Mr. Undecided leads the pack

Polling Shows Mr. Undecided Leads GOP Race


As many as 26 percent of likely Republican voters in key states have not decided which candidate will get their vote in 2008.

That conclusion comes from ccAdvertising, which conducts polls for a range of candidates and members of Congress.
"Undecided is winning," Gabriel Joseph III, president of ccAdvertising, tells me. "The largest group of voters are people who just haven’t made up their minds yet."

According to ccAdvertising’s latest poll, Rudy Giuliani challenges Mr. Undecided. Giuliani leads with support from 25.5 percent of those who say they will vote in Republican caucuses or primaries in California, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York, and South Carolina. Th next three candidates are essentially tied — Fred Thompson with 15.4 percent, Mitt Romney with 14.2 percent, and John McCain with 13.2 percent. Final results will be released Wednesday.

Most pollsters do not emphasize how many people are undecided. Given that recent presidential elections have been won by a margin of 5 percent of the tally or less, the number of undecided votes spotlights how ephemeral polls are.

Confirming that, pollster Joseph notes that polls are nothing more than a quick snapshot of voter sentiment. In fact, he says that polls right now mostly measure name recognition.

"What you’re seeing at this point is a popularity contest," Joseph says. "The polls are measuring name-awareness. I believe that people are telling our surveys who they’re going to vote for by what they hear. Whether it’s good or bad right now, all they do is hear the names. Fred Thompson’s name has been bandied about a lot. People have heard Fred Thompson, Fred Thompson, Fred Thompson. So they’re more likely to say they’ll vote for him."

Romney campaign operatives have been banking on Joseph’s take. They point out that in the states where they have focused their efforts — Iowa and New Hampshire — Romney is winning. But only 64 percent of Americans have heard of him.

On the other hand, John McCain’s name recognition is 87 percent, according to a Gallup Poll, and the fact that McCain has been going down in the polls suggests that more than name recognition is at stake. Just before he declared his candidacy, Thompson’s name recognition was a surprisingly low 56 percent.

Early presidential front-runners litter the political landscape — Elizabeth Dole, Howard Dean, and Edward M. Kennedy, to name a few. But it’s not in the interests of either political reporters or pollsters to emphasize their uncertainty in calling the horse race.
On top of these considerations, polling has been facing growing voter concerns about privacy.

"Pollsters right now are struggling to get people to respond to their surveys," Joseph says. "Because fewer and fewer people are responding to their surveys, two things are happening: They’re going back to a pre-existing survey base — people that have answered before, will answer again. Number two, because when they get somebody willing to talk to them, they want to gather a lot of other data at the same time, the surveys are getting longer."

When surveys become longer, fewer people complete them, and the results are not counted. So, Joseph says, polls are becoming less reliable as more responses are discarded. Joseph’s company asks a limited number of questions over the telephone using a computerized voice-recognition system for calling people.
"We have the databases and the speed to just keep going until we get the number of respondents that our company and our clients need," Joseph says.

"What we are doing is measuring what people’s attitudes are today," he says. "And right now, Mr. Undecided is the winner."


full story here;

http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/GOP_undecideds_lead/2007/09/17/33220.html?s=al&promo_code=3A14-1


This is great news for Ron Paul. First it means that there are 26% of voters out there who may be swayed by his message of freedom.

Also it means that as long as the voters are torn between the other candidates it leaves room for a strong (strong enough?) showing for RP.

Lets hope that the so called "top tier" candidates stay in the race and diffuse the vote.

If the vote remains divided among the others then RP has a real chance to pull a "Perot" type split and come in under the radar.

For the first time in this I am starting to think that it may actually be possible.

I was wearing a "Ron Paul - Hope For America" T-shirt the other day and everywhere I went I got thumbs up, high fives, and "all Rights'" from people I encountered. I didn't have one person make any derogatory statements.

And the diversity of the people who were encouraging was eyeopening. From the body pierced 20 something at Starbucks to a 60ish farmer in cover-alls at the Dr.'s office. And many in between.

RP is the only candidate I have ever seen who has so united such different people. But it isn't him, it is his message.

Freedom transends all boundaries. Hope spans all generations.

 

International appeal

Paul's Int. Support Keeps Growing
Thursday, September 20, 2007 - FreeMarketNews.com

Posted September 20th, 2007 by manystrom

Thanks to Grant Johnston who emailed me with a slew of international Ron Paul blogs. The list of sites on the blogroll on the front page now contains fifteen (15!) international blogs! What other candidate - Republican or Democrat can boast this kind of support?

International Blogs:
Asia for Ron Paul
Bavaria for Ron Paul
Belgians for Ron Paul
Brits for Ron Paul
Brazilians for Ron Paul
Canadians for Ron Paul
Chile for Ron Paul
French for Ron Paul
Europe 4 Ron Paul
Holland 4 Ron Paul
Hungary for Ron Paul
Indian & Pakistani Friends of Ron Paul
Poland for Ron Paul
Romania for Ron Paul
Venezuela for Ron Paul

Grant also notes: "I discovered, by observation in meetup.com (http://ronpaul.meetup.com/about/), that a city gets a white pin, when 3 or more people are waiting for a meetup group. When the pin is white, no one has to pay. You only have to pay if a meetup group is started (it is not mandatory to start a group if interest is expressed). The pin then changes to red.

It would be nice to at least have a white pin for each of the countries that have Ron Paul supporters (Brazil, Romania, etc.). Unfortunately, I cannot find contact information for them on their websites, to tell them how to get it.

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/2236

 

So much for the anti-semite moniker his detractors have tried to lay on him.


'Jews for Ron Paul' Upset Over His Exclusion From Upcoming Debate
Thursday, September 20, 2007 - FreeMarketNews.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jews for Ron Paul 2008
Concord, New Hampshire
Executive Director: Jim C. Perry
Phone 603-671-3219
Email: jperry@jews4ronpaul.org

Jews for Ron Paul Offended by Dr. Paul's Exclusion From Debate; Calls for Jewish Republicans to Boycott "Republican Jewish Coalition"

CONCORD, NH -- Calling on the Republican Jewish Coalition to change its criteria for inclusion in its Victory 2008 Republican Jewish Coalition Candidates Forum, Jews for Ron Paul for President Executive Director Jim C. Perry asked Jewish voters to avoid joining the organization that purports to be representing Jewish Republican voters. "The Republican Jewish Coalition has decided to exclude Dr. Ron Paul from their 'debate', not because of any objective criteria, but because they disagree with Dr. Paul on issues of foreign policy," he said.

The debate, to occur at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Independence Ballroom in Washington, DC on October 16, will feature Sam Brownback, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson. Although Mike Huckabee was invited, he will not attend the forum. RJC Communications Director Shari Hillman wrote that "due to the limited time available for the event, the RJC could only include the top six candidates currently in the field." Yet by all objective criteria, Ron Paul is a top six contender, including:

* First place finishes in the Gaston County, NC, Strafford County, NH, DeKalb County, GA, Allegheny County, PA, and Maryland State Fair Straw Polls;

* Second place finishes in the Values Voters, Utah GOP, Cobb County, GA, Georgtown County, SC, and National Taxpayers Union Straw Polls;

* Third place finishes in the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, Illinois State Fair, and Texas Straw Polls;

* Fourth place finishes in the West Lafayette, IN, Students for Life America, and California Republican Assembly Straw Polls; and

* Fifth place in the Ames, IA Caucus.

"Congressman Paul has proven that he stands up for principle and doesn't pander to special interest groups. His voice should be heard at any serious Republican Presidential candidates forum," said Perry. "Hundreds of activists, Jewish and non-Jewish, have called and e-mailed to ask for Dr. Paul's inclusion in the Victory 2008 debate, but the Republican Jewish Coalition won't budge," he continued. "Instead, the RJC is asking those writing in to pay a membership fee, but what incentive is there for Ron Paul supporters to support an organization that is so clearly single-minded? The RJC has proven that they are not a serious organization, and we encourage Jewish voters not to support their Neo-Conservative agenda," concluded Perry.

# # #

Jews for Ron Paul was formed in the Summer of 2007 to support the Presidential candidacy of Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Dr. Paul is a respected fiscal and foreign policy expert and ten-term member of Congress who recently addressed the Johns Hopkins University School of International Affairs on the topic of "A Traditional Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy."

The Jews for Ron Paul Advisory Board members include: Steven R. Berger (Hingham, MA) of Adamas Partners; Dr. Walter E. Block (New Orleans, LA) of Loyola University; Jennifer R. Coffey (Andover, NH) of the Second Amendment Sisters; Rich Goldman (Baltimore, MD) of the Free State Project; Aaron Zelman (Hartford, WI) of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership; and member emeritas, Aaron Russo (1943-2007), the late prominent Hollywood film producer. Our Web site address is http://www.jews4ronpaul.org/.

 

Ron Paul Remains Conservative's Best Option

by Ken Mowery Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com

I noticed with great interest that Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee won the real Republican candidate debate which was held in Ft. Lauderdale Florida September 17, 2007. Huckabee won by a substantial margin over runner up, Ron Paul.

I have sort of been overlooking Huckabee. He is a Southern Baptist pastor. Or, he was before going into politics. It stands to reason that he would stand out in a real values debate. He is certainly the most qualified on the spiritual/moral/values scale.

At this point, I don't know if I would consider Huckabee as politically conservative as Ron Paul although I would consider him to the right of the no show media darlings that call themselves Republicans.

In my mind Ron Paul's drive to anchor public policy to the legal constructs of the Constitution still represents the radically healthy break from convention that our nation must have now. A morally conservative candidate like Mike Huckabee will move us in the right general direction, but it seems that we would be better served to use the objectively tangible parameters of the constitution as our way point.

The Constitution of the United States was built on the appropriate Judeo-Christian foundation. Strict and radical adherence to that document as a governing principle will not lead us in the wrong direction. Public policy afloat on the turblence of public opinion and do nothing bi-partisan compromise takes us no closer to safety as I see things.

We have been given a bedrock solid anchor in the Constitution but we've allowed imbalance in the requisite checks and balances to separate us from that safe mooring. I like Ron Paul because he wants to steer us toward the clear focal point of the Constitution.

The Democrats and the "main line", media darlings of the old Republican party promise no real or positive change in my opinion. They represent different views on how to ballast a ship tossed and battered on a storm churned sea. They have no plan that will move us to safety. Their best efforts are only a futile attempt to keep the ship from sinking.

However, the neo-conservatism of the Constitutionalists Republican candidate, Ron Paul offers genuine hope that can turn our nation around and enable us to not only weather the storm but move toward safer waters.

I'm still hoping against hope that enough people will become sick enough of the status quo that they will listen for and hear the clarion call to reason and get behind Ron Paul.