Ron Paul’s big haul
October 4th, 2007 – 12:00 PM by Dennis J. McGrathIn a posting earlier this morning I included a link to a Boston Globe story about younger voters and Ron Paul. Here it is again.
Ron Paul campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday
|
Now Open Secrets is pointing out that Paul, the Texas congressman and presidential candidate, is displaying surprising fundraising strength — pulling in $1 million a month, largely through small donations and the Internet. With the reports the candidates will soon be filing, Paul apparently will show that he has more money in the bank than John McCain.
And Open Secrets reports this intriguing item: “…we can tell you that more visitors come to OpenSecrets.org looking for information about Ron Paul than anyone else in the field.”
Here is the Open Secrets page on Paul’s fundraising, before this most recent period.
Here’s Politically Connected’s page on Paul, which shows his fundraising from Minnesota residents, his biography and votes and quotes on some key issues. (We’re working on adding more issues.) The page also has blog posts, news from other sources about him and news directly from his campaign.
For what it’s worth, when I was driving to work one morning this week on I-394, I noticed a bunch of “Ron Paul Revolution” banners on the overpasses — the first ones of any presidential candidate that I’ve seen like that.
Our new Star Tribune Minnesota poll, which we published Tuesday on Politically Connected, picked up negligible support for Paul in Minnesota — just 2 percent. Here’s the poll story and the here’s a graphic showing results for all Republican candidates.
But Paul appears to be one of those candidates who — at least at this stage — has a relatively small but very fervent base of supporters. The question is how broad will it become, and in what way, if any, will Paul affect the Republican primaries and caucuses?
4 Responses to "Ron Paul’s big haul"
The question is how broad will it become, and in what way, if any, will Paul affect the Republican primaries and caucuses?
Dennis,
Very little to none.
Hard to believe he has a chance. But as long as he can present himself as a ‘winner’, he’s already halfway to the GOP nomination.
As Bush, and now Giuliani, show, you don’t actually have to have substance or represent Republican values to earn their vote. Pedigree, looks and a winner’s aura seem to suffice.
My father-in-law had been telling me to watch Ron Paul for years. He speaks some truths many pie eyed voters don’t want to hear.
Paul is by far my favorite candidate for President for two reasons. 1) He would play along with a contraction of executive power and 2) state’s rights and federalism actually mean something to him.
I’m amazed he’s gathered the traction he has in spite of the press and it’s dismissive attitude towards congressmen who run for president (don’t forget Kucinich’s treatment by the press).
Anyone familiar with my posts know I’m to the left of the Democratic party, and would usually caucus and vote in their primary, but if Paul catches up, I might have to switch.
Paul is an astoundingly good candidate for swing voters, liberals who are worried about the power of the executive branch, conservaties who want small government and only a small amount of social intervention on the federal level.
I heard him say (on a New Hampshire radio show) that the Senators should not be popularly elected, but rather that they should be selected the old way, by state legislatures. This is obviously not a realistic proposal, but sybolicly it is very significant.
I think he’s the best hope of the GOP to hold on to the presidency, and really, to remain relevent. As the former Liberatarian candidate, he could offer a new direction to a party that needs one.