Ron Paul Campaign Update
Some local ads being run, but nothing nation-wide yet.
by James Buchanan
The weekend GOP debate in Orlando was unremarkable. One news article reports “The leading candidates — Giuliani, Romney, Fred Thompson and John McCain — haggled over a range of issues along with four long-shot contenders: former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and congressmen Duncan Hunter of California, Ron Paul of Texas and Tom Tancredo of Colorado.”
Ron Paul thankfully got a little more exposure and some national airtime with the always-hostile Sean Hannity. The number of people watching these debates appears to be dwindling especially with the main focus on the excruciatingly boring “Big Four” candidates, Romney, Giuliani, Thompson and McCain.
Simultaneous with this event, Ron Paul announced a four-state advertising campaign. On the plus side, at least Ron Paul is running ads in several states somewhat early. On the negative side, the Paul campaign has still failed to run any nation-wide ads and the text of the radio ads is horribly bland, focusing on tax cuts, which should make Ron Paul almost completely indistinguishable from all the other candidates, who will most likely promise tax cuts too. The two biggest issues for the 2008 election are the Iraq War and illegal immigration. 72 percent of Americans want our troops brought back from the Iraq War and about 85 percent of Americans want immigration laws enforced. There should be a tidal wave of support for Ron Paul if only he could make himself known to ordinary Americans as well as his stand on those two critical issues.
One significant bit of good news is that Ron Paul has managed to land an interview with Jay Leno on Tuesday (Oct. 30th). Whoever arranged this interview for Paul deserves either a promotion or a full time position on the Ron Paul staff. There are dozens of other interview shows on network and cable and whoever landed the Jay Leno interview needs to go after these too.
Ron Paul needs to run his campaign differently than the other candidates. The mainstream media was literally blacking out news of Ron Paul all the way up to early October. Only 11 percent of Americans are aware of Ron Paul. This situation literally screams for some national advertising.
Ron Paul is unique and has a huge appeal. While it’s true other candidates have received donations which are less than what they’ve spent on ads; Ron Paul is the only candidate who is likely to receive MORE back in contributions relative to what he spends on ads. The key point is to run nation-wide ads EARLY while it will still do some good. And it’s important to stay focused on the Iraq War and immigration. Ron Paul needs to make it loud and clear in every ad that he will bring our troops home from the Iraq War and that he will always oppose an amnesty.
In advertising, you have to spend money to make money. Whether it’s a new consumer product or a presidential candidate, you have to have confidence that when people hear about the product, they’ll want it. Ron Paul is probably the only candidate, who can spend a million on national TV ads, which will generate an additional million in revenue, permitting Ron Paul to buy yet another million dollars in ads and so on. The key thing is to run the first nation-wide ads as soon as possible so that the chain reaction can get started.
One Internet article that discusses commercial advertising states that nation-wide commercial time can be bought for $100,000 for a 30 second block. So one million dollars could buy ten 30-second commercial ads or 30 ten-second commercials.
A ten second commercial should not be that hard to make. Many of Paul’s supporters are very Internet and computer savvy. Paul could even hold a contest to see which supporter can make the best ten-second commercial. It only takes ten seconds to say:
“I’m Ron Paul. If elected president, I will pull our troops out of Iraq as soon as possible, and I will enforce immigration laws and never approve an amnesty.”
While this narration is going on, a video of cheering crowds waving Ron Paul signs could be played. To maximize the effect of the commercial, the following lines could appear in red letters at the bottom of the screen (scrolling three lines at a time):
Only an anti-war Republican can beat Hillary
Ron Paul is the only anti-war Republican candidate
Ron Paul would restore Habeas Corpus, outlaw warrantless wiretaps, uphold the Constitution.
Ron Paul has been described as a modern-day Thomas Jefferson.
Ron Paul would never support an Amnesty.
Other Candidates quotes on immigration:
Giuliani: “I had 400,000 illegal immigrants, roughly, in NYC.”
Huckabee: “”I just don’t think it’s realistic to say… we’re going to round up 12 to 20 million… and we’re going to put them across the border…”
Romney: “I don’t believe in rounding up 11 million people [illegal aliens] and forcing them at gunpoint from our country.”
Thompson: “Look, it’s just not realistic that we’re going to round up 12 million people and ship them all out of the country.”
Call 703-248-9115 to donate.
–www.RonPaul2008.com
Thankfully, political advertising has a discounted rate. As an example, consider the MoveOn.org ad in the New York times. This ad was placed at 38% the normal advertising rate. This means Ron Paul could run 2.5 times as many ads if the same discount applied. So instead of 30 ten second commercials, Ron Paul could run 75 ten second commercials on nationally-broadcast TV shows.
Ron Paul should spend one million on nation-wide ads now. Ron Paul needs to rally people all across America to join his campaign. Ron Paul’s support has come from the Internet and the relatively small number of people who watch the Republican debates. He needs to break out of this bubble. Running 75 commercials on 25 nationally syndicated shows would be a good first step.
I strongly suggest that everyone reading this article, who feels the Ron Paul campaign should be running national ads now, should e-mail the Ron Paul campaign at:
mail@ronpaul2008.com