Posted on 08/11/2007 8:10:49 AM PDT by indcons
Today's Iowa straw poll isn't merely a test for Mitt Romney, who leads in Iowa in the latest Washington Post/ABC news poll and has easily outspent the rest of the GOP field.
It's also a test for the Paulites -- the undeniably loyal and undeniably Internet-savvy followers of Rep. Ron Paul.
His YouTube videos are the most viewed of any presidential candidate -- yes, more than Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. He has more MySpace friends than Romney, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former senator Fred Thompson combined. His online followers, many of them live-and-let-live libertarians, were essential to his second quarter fundraising haul of $2.37 million, which easily surpassed former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback.
And the big question on many a online political operative mind is: Can Paul translate all that online enthusiasm into offline results?
Five months before the Iowa caucuses, the straw poll is a non-binding test of a candidate's organizational mettle. Voters are scheduled to pack Iowa State University's Hilton Coliseum, in summer heat, to show their support. Paul's Iowa operation lags behind Romney's, no doubt. Paul just opened his headquarters in Iowa on Thursday, and his aides said the 400 or so members of his Iowa Meetup groups have been working the phones, passing out campaign literature and stuffing mailers in recent days. "We don't have any lofty expectations," Jesse Benton, Paul's spokesman, said. "We just want to prove that we can run with the pack."
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.washingtonpost.com ...
Call Romney what you may, and he is not my guy, but at least he lives on Planet Earth, Circa 2007...
He doesn't sympathize with terrorists, but whatever toots. If you don't care for him then why are you always posting on the threads bashing him? You're not going to convince those who support him otherwise anyway.
Who I decide to vote for will never change the level of disgust I now have for Ron Paul.
Good for you. Support your Mass. flip-flopping liberal POS then and leave Paul alone.
Aren't there different worlds according to Mormonism? ROFL
Ron Paul is a douche who blames America for 911.
The thing is, the Democrats treat terrorism as a crime fighting problem, while the libertarians— they don’t even want to fight crime! That makes Comrade Clinton stronger on defense than Ron Paul and his posse of Alex Jones kook troofers.
Exactly.
Ron Paul might get 5 percent more of the vote than me, and I’m not even running...
Snicker snicker...
That’s a good one...
Looks like Paul will only do about 5% better than alot of us.
Paul/Sheehan ‘08
‘08?, that was some 8 year ago, it is 1816 and Dr. Paul shall be our next President...
He is a disgusting human being who only garners supports for anti-American leftists and al Qaeda terrorists.
The man could spend the rest of his life apologizing to every family member of every person murdered on 9-11 and he still would not come close to absolving himself of his traitorous actions.
Thursday? It's one thing to skip Iowa, it's a completely different thing to mount your flag a day before the straw poll and THEN have supporters that have the nerve to claim fraud BEFORE THE VOTING HAS BEGUN! What losers.
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