Ron Paul’s 50-State Campaign Organization
Ron Paul's remarkable fourth-quarter fundraising ($11.3 million and counting) has earned him a new level of respect from the mainstream media, but misperceptions about his campaign persist. The worst of these is the notion that although he has tremendous support on the Internet and enough money to buy ad time on radio and TV, his lean campaign organization somehow puts him at a disadvantage compared to the other top tier candidates.
Since political experts and media pundits are accustomed to considering only paid staff, they might have missed the most startling fact of the entire election: Ron Paul has more volunteers than all of the other candidates put together. Even his once-shoestring official campaign is beginning to look like a formidable force, with offices established in 44 states, and more on the way.
The political experts might dismiss Ron Paul's 85,000 volunteers in Meetup groups in over 1,000 cities as just more Internet enthusiasm, but they shouldn't. Ron Paul Meetup members meet in real life, making and displaying signs, handing out campaign literature, writing letters to voters in early primary states, canvassing door-to-door, and sharing tips on how to best convert friends, neighbors, and coworkers to the Ron Paul Revolution.
Even more impressive, nearly all of this activity is done at the expense of the volunteers, and does not factor into the campaign's official total of $19.6 million raised since January. How much is all of this Meetup activity worth? Ron Paul Meetup groups have held 18,764 events so far. Assuming an average attendance of twelve members per event, and an average event duration of two hours, this would be the equivalent of another $4.5 million in campaign contributions, if volunteers were paid just ten dollars per hour.
Other substantial efforts are also off-budget, including the much-publicized Ron Paul Blimp, a full-page ad in USA Today on the day before Thanksgiving, full-page ads in other local papers, and local radio and television ads in Iowa and elsewhere, all funded through independent expenditures of Ron Paul supporters, either individually or in pro-liberty political action committees.
It's not just the money and the man-hours freely given that make Ron Paul's unmatched grassroots support a key campaign advantage. Because the Meetup groups are locally organized and led, they can be much more responsive to the new rules and compressed primary schedules of the 2008 nominating season.
Scattered media reports are beginning to hint at just how much of an advantage Ron Paul's incredible grassroots machine will be. While other candidates focus on high profile states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Ron Paul volunteers are recruiting state convention delegates in West Virginia, reaching out to potential caucus-goers in Nevada, finding precinct captains in Wyoming, and canvassing door-to-door in California's forgotten liberal districts, where the national convention delegate to Republican voter ratio can be ten times higher than in the more conservative districts.
The traditional early primary states are drawing heavy grassroots support for Ron Paul as well. Hundreds of college students will descend on Iowa for Christmas break, and hundreds of other volunteers are moving to New Hampshire in January to campaign door-to-door, call Republican voters, and mail campaign literature.
With a crowded field of contenders and no clear front-runner, the 2008 Republican nomination contest will almost certainly remain in doubt until the Super Tuesday events on February 5th, and possibly well beyond that. Mike Huckabee may have the momentum in the December polls, and Fred Thompson and John McCain may have higher name recognition, but only Ron Paul will be able to muster the campaign cash and the ground troops to compete with Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney nationally, if no knockout blow is delivered in January.
The political experts and media pundits have been wrong about Ron Paul every step of the way, and he will continue to confound them throughout the primary season. The primaries are won not by name recognition, nor media coverage, nor random telephone surveys, nor campaign ads, but by voter turnout. Voter turnout is determined by the effort, enthusiasm, and organization of a candidate's grassroots campaign organization.
Ron Paul can win the Republican nomination, if we continue our efforts, and take them to the next level.
Read more at Paul 4 Prez
Since political experts and media pundits are accustomed to considering only paid staff, they might have missed the most startling fact of the entire election: Ron Paul has more volunteers than all of the other candidates put together. Even his once-shoestring official campaign is beginning to look like a formidable force, with offices established in 44 states, and more on the way.
The political experts might dismiss Ron Paul's 85,000 volunteers in Meetup groups in over 1,000 cities as just more Internet enthusiasm, but they shouldn't. Ron Paul Meetup members meet in real life, making and displaying signs, handing out campaign literature, writing letters to voters in early primary states, canvassing door-to-door, and sharing tips on how to best convert friends, neighbors, and coworkers to the Ron Paul Revolution.
Even more impressive, nearly all of this activity is done at the expense of the volunteers, and does not factor into the campaign's official total of $19.6 million raised since January. How much is all of this Meetup activity worth? Ron Paul Meetup groups have held 18,764 events so far. Assuming an average attendance of twelve members per event, and an average event duration of two hours, this would be the equivalent of another $4.5 million in campaign contributions, if volunteers were paid just ten dollars per hour.
Other substantial efforts are also off-budget, including the much-publicized Ron Paul Blimp, a full-page ad in USA Today on the day before Thanksgiving, full-page ads in other local papers, and local radio and television ads in Iowa and elsewhere, all funded through independent expenditures of Ron Paul supporters, either individually or in pro-liberty political action committees.
It's not just the money and the man-hours freely given that make Ron Paul's unmatched grassroots support a key campaign advantage. Because the Meetup groups are locally organized and led, they can be much more responsive to the new rules and compressed primary schedules of the 2008 nominating season.
Scattered media reports are beginning to hint at just how much of an advantage Ron Paul's incredible grassroots machine will be. While other candidates focus on high profile states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, Ron Paul volunteers are recruiting state convention delegates in West Virginia, reaching out to potential caucus-goers in Nevada, finding precinct captains in Wyoming, and canvassing door-to-door in California's forgotten liberal districts, where the national convention delegate to Republican voter ratio can be ten times higher than in the more conservative districts.
The traditional early primary states are drawing heavy grassroots support for Ron Paul as well. Hundreds of college students will descend on Iowa for Christmas break, and hundreds of other volunteers are moving to New Hampshire in January to campaign door-to-door, call Republican voters, and mail campaign literature.
With a crowded field of contenders and no clear front-runner, the 2008 Republican nomination contest will almost certainly remain in doubt until the Super Tuesday events on February 5th, and possibly well beyond that. Mike Huckabee may have the momentum in the December polls, and Fred Thompson and John McCain may have higher name recognition, but only Ron Paul will be able to muster the campaign cash and the ground troops to compete with Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney nationally, if no knockout blow is delivered in January.
The political experts and media pundits have been wrong about Ron Paul every step of the way, and he will continue to confound them throughout the primary season. The primaries are won not by name recognition, nor media coverage, nor random telephone surveys, nor campaign ads, but by voter turnout. Voter turnout is determined by the effort, enthusiasm, and organization of a candidate's grassroots campaign organization.
Ron Paul can win the Republican nomination, if we continue our efforts, and take them to the next level.
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