“Exposing” the campaign industry is a bad brand building strategy for any candidate
Running any political campaign, let alone a campaign for President, centered on “exposing” the “campaign industry” is a losing proposition. It’s not a message that will gain any type of traction whatsoever.
Vivek Ramaswamy will learn soon enough that the VAST majority of voters don’t care how the “sausage is made.” He should stay focused on the issues that matter to GOP voters - economy, jobs, China, education, spending, corrupt Washington, election integrity - just look at the polls.
Furthermore, if Ramaswamy isn’t willing to invest $200K to generate potentially millions of dollars in earned media, his campaign is doomed from the start. If he believes $200,000 is expensive to win a straw poll, wait until he realizes the cost of “sausage making” in the Iowa Caucus, and New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.
While not certain, I have an idea of which consultants made him this offer - a proposal that obviously fell flat.
While they would have likely pocketed a nice sum of money, it’s likely that the majority of the $200K would have been used to recruit college kids and grassroots activist to attend CPAC in exchange for paying for their transportation, hotel room, food, and ticket to the event.
Bad move by Ramaswamy. This strategy could have given him a very good chance of landing in second place. And, it would have created the headlines he desperately needs to gain traction with the GOP base.