Rand Pauluses and Minuses - How to Win an Unwinnable Debate

Election 2016PoliticsRand Paul
Written By Jason Grimley

What a whirlwind of a week, with our column's candidate going from pariah to pharaoh of the political ranks due to his prowess in PR.Rand skips the debate and ends up winning it How do you win a debate that you didn't even attend? Rand taught the political world a lesson in publicity by skipping the JV debate, or the 'kids table' featuring Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee after he was snubbed (intentionally some say) by Fox Business for the major event.Immediately after hearing the news I claimed that this was the best possible strategy - as documented here - and low and behold, Rand and I were proven correct via the media blitz he found himself on leading up to last week's debate. Appearing on everything from Dr. Oz to The Daily Show, and of course on every major political program multiple times, Paul garnered vastly more voter impressions by forgoing the stage.From Business Insider:

Paul told Business Insider that his campaign estimated that 15 million people tuned in to his television appearances during the weeklong media tour. More were reached through several back-to-back radio interviews on Thursday and through various print interviews during the week.The combined views gave him more exposure than Thursday’s so-called undercard debate, which Paul decided to skip because of its "lower-tier" status. (Paul even admitted that he didn’t watch because he was exercising.)

And let's not forget all the articles added on touting just how savvy a move this was after the fact either.Hopefully it helps in Iowa.- PAULUSPaul live-Tweets Democratic DebateIt's a shame we didn't invite Rand to live blog along with us during the Democratic Debate Sunday night (what a joke, having that debate after NFL playoff football with a start time of 9pm ET. Can the Democrats more openly deride mainstream America?).Paul took it upon himself to have some fun on social media, as he often does, and got some nice zingers in.

 

 

 

The Rand camp maintains that most of its unpolled support exists in younger (18-40) generations, and social media is where we go to vent our frustrations with politics in real time. - PAULUSIowa brings out the libertarian in RandWatching Rand slip away from his libertarian roots has been an ongoing ache for many of us during his presidential campaign, but perhaps our "quasi-libertarian" candidate is finally wising-up and embracing the libertarian part of that moniker rather than the "quasi." The Courier Journal and USA Today are both reporting on his return ahead of the first caucus.

Once a promising candidate who was leading in some polls two years ago, the U.S. senator from Kentucky has seen his fortunes plummet as his message became lost in a large field of GOP contenders who had more money and more star power. Now, says Dave Nalle, the vice chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus, which has endorsed Paul, Paul is re-emphasizing his libertarian roots in a final dash that Nalle says is crucial for Paul to stay relevant. “I think it’s vitally important,” Nalle said of the Feb. 1 Iowa caucus where he said Paul must do better than polling now shows — which he expects Paul to do. And as of late, Paul appears to have been working harder to reclaim the libertarian heritage of his father, former congressman Ron Paul, a Republican who once ran for president on the Libertarian ticket. Sabato said Paul alienated some of his father’s supporters by changing some of his views in the course of the presidential race to fit Republican orthodoxy.

It's about damn time, but is this something we should be cheering at this point in the game? Rand positions himself as a man of principle like his father, yet he has bent and broken and altered his stances to cater to the GOP, and what has it gotten him? Nothing. Now he's returning to his earlier views because he's desperate.I'm happy to see Rand coming back to rational thinking and embracing libertarian philosophy more, but it's something he should have never left. You left libertarians for another, Rand, and now you come back crying and expect us to welcome you with open arms? Sad to see. Last year I might have given Rand a "PUSH" for this, but in 2016 there are no pushes! - MINUS"Audit the Ted" cartoon provides info and lolsRand's digital team made some waves on Monday when it released "Audit the Ted," targeting our own recent political punching bag, Senator and presidential hopeful, Ted Cruz.  The 'toon does a good job exposing Ted's shortcomings and close relations with the banking industry in a humorous way.