years for CNN to make a last minute announcement before the Iowa caucuses that Ben Carson was kind of flakey?
Oh, that Ted Cruz, the guy with an evil eye so powerful it causes Trump followers to lose their senses and begin spouting gibberish.
Yeah, THAT Ted Cruz.... :)
Politics is more fun than soccer....
In 1927 Indiana had 500,000 KKK members. Thanks for pointing out that one of a huge number of people were KKK members 100 years ago. Seems a bit desperate. Keep going though, this is fun.
He doesn't like crony capitalism that is not True Conservative. /s He has his dad vet capitalism in the crystal ball of destiny or whatever the hell he does when he's finding the 7 kings to rule them all.
That's easy! Cruz supporters. They lie and distort so much they will never win, like Teddy, All LOSERS!
Including your ancestors? And Fred Trump didn’t live in Indiana, did he?
No. But you are stupid to try and defend a position with a non-sequitur.
Who are the 7 kings?
My ancestors arrived in 1777, settled in the Shenendoah Valley of Virginia, and were what you would call Mennonites, although they would have said they were Anabaptists. I doubt seriously they were members. Why so nasty tonight 2D?
Some might even tell the door knockers they will vote for the sleazeball just to get rid of them. I think it’s kind of dangerous to go door knocking in this day and age - too many whackos out there.
only works for trump votes. The fix is in.
And, you think Ted Cruz is that man? Hahahaha - he’s beholden to K Street, so Main Street gets the crumbs. You people are so deceived.
Just riffing on the 7 rings and dominionist theology.
What are you smoking? Cruz cheated in Iowa and then tried to lie about it. Everyone knows that. he double crossed Ben Carson. However, since he is so holier-than-thou - I guess it’s okay with his bots? Despicable.
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