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."
And when did I ever point to Byrd? You presume a lot.
Every Freeper who remembers him did. You must have missed it.
Oh.. I see. You’re a lib.
Well, that is in keeping with your lack of accuracy. No statement I have made would ever substantiate such nonsense.
so...WRONG!!!
Thanks for playing!
Right to Rise is BUSH’S PAC; they’re the ones from NH, not Cruz’s.
Mercer is not a tax dodger like Trump isn't a tax dodger. They both legally pay as little taxes as possible. And he's a conservative billionaire who funds things like Brietbart...etc.
Trump is a fat cat spending money on a campaign.
Sure. Only Trump is doing it for the good of the country. These other people aren't Trump, so what they are doing it for is bad.
His money.
When Trump spends money on a campaign, he does it supposedly for the good of the country.
Yet you don't think that other billionaires spend their money for the good of the country.
Yes. That is EXACTLY what I’m saying.
Great. Only Trump is the good billionaire. All the others who are not Trump are bad, bad, bad.
Pay attention. Trump started his campaign by admitting that the political machine was broken, and the he was no different than any other player. I can’t prove to you that Trump has changed, I can only say to you that I believe he has changed, and that he truly wants to do what is best for America.
That's fine.
But certainly Trumps not the only billionaire that wants to do what is best for the country.
Thus it is possible that some billionaire donors wants to do what best for the country.
We’ve tried politicians. I’m ready to try someone who has fought regulators daily for the last 50 years.
sniff sniff - what IS that smell
OH,
a newbie Troll
HaHa...These people ARE the gov't cartel that Cruz rails about while speaking to the general public...
Thanks for recognizing that...Those Cruz funders also fund Ryan, McConnell and every other liberal Republican out there...The same people support Rubio and Kasich...
And every one of them wants open borders and as many green card workers that they can get...
Cruz is pushing big time to expand green card workers into the millions...Is that good for America and the American workers, or is that good for the people who are funding Cruz??? We know that answer, don't we...
The difference is that Trump has said he changed...The other billionaires and millionaires who fund club for growth and give to these super-pacs have NOT said they have changed...They have NOT said they are giving to Rubio and the other liberals because it is for the good of the country...They are still donating because it is good for their wallets...
That's a new PAC totaling only 1.5 million and they haven't spent any money yet and they have yet to prove that they are friends of Cruz.
And every one of them wants open borders and as many green card workers that they can get...
You know you Trump supporters complain when people post false information, and your above comment is false.
The David Barton super PAC worth about 40 million is anti illegal immigration. Barton himself believes that our borders are sacred, given to us by God and should be closed. The PAC's four big donors are pro energy, anti illegal immigration and evangelicals.
Cruz is pushing big time to expand green card workers into the millions...Is that good for America and the American workers, or is that good for the people who are funding Cruz??? We know that answer, don't we...
Trump wants to expedite the good illegals back for a legalization amnesty and he would consider a citizenship amnesty later. So how many is that? 10 million, 15 million or more. That will destroy a conservative America.
Trump also wants to legalize foreign students who graduate from our colleges. That's over 200K per year.
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