In a video posted on his website yesterday, Republican Rep. Ron Paul hinted at the obvious. With John McCain clinching the GOP nomination, his presidential campaign is over. The Ron Paul phenomenon of 2008 is interesting because it revealed a great deal about where the Republican Party has been, and quite possibly where it is going. The fascinating thing about Paul is that he is either loved or loathed. I am probably one of the few people who doesn’t feel pulled to either extreme.
Unlike many of his supporters, Dr. Paul never seemed to lose focus of the long shot nature of his campaign. He knew that he was saying what his own party did not want to hear. It takes a great deal of courage to stand up in front of millions and take positions that will be very unpopular. Ron Paul was on a crusade to return the GOP back to its conservative roots. To Paul, the Republican Party has become the standard bearer for interventionism, fiscal irresponsibility, and increasing the power of the federal government. Paul saw himself as the lone conservative voice, amongst a field of pretenders.
The problem for Paul is that the Republican Party of 2008 is no longer the party of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. It is now a party divided between liberal Republicans like McCain and Giuliani, and social conservatives such as Mike Huckabee. It seems like there is no room in the party for old school fiscal conservatives. The blunt truth is that Ron Paul’s views were never going to be accepted by today’s Republican voters.
Over the past year, I would get tons of email any time that I wrote something negative about Ron Paul. Some of his more zealous supporters would tell me that I didn’t know what I was talking about, and that Ron would be the nominee if only the media would be fair with him. My standard reply was always to point out that, a). It is difficult to win the Republican nomination if Republicans won’t vote for you, and b). Despite the fact that he had only had one second place finish, he has received a ton of media coverage. No other candidate has done so little at the polls yet received so much coverage.
Unlike Barack Obama, the Paul campaign was never able to translate their vast Internet support into votes. The difference between the two campaigns is simple. Obama’s message was crafted to appeal to Democratic voters, while Paul was trying to take his party in a direction that they didn’t want to go in. The Paul campaign did affirm that a candidate can raise tons of money on line. They also showed that enough Internet buzz can translate into media attention. However, political campaigns still live and die based on their message, and Ron Paul’s message never appealed to enough Republican voters. This fact may say more about the state of the Republican Party, than the campaign of Ron Paul.
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6 users commented in " What Did We Learn from Ron Paul’s Presidential Campaign? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackYour last paragraph says it all.
“Unlike Barack Obama, the Paul campaign was never able to translate their vast Internet support into votes. The difference between the two campaigns is simple. Obama’s message was crafted to appeal to Democratic voters, while Paul was trying to take his party in a direction that they didn’t want to go in.”
That is exactly right, the Republican party is now a Socialist-War Party and no longer concerned with the Constitution or the average American.
“…Ron Paul’s message never appealed to enough Republican voters. This fact may say more about the state of the Republican Party, than the campaign of Ron Paul.”
Another sane point, it’s not the fault of Dr. Paul’s campaign (or supporters) but the identity crisis in the Republican party. They have chosen War over Values, may God have mercy on us all because the Democrats or the Republican choice is not going to save us now.
The writing was clearly on the wall when Ron Paul didn’t do well in New Hampshire. If he’d won the NH primary, or at least finished a strong second, the campaign would have been catapulted into serious contention and we would have a dramatically different picture now.
Oh, for what might have been! Nevertheless, I say that Ron Paul’s campaign was a success. It galvanized a lot of people who had been politically apathetic. Many of them will fade away, but a core of dedicated activists will continue to push the rEVOLution, both within and outside of the Republican Party.
This is the beginning, not the end.
Actually I think the MAIN lesson is significantly different than that.
The main lesson is that a candidate has to actually WANT to be in the race; otherwise he exercises NO oversight over the actual operation of the campaign.
And in this case, the $32 Million was squandered by a bunch of amateurs who had no clue how to run a campaign (jeepers, the campaign manager’s MAIN “business experience” is in MLM sales of vitamins!) — no clue how to get EFFECTIVE TV ads made (or even how much to pay for them) — no clue how to buy airtime or mailings at appropriate costs, etc.
Plus, the campaign MUST have either COMPETENT staffers or a firm on board to handle effective media relations (you know, PR).
Finally, the candidate has to actually get out and CAMPAIGN — you know the old “pressing of the flesh” — which is important not only because voters expect it (especially in Iowa and New Hampshire) but also because THAT is what keeps the reporters happy and writing stories about you.
You can’t expect to just give 1 speech a week to a captive audience of college students to suffice as “campaigning” — just doesn’t cut it.
Oh, and it helps to have a bus or airplane for the “embedded” reporters to ride along on… provided you have events for them to report on, etc.
ad nauseum.
My turning point, the moment I truly lost hope in Ron Paul’s campaign for president was when he was asked who he would assign as his running mate. He said that person would have to agree with him on ALL the issues. Where would such person exist?
My hopes are the Ron Paul will continue the conversation he began by running for office with voters who believe in him and those who question him. I saw people who were Republican, Democrat, and Independent become extremely excited about what he had to say. I also spent hours listening to people who disagreed, but were completely enthralled. Oftentimes, I found myself educating people about what it truly meant to be a Republican. Ron Paul embraces that. Unfortunately, there have been so many crooks in office that have been destroying the very ideology behind Republican beliefs.
Ron Paul should have hired a PR person. Ron Paul was not a great public speaker, either. That is true, but this man did an extraordinary thing for the people of this country. He single handedly made voters young and old excited about making the REAL CHANGES that need to be made in government. Remember, he did not take money from private interests. He raised more money than was though possible just by reaching out to voters and taking a very risky stance.
Don’t kick Ron Paul while he is down. This is a man who has triumphed against the system. Ron Paul gave so many people hope. He will not be forgotten, and I think his true impact on this race has yet to present itself.
You people amaze me. What you do not know is what is happening in every county convention across American. The 300,000 Paul People are using the model of the Republic to reshape the GOP. Karl Rove is a wimp and the GOP Leadership can toss every NEOCON they want at us, but we will not yield. Bring it on ,all the NeoCons from this day forward will be tossed under the bus.
NO more politics of FEAR, Bloated Government, Reduced Personal Freedom or Insane Spending of Wars that Profit the American citizens not.
LOL dudes, no PR hacks required ,no butt kicking required. This past week I watched 100 Disenfranchised Republicans delegates jump to their feet to cheer for a guy stumping for Ron Paul. When the McCain stumper finished there was a polite pop of clapping and then the state clowns attempted to sell us on the ideal that McCain was worthy of our support. At lunch everybody I talked to said, I will not vote at State for McCain. The single exception was the Ex mayor of New York group less that 10% of the total group
This country is a mess because of short mined or should I say like mined dim wits running both parties.
Mark my words by the time August 1st comes you will see an open revolt in the GOP that no MSM can cover over and because of the nature of the system only the truly motivated Ron Paul Delegates will prevail. It is a REPUBLIC! They will not bargain away anything and they intend to make the Ruling Class Old Guard bow to the pressure before August 1st.
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