5 ways Rand Paul is not making past GOP mistakes

By Jason Williams

It does not matter who you support for President to appreciate any candidate who is actively trying to avoid the political mistakes of the past. For a brief moment look at performance (not politics or policy) to see how Rand Paul is running his campaign and you will pick up some useful tactical tools that can be used in other campaigns – like Oregon. I will also include in this article other presidential candidates who also share the same campaign strengths in a particular area.

1. Rand Paul’s team is a model of tech savvy. Rand began with one million Facebook followers before he announced (now has nearly two million after). Mitt Romney’s election day “ORCA” disaster is a lesson in the disconnect between spending big money on voter tech projects verses actually cultivating, understanding and executing it. Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton’s made their first announcements on Twitter which is a sign that the new social media age is here (and actually has been here for a while).

2. Rand Paul has been successful in mobilizing young voters. Through his father’s network, Students of Liberty, they have been able to involve thousands of students in campus chapters across the state. These chapters stay involved in and out of Presidential election cycles. Keep an eye out for Ted Cruz who already is sweeping many college campuses in his tour and tailoring his campaign theme around youth targeted messages.  Check out how Hillary is stumbling on her young voter outreach.

3. By the numbers, Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina, have been the most out-spoken critics of Hillary Clinton (a fresh diversion from the 2012 presidential primary candidates that went piranha on each other). This goes beyond soundbites as the Rand campaign was the first of the hopefuls to release an actual anti-Hillary ad.  This Rand ad was featured all day in the news cycle during Hillary Clinton’s launch.  Speaking of Hillary — do check out the SNL parody.

4. Rand is involved in outreaching to minority voters. He is not afraid to speak before African American audiences and co-sponsor projects with minority members of congress. He was one of the only Republicans to visit Ferguson Missouri during the unrest. Rand also put Hon. J.C. Watts on his campaign team. Showing up matters. Other hopefuls, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, have also been recognized for their minority outreach efforts.

5. Rand Paul represents important political segments within the Republican family as well as ideas that cross over into other political parties. Some of these segments are libertarianism, privacy rights and limited interventionism on foreign policy. It is good to have actual faces behind these issues as the party discuss and debate them internally.