Call Me GOP

Following Tuesday’s announcement that Kentucky Senator Jim Bunning would not seek re-election, Rand Paul — Ron’s son of course — has indicated that he might be interested in the seat, running as a Republican.What does he have that separates him as an emerging leader in the party?

Many of you were disappointed that Ron Paul lost by a mere vote to Joe Scarborough in our Sweet Sixteen tournament. Frankly, I also don’t know why Scarborough was able to pull ahead. What are your thoughts about this? Would Rand have fared better than his father?

The people have spoken! Our Sweet Sixteen has passed into the Great Eight. Some of the results were expected — for example, Mitt Romney’s landslide victory against Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal — while others (like Ron Paul’s failure to beat out Joe Scarborough) were a bit more surprising.

Now the competition heats up as we narrow down the list of voices for the G.O.P. What do you think about these results? Happy? Unsatisfied? Well, which surprise you?

You’ll have about 24 hours to vote on this round before we announce the Final Four. Weigh in now before the polls close for good! Many have spoken already — don’t miss your chance to have your voice heard, too. Start voting!

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We’re zeroing in on our bracket of Republican thought leaders. With your input (thanks!) we’ve got a set of sixteen Republicans to vote for, including some we suggested (Colin Powell, Ann Coulter), and some of your own (Ron Paul, Bobby Jindal).

So on Monday, it’s time to vote. And tell your friends! Tell Ron Paul’s friends! Friday we’ll announce the Final Four, and work it down to your choice for G.O.P. spokesperson, and the process will continue.

Remember, even more important than your vote is why you voted as you did. We’re trying to draw insights about the Republican Party…insights we will gather and deploy in the next phase of our Story process, the metaphor exercise, when we ask questions like: “If the G.O.P. were a vehicle, it would be _________ because _________.” And you might answer, “A Volvo, because it is safe and reliable.” Or: “A Harley, because it’s annoyingly loud.”

It’s going to be fun, we promise. So come back Monday to see your Sweet Sixteen, vote and tell your friends, and help us help the G.O.P.

We hear you loud and clear. You guys don’t like the lineup so far. Good! The point is to spark these discussions and debates. It’s how we learn.

As I announced yesterday, we’re going to make some substitutions. Now we just need to figure out who. There are a lot of Ron Paul fans commenting. Others have called for candidates from David Brooks or Christopher Buckley to Meghan McCain. Sarah Palin’s back again, and even Ben Stein’s been thrown into the mix. So who would have your vote, and why would you pick them instead? This really is about ideas. We want to understand the whole picture.

One of you suggested that we might sell this information, asking, “Why should I do the work for you?” Let me make it very clear that we are not going to sell anything here. The G.O.P. is not our client. Yes, we are an advertising — well, post-advertising — agency, but this is an experiment and exercise to use our tools and hopefully do a bit of good. (This isn’t to say that we wouldn’t talk to the G.O.P., of course…)

So why should you participate? Because you want to help, too. In the spirit of building a better America, we’re going to try to figure out what’s wrong with the party and how we can fix it.

You might call us marketing vigilantes.