Aug

12

Ron Paul - #5 is Victory in Iowa

Filed Under Libertarian, Republican Party, Ron Paul 

Ron Paul made a very respectable showing at the Iowa Republican Straw Poll, in 5th place with 1305 votes. Considering he spent far less money and time in Iowa than the top four vote getters in one of the biggest welfare dependent states of the greater welfare-state called the USA, that’s a big victory. Iowa gets more federal money funneled into it than what the federal government sucks out of it each year. Being a largely agricultural state, it receives much largess in the form of farm subsidies. So much for the American farmer being the symbol of American rugged individualism. Sam Brownback, who ended up in 3rd place in the poll, made a point in his speech to pander to Iowa corn farmers, that he was all for the ethanol scam that enriches big corn farmers and makes the rest of us the victims of theft and thus poorer. Brownback, who wears his religion on his sleeve, must have a different understanding of the 10 Commandments, especially the one that says “Thou Shall Not Steal”. I was brought up a Christian and I don’t remember a disclaimer in that commandment that says “except when allowed with the blessings of government”.

We all knew Romney was buying/bribing his way to victory in the straw poll, but other information has come to light as to just how loathsome the man really is. See here and here.

Romney also paid a hefty monetary price in buying, busing, feeding and equipping his voters for victory, he spent about $2000/vote compared to Ron Paul who spent about $200.00/vote. Bribery is an expensive business as Romney’s expenses show. We could expect the same liberal frivolousness with him as president using taxpayer’s money.

Most surprising were the votes cast in favor of Mike Huckabee (#2) and Tom Tancredo (#4). Huckabee, an even more preachy kind of Brownback clone beat Brownback by 395 votes even though he spent a lot less than Brownback. Tancredo I just don’t get, his foreign policy ideas amount to more bombing, burning and killing which he intermixes between the ranting about the immigration issue. I guess for the Iowan’s who voted for him, they are just fine with the continuation of bombing, burning and killing thing, as well as an occasional nuking as long as it doesn’t happen in Iowa.

All in all voter turn out was much lower that the expected 25,000 votes, only 14,302 total votes were cast out of 26,000 total tickets sold.
The good thing for the Ron Paul campaign is that they showed they could generate real people to come out and vote for him, even in a state that is somewhat bemused by the anti welfare-state/warfare-state message. Congratulations to the dedicated Ron Paul supporters in Iowa for a job well done. The revolution is just beginning.

Final Results (via somewhat defective Diebold voting machines)
Mitt Romney – 4516 votes (31.5%)
Mike Huckabee - 2587 votes (18.1%)
Sam Brownback – 2192 votes (15.3%)
Tom Tancredo - 1961 votes (13.7%)
Ron Paul – 1305 votes (9.1%)
Tommy Thompson – 1039 votes (7.3%)
Fred Thompson – 203 votes (1.4%)
Rudy Giuliani – 183 votes (1.3%)
Duncan Hunter - 174 votes (1.2%)
John McCain – 101 votes (1.0%)
John Cox – 41 votes (0.1%)

Comments

8 Responses to “Ron Paul - #5 is Victory in Iowa”

  1. Sean Conness on August 12th, 2007 1:07 pm

    I agree that this is a very good showing for Dr. Paul. His campaign is just starting to grow and is increasing by the day while others are starting to fall.

  2. Christo on August 12th, 2007 4:32 pm

    There should be a strict law that the media MUST report the real news (results) under the penalty of a hefty fine! The Washington Post should be exposed and fined by lying to the American public. We deserve the truth, how dare they. Bravo for Dr. Paul and their campaign team! Continue bringing the message of truth and freedom to the world!

  3. Jim Ostrowski on August 12th, 2007 4:35 pm

    http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/014643.html

  4. Ray on August 12th, 2007 5:32 pm

    Christo, the last thing we need is ANOTHER LAW.
    Never give unto men the power to regulate under the pretense of doing good, cause all you’ll really end up getting is bad.

  5. Martin on August 12th, 2007 6:25 pm

    ‘Has anyone ever heard of a farmer making any sacrifice of his own interests, however slight, to the common good? Has anyone ever heard of a farmer practicing or advocating any political idea that was not absolutely self-seeking - that was not, in fact, deliberately designed to loot the rest of us to his gain? Greenbackism, free silver, government guarantee of prices, all the complex fiscal imbecilities of the cow state John Baptists — these are the contributions of the virtuous husbandman to American political theory.’- HL Mencken

  6. A.K. Smith on August 14th, 2007 5:23 pm

    We can spin this fifth place finish any way we want to, but Ron Paul finished behind crazy person Tancredo! Wrap your minds around that for a moment. And why did he come in fifth? Was it welfare-seeking farmers’ fault? Was it gasohol loving morons? Was it the LDS Iowa hordes descending on Ames? Was it Mrs. Paul’s Saturday morning bradycardia? Was it that the message of liberty is wrong?
    No, it was none of the above. Here’s what it was. STUPIDITY. Yup. STUPIDITY. If you enter a meaningless shakedown called a straw poll, then you mobilize buses and spend the money to buy the votes to finish at least in the top three. You don’t buy amateurish looking tv commercials at the last minute and only spend a week in the state and expect the “good people of Iowa” to see the light and spend all day in 95 degree heat, driving hours across the state then sitting for hours clapping and shouting your name, then spurring you to victory. Not one of the candidates who finished 1-4 in this dog and pony show used this amazingly stupid strategy. They were bought and paid for, bused and pampered and flattered into voting for people like Pandering Brownback, Plasticoid Romney and Ron Paul-Light Huckabee. The Paul campaign had more money that all but Romney. They had more people coming in to help than anyone but Romney. And yet, they finished in a spot that allows the media to ignore us completely and will likely hurt further fundraising efforts. This was plain stupidity. It would have been better to have all the out of staters send the money to bus in the voters instead of showing up in Iowa to holler. And even more, it would have been better to not participate at all. They should have rented a nearby location to hold another rally and THAT would have been cheaper and made the points we want made much more easily. I am working in my hometown for Ron Paul. I will turn out my precinct as much as possible. But now I know that stupidity from those running the campaign will cause me to have to do this on my own. Unless they learn from this. I surely hope they know this was a major missed opportunity. I hope they don’t believe their own pathetic spin. In poker, there is a time when you have to go all in. Always. And the people running Dr. Paul’s campaign just got snookered like an eighth grader in the World Series of Poker. Let’s hope it’s now fatal to the effort. (And one other thing. Best wishes to Mrs. Paul. She is a determined and wonderful person.)

  7. A.K. Smith on August 14th, 2007 5:26 pm

    That next to last sentence was supposed to be “Let’s hope it’s NOT fatal to the effort.”

    Oops.

  8. Nicholas Hollis on August 22nd, 2007 3:11 am

    Inquiring minds would be interested in Sam Brownback’s earlier stewardship role in setting up the New Uses Council and the Alternative Agriculture Research & Commercialization Center (AARCC)- which ended up being quietly shut down after nearly $50 million of taxpayer dollars disappeared with no results. Sam’s main sponsor on that caper was ADM — and so,of course, the federal investigation/audit got buried by fellow Kansan, Dan Glickman, who was ag secretary at the time. It is more than probable that erstwhile ethanol water-carrier Bob Dole (R-KS) also had a hand in this, along with ADM front group- the National Corn Growers Ass’n
    (NGCA) president Jeff Gain received a letter from the USDA/Inspector General informing him of irregularities in AARCC’s grant-making process and lack of results –but even after a Tom Brokaw expose on “Fleecing of America” (NBC) –the USDA/ADM/Brownback lid stayed on tight- and nothing happened. Check it out by writing USDA/IG and request Audit Report No.37099-1-FM (November 1999)

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