For Paul, Huntsman, Winning Straw Polls Is More Important Than Winning Supporters
Some are going to disagree with me and that’s ok, but I believe more know what the bottom line is here, it’s to win. Who am I? I am a local nobody with an opinion, almost always backed up by pad of facts. To agree or disagree creates great debate and hopefully the answers we are all seeking before next November.
Friday the Rocky Horror Picture Show made a stunning appearance at the Louisiana Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. As Herman Cain was delivering his speech, across the room, a crowd of rude Ron Paul (Paulistonians) supporters continually roared above Mr. Cain in the attempts to drown out parts of his delivery. Ask yourself, what did this action prove?
If you are over thirty yrs old you probably know of the Rocky Horror Picture Show and its following. If not, Google it. I have heard of other Presidential Candidates that have engaged in busing in more votes this surely seems be the order of the day, but for the Ron Paul team it has definitely become a tactic necessary to gain national prominence.
OK, now the facts, along with the Paul camp, seems the Huntsman camp also doesn’t mind skewering the polls a bit with their bus loads of votes brought in. Nobody likes a cheater. The following is an email from the Ron Paul Campaign received in early June outlining Dr. Paul’s NEED to win the straw poll in New Orleans.
The clock is ticking.
The Republican Leadership Conference kicks off in New Orleans, Louisiana, on June 16th.
Last year, I lost their straw poll by only one vote to establishment candidate Mitt Romney.
I’m counting on Patriots like you for a different outcome this time.
With only a few days left, my campaign has only a handful of tickets still available for this crucial event.
This is one of the most important, highly-anticipated straw polls in the country. So can I count on you to join me in New Orleans to help put the establishment on notice that the days of Big Government Republicanism are over?
I hope you will.
Of course, I know the tough economic times we’re going through right now – thanks to out-of-control spending by Congress and “print-now, ask-questions-later” Federal Reserve policies – are putting a squeeze on everyone.It’s time to take a stand.
That’s why my campaign has made tickets available, which allow you to vote in the straw poll, to my supporters for FREE.
Can I count on you to attend? If so, please click here to register for this important event right away. The Conference will be held at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. And after the event, I also hope you’ll stop by and say hello at the Meet and Greet I’ll be hosting.
I’d love to shake your hand and tell you how much I appreciate your support. Believe me, I’ll hardly be able to thank you enough! This is one of the race’s most important upcoming straw polls. All eyes will be on New Orleans, including major news networks, talk radio hosts, and influential GOP leaders – just to name a few. And I will be one of several Presidential candidates speaking at the Conference.
This is your opportunity to show the Republican Party that there is widespread grassroots support within the GOP for a return to constitutional government. And this is our opportunity to demonstrate that my campaign is a top-tier contender and a force to be reckoned with in this race.
But tickets are going fast. And there’s no time to waste.
Click here to reserve your FREE tickets and register for the event!
Last year I lost by only ONE vote. This year, let’s show the entire country that we’re in this race to win – and that the R3VOLUTION is alive and well!
For Liberty,
Ron Paul
P.S. If you can’t make it to New Orleans, you can still help us win the straw poll by making a generous contribution so we can mobilize more supporters to attend. Any amount you can give would be greatly appreciated.
As the voting started, Ron Paul supporters were voting at a 10.1 ratio above the other candidates. That’s a lot of free tickets, paid for by the Ron Paul Campaign.
All Louisianians should pay close attention to each and every candidate, follow their trek across the country as we enter the most important election cycle to date. This is where character above all else, matters to America and her future, our future.
So, can you buy a poll? Friends, enough money can buy anything, just look at the White House. The results of this poll are as expected.
Bachmann 191
Cain 104
Gingrich 69
Huntsman 382
Johnson 10
McCotter 2
Palin 41
Paul 612
Pawlenty 18
Roemer 9
Romney 74
Santorum 30
Would someone please bring some character back to our party, America deserves it!! America demands it!!
Uhh… Does the author have any sense of political history? Every political candidate of both parties for the last 50 years has bused supporters to straw polls and paid for straw poll tickets. It’s expected. It’s a test of organizing ability. It has always been considered an indicator of which campaigns actually had their act together. So, now that Ron Paul has won a few straw polls in the last 2 cycles — this is suddenly unethical? Without character? If you don’t like Ron Paul, fine. But this article is just … stupid.
If every candidate for the last 50 years has done it, how come only two
candidates out of the 12 on the RLC straw-poll ballot did it? How come only
Ron Paul does it at CPAC every year?
Your math doesn’t quite add up. The author is correct in identifying the
fact Ron Paul’s campaign is attempting to buy publicity indicating his
campaign is more mainstream and viable than it actually is.
Everyone does it. Both parties. Always have. I’m surprised a political analyst like you wouldn’t know that. I need go no further than Mitt Romney’s one vote victory over Ron Paul in the last RLC Straw Poll — in which Romney was criticized for exactly the same thing.
If you want, I can point you to an ocean of literature on the presidential nominating process going back to Nixon / Kennedy.
What’s bothering people who are active in the Republican Party this cycle is the very fact that this is always how campaigns have worked to break through (at least since the maturity of radio and the advent of mass television). They just don’t like that it has worked to the advantage of people like Huntsman, and more frequently, Paul.
They’re just mad that Ron Paul does it more effectively — for the very same reasons you decry — his large pool of motivated activists.
As I said, two out of 12 candidates on the ballot spammed the poll. That’s
17 percent. Not everyone.
You’re correct that it’s not unheard of. After all, most of the reason Obama
won the nomination over Hillary Clinton was that he trucked in SEIU goons
from Chicago to caucuses as far away as Idaho to rack up delegate totals.
But it’s not universal at all. Not by any means. And it’s not a commonly
accepted practice to spam straw polls even if people like Paul think it’s
how to win a campaign (which there is little evidence of, Obama
notwithstanding since spamming caucuses was only a small piece of what got
him elected).
Exactly Mr MacAoidh! Obama did it and look where he is. It doesn’t make it cheating and am offended by the claim from Mr. Parnham. I wonder what edge he will use if he ever tries to run for office? I am sick and tire of the big hair, big smile, smooth talking progressives (yes even the ones with R behind their name) winning these critical elections. Time for someone with principals to take the helm!
So you’re looking for a principled politician to win the nomination, and
because you believe you’ve found one you think it’s perfectly OK for him to
engage in slimy and disingenuous tactics most politicians don’t have much
use for? Principled politicians can engage in unprincipled behavior so long
as you like their principles?
That doesn’t compute so well.
Yes, this has been going on for a very long time. I hold true to many of Paul,’s ideal. Do hold to his or others tactics in getting on top. No
Again, I’ll repeat my last sentence. Would someone please bring some character back to our party. America deserves it and demands it!!
I can’t believe how naive you are Mr. Parnham! You must assume Politics is an sincere genuine process. Well it isn’t! It is a down and dirty business and they are in it to win. The winner of any poll is the one that is best organized. Look at the Nov elections of 2008. Obama’s organization was better organized and he won! Get over it. They are going to be even better organized this time around in 2012. Get prepared for it! Just because “your guy” isn’t organized like the Ron Paul folks are to bad so sad! Get over it or get better organized! To call this cheating is a disgrace as well. No one was working behind anyone’s back. The email you quoted was sent to thousands if not millions of people. I would say that is pretty public and IN YOUR FACE. Your spiteful letter to the Louisiana Hay Ride is just another episode of jealous grand standing. Your poor boy Cain isn’t advancing in the polls Boo Hoo Hoo!
This article doesn’t display much that is new. This guy needs bigger pad of facts without the comment spam which he had plenty of.
A
group of evangelical supporters of Mitt Romney are pressing people
to support Romney at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw
poll.
Afterward, I spoke to a young female delegate who said
she planned to vote for Romney in the poll. I asked her how she had
ended up at the conference.
She said “Evangelicals for
Mitt” had contacted her and offered to pay for her to have a
limited-access ticket — so long as she agreed to vote for Romney in the
straw poll.
Discounting the spammers, Bachmann won the straw poll. Nevertheless, had Perry thrown his name into the mix, given the reaction of the crowd, it’s likely he’d have run away with it.
While these straw polls can be tests of organization, last cycle, Paul, however well organized, couldn’t pull it off when the votes mattered. Apart from his libertarian stance on the issues, could the characteristic rudeness of his supporters have had something to do with his failure? They are so off-putting…
Here are the Republicans that have actually declared:
Michelle Bachman
Herman Cain
Newt Gingrich
John Huntsman
Gary Johnson
Fred Karger
Andy Martin
Jimmy McMillan
Tom Miller
Ron Paul
Tim Pawlenty
Mitt Romney
Rick Santorum
Vern Wuensche
The guy with the ‘in your face’ campaign supporters is
getting a lot of the attention. It looks like there are a few that wish someone
would do that for them.
Love me, or hate me….just don’t forget me….seems to be
working well.
[...] Mark Parham and Mike Bayham have written here at the Hayride over the past couple of days, Paul’s [...]