Posted on 12/06/2011 7:14:19 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Rep. Ron Paul rarely makes news, and his candidacy is frequently ignored by Beltway reporters. But headlines, his aides say, are overrated. In fact, the Texas Republican’s low-key autumn was strategic. As Paul’s competitors stumbled and sparred, he amassed a small fortune for his campaign and built a strong ground operation. And with January fast approaching, his team is ready to surprise the political world and sweep the Iowa caucuses.
“This was a movement when he first started running in 2008,” says Trygve Olson, a senior Paul adviser. “Now it’s turned into a highly professionalized campaign, but the energy from that last run is still there, and at the heart of what’s keeping up his momentum.”
The latest polls back up that confidence. In the influential Des Moines Register poll published over the weekend, Paul placed second. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, captured 25 percent of likely Iowa GOP voters, but Paul garnered 18 percent, two points ahead of Mitt Romney, who in 2008 placed second in the caucuses.
If Paul wins Iowa, the upset could upend what many politicos say is a two-man race between Gingrich and Romney. According to state GOP insiders, a Paul victory is a real possibility. In background conversations, many say Paul is much stronger than outside observers believe, with deep and wide support among a frustrated electorate. With Herman Cain’s departure from the race, operatives see Paul potentially collecting a quarter of caucus attendees.
“Ron Paul is definitely for real out here,” says Tim Albrecht, the communications director for Iowa governor Terry Branstad, who has not endorsed any GOP candidate. “He is going to get 18 percent in the caucuses no matter what. If there’s a snowstorm, he’ll probably win, since he has such dedicated, passionate supporters. The question is whether he can move higher than that.”
Paul, for his part, thinks that he can close in on Gingrich, who has seen a recent bump in both state and national polls. “We’re getting pretty close to it being within the margin of error,” Paul told CNN on Sunday. “I think we continue to do what we’re doing. We’ve had the flavors of the month up and down so far this campaign. I’d like to think of myself as the flavor of the decade.”
Indeed, Paul’s consistency, his strategists say, is integral to his strength, especially in Iowa, where GOP voters have shuffled through an array of favorites. “Iowans, after testing Bachmann, after testing Perry, after testing Cain, and now Gingrich, are realizing that Ron Paul, all along, has been their candidate,” says Fritz Wenzel, Paul’s pollster. Unlike many primary fights, “this is becoming a race about principles,” he says, “and Ron Paul has stood up for true conservative principles for decades, not just in the last month.”
But campaign strategy, of course, has also played a major role in sustaining Paul’s poll numbers. The campaign combines a strong online presence, centered on volunteer organization, with prolific fundraising. Perhaps more important, however, is Paul’s “traditional” strategy in Iowa, which combines a heavy candidate presence with constant mailings and outreach.
“He’s run the most traditional caucus campaign of the year,” Albrecht says. “Multiple mailers, multiple ads, and multiple visits. Rick Perry has run ads, but hasn’t really visited. Mitt Romney has taken the shy approach, and Newt Gingrich hasn’t been here as often.”
“We’re following the traditional model because it works,” says Drew Ivers, the campaign’s Iowa chairman. “This is the fifth time I’ve chaired an Iowa campaign, and in this state, you can’t beat grassroots politics. The caucuses are like a business meeting. You don’t just come and vote; you go to participate. You need committed supporters; we have them.”
Steve Grubbs, who recently worked as Herman Cain’s Iowa director, has seen the enthusiasm for Paul up close. “I was driving down Interstate 80 two weeks ago and saw a hitchhiker carrying a Ron Paul sign. I didn’t pick him up, but I’m sure a Paul supporter gave him a ride,” he says. “I spot them everywhere, wearing their T-shirts and carrying signs.”
You’ll also find thousands of Ron Paul backers on the web — on message boards and on social-networking sites — talking about Paul and his criticism of U.S. foreign policy and the Federal Reserve. As Paul’s team invests in the ground game, it is taking care to intertwine its above-ground legwork with that web world. And it’s paying off, his advisers say, not only through donations, but in building a cohesive network of voters. An early example of its power came in August, when Paul nearly won the Ames straw poll, finishing a close second to Michele Bachmann.
“Ron Paul’s Internet operation is to Republicans in 2012 what Barack Obama’s Internet operation was to Democrats in 2007 and 2008,” Olson says. “It’s very grassroots and national, with thousands of very active supporters who spread the message in every state. That energy is the undercurrent to what’s happening on the ground, where people are going person to person.”
Still, even with the top-tier showing in Iowa polls and recognition by Iowa operatives of their on-the-ground prowess, Paul’s advisers aren’t taking anything for granted. In coming weeks, “Ron Paul is going to be living part-time in Iowa,” says Dimitri Kesari, Paul’s deputy campaign manager. The entire focus will be on coordinating turnout and stoking enthusiasm. Over 500 college students, for example, will move to Iowa over the holidays to participate in an initiative called “Christmas Vacation with Ron Paul.”
“He’s a different kind of candidate,” Kesari acknowledges, a “highly organized outsider.” But in January, he could also be a winner. And Iowans, at least, wouldn’t be surprised.
— Robert Costa is a political reporter for National Review.
You are the definition of a Paultard retread. That is something I like, because you Paul guys are always good for a laugh so i hate it when you get zotted, kills the entertainment.
So lay low this time will ya...
...See ya.
Fast N Furious
CashWalker
DEA
ATF
Prison Unions
NARC Unions
Legal Aid
Social workers
Lawyers
Police Unions
No Knock Raids
Civil Forfeiture abuse
All in the name of “War on Drugs” ? ? ?
“You are the definition of a Paultard retread.”
Ah ... er ... ahem.
Is the best reply you can come up with?
I challenged you to check with the moderator. Apparently truth means nothing to you.
No wonder you advocate a Globalist Liberal like Gingrich.
The opposite of the War on Drugs is not to legalize Drugs...
I think I pointed out I am not a fan of the way the WoD has played out, but not because of its intent.
Yeah, the adults know where their doing, sure...As they spent the next 6 generations of Americans into a bottomless pit of debt, borrowed from violent Communist countries, bailed out the banks, Wall Street and big biz to the tune of *trillions*, while telling everyone else to pay their bills, as your corrupt government for the past 25 years rolled out the red carpet for tens of millions of illegal aliens, making American citizenship all but pointless.
Are you stupid or just play the stupid role?
er.....Yeah, the adults know *what* their doing
Newt’s first wife is not dead.
As far as the rest, yeah yeah I hear ya, something about being called a globalist liberal by a guy promoting a man loved by the Anti Semitic turhter blame America crowd and panders to our Muslim enemies in surrender monkey fashion just cracks me up.
Thanks...
What you say is true and needs to be fixed.
Paul AIN'T the repairman for the job...
“Newt’s first wife is not dead.”
Answer:
Exactly my point.
Gingrich was not sincere enough about his marriage oath (till death do us part), that he wouldn’t break it.
We absolutely know for a fact that Gingrich does not honor sacred oaths very seriously.
Ya think?
“Like I said I have no desire to turn you in ...”
Whew ... I was getting worried there for a moment.
Again, you have added nothing to this discussion other than a spooky sense of paranoia and some childish name calling.
You are a wonderful ambassador for Gingrich.
The only way Ron Paul looks good on foreign policy is to paint the rest of us as wanting our troops in every country and wanting "endless wars". I do not accept this false premise. We all desire efficiency in everything, including the military, and we all encourage our allies to defend themselves, just like the Iraqis are doing for themselves now for example. We also agree that we do not need troops in countries where their presence discouraged the host countries from providing their own defense, i.e., Europe.
The Department of Defense needs MORE money, not less. Nothing has changed with mankind. Utopia is for fools. Either we arm ourselves as much as we can, or become slaves like the people of all other isolationist countries became in the past.
Where have you been? Namecalling is a FReeper standby. (Fill-in-the-blank)-BOT,(Fill-in-the-blank)-TARD and of course, good old "RINO". I think every single republican has been called a RINO at least once on this forum.
Yes I do, still doesn’t mean I want the surrender monkey in charge...
Oh so then you are advocating for America to follow the Wiccan rede – ‘ Do As Thou Wilt But Harm None’
The Wiccan / libertarian brainwashing of America with the counter-culture movement is pathetic. Who defines harm? Personally I can find evidence that homosexuality, prostitution, heroin use, marijuana use, cocaine use, etc…. public nudity, public lewd behavior, and a host of other behavior that libertarians and leftists love to defend as being harmless to others is harmful. Thus we have to debate what is considered harmful or not. Thus rendering the pathetic Wiccan slogan followed by libertarians and leftists meaningless.
Lets just continue with out genius foreign policies, spending the American treasure on every other country on earth, borrowing from the Communist Chinese putting the next 6 generations into a cesspool of endless debt, and rewarding tens of millions who enter our country illegally from foreign lands...
Don't worry about surrendering to anyone slick...At this rate, your government is giving away and selling what's left of America, as they demand we pay the bill for this epic disaster. All created by those you call, responsible "adults".
What a terrible sham...
No it is not our military that has undermined our security by being overseas as you believe. It is the leftist and libertarian alliance of Paultards and Code Pink radicals that continually is undermining our troops overseas and our National Security with their anti-American propaganda and the moral support that they give to terrorists and dictatorships.
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