Topic: Ron Paul
Ron Paul Blimp Now Targets Football Blimp tentatively scheduled to fly over college bowl and NFL playoff games in Florida in January.by Bob Nightingale
(libertarian)
Sunday, December 23, 2007
If I was paying for a blimp as a big billboard, I would want it to hang out where it could be seen by tens of thousands of people, in good weather, who are otherwise standing or sitting around. Preferably, these people are also on national TV. By having the blimp fly over football games in Florida, it can do all those things.
Everything below is subject to change. The Ron Paul Blimp's original schedule has been scrapped due to weather and limits around no fly zones. It's still flying, although as of this writing, it's still about $90,000 short of the $400,000 needed to have it fly until Jan. 8.
The new flight plan no longer includes New York, Boston and New Hampshire. Instead the Blimp plans to go south, through Georgia and Florida.
On January 1st, the Blimp plans to hover over Tampa and Orlando, right above two college football bowl games.
The Outback Bowl starts at 11:00 a.m. in Tampa, in the Raymond James stadium. The contest between Wisconsin and Tennessee will be broadcast on ESPN.
It's the second game in Orlando which could be a rallying point for Ron Paul supporters. Orlando is about 80 miles from Tampa. The Capital One Bowl, a.k.a. Florida Citrus Bowl, starts at 1 p.m. ABC will broadcast the game between the Michigan Wolverines vs. the Florida Gators.
For months, Rudy Giuliani has dominated Florida's polls. Recently Giuliani's polling numbers have been at 25%, with the usual characters in between, and Ron Paul's number is at the bottom at 3%. The Florida primary will be Jan. 29. The last day to register as a Republican in Florida is Dec. 31, according the grassroots website. There has been aerial advertising before for Ron Paul above Orlando.
Michigan's primary, Jan. 15, is up for grabs. A recent Detroit News article says that Romney is polling at the top at 21%, Huckabee 19%, and so on. Ron Paul's number is only 4%. However, most Michigan voters haven't been paying attention to the primary. Many Democrats may consider voting Republican, since half the Democratic candidates are not on the ballot and the DNC will not count their votes in the convention anyway. They may be more inclined to watch this game instead.
Michigan Wolverine fans have seen a Ron Paul banner before. At the Michigan-Notre Dame game last September, Paul supporters raised money to fly a banner behind a plane. Now it's their chance to see one on a blimp. ABC has a chance of carrying it nationwide.
Those two college games should help provide some buzz in time for the Iowa Caucus, Jan. 3.
The following week the Blimp is scheduled to visit Tampa again. By winning its division, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play their Wildcard home playoff game in the Raymond James stadium. It's tentatively scheduled for Jan. 5, and probably broadcast by NBC.
That's only three days before the New Hampshire Primary, Jan. 8.
Now if I were a sports director for these bowl games and I knew that there was a blimp in the area, which might carry an extra camera or two, I might be inclined to pick up the phone and make it happen.
Stay tuned!
UPDATE:
The Ron Paul Tampa Meetup Group is planning a pregame event before the Outback Bowl, 9 a.m. January 1st. Click the link for more details.
The Ron Paul Orlando Meetup Group will have a sign waving rally prior to the start of the Citrus Bowl, starting 11:30 a.m. Click the link for more information.
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The views expressed in this
article are those of Bob Nightingale only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Bob Nightingale is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Whoa, this is great news. Idea: IF a sports director wanted to use the blimp for camera shots, I wonder how much it is worth to him? If you, Mr. Sports Director, would like to have some awesome camera angles above the game, what is that worth to you?
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