Tell that to these lovestruck puppies who keep talking about Paul needing to run 3rd party. My whole point about mentioning Perot getting in debates was to point out how those are probably the single most important aspect of a Presidental run. Sure other things are pretty important, but there is no one other thing more important than those debates. They put you on a national stage, and as much as the convention is to talk ill of how little Americans pay attention, those debates get good ratings. And not only that, but they provide content for the news stations to analyze and talk about…meaning more exposure. And it’s all water cooler fodder as well. “Did you see what Senator Yahoo said in the debate last night?”
You can’t go anywhere in a national campaign without being in the debates. And my point in mentioning Perot actually being in them was to illustrate that even getting on that national stage, and having a bottomless pit of personal funding to draw on if necessary, the man got 19% of the popular vote…and 0% of the Electoral College. And there is no fucking way in hell Ron Paul would be in any Presidential debate representing a third party. It’s just not going to happen.
And again, Perot got those results not only with being in the debates, but the guy was buying entire 30 minute and full hour-long slots on major television networks to speak directly to the public, and in the final days of the campaign was spending $5 million [$7.7million in current dollars] per day. AGAIN, it took Ron Paul 4 or 5 days just to raise $1 million in the latest moneybomb a couple weeks ago.
People talking about “Ron Paul needs to run 3rd party” are just delusional.
Now’s not the time folks. I understand Paul is exciting and the movement is getting promising. But we’re just not there yet. Please be awake to reality.