AOL "spam proof" Straw Poll
Guess who is winning on the Republican side!
Click on the individual states, readers, to see the breadth of support for Ron Paul (and his competitiveness in every state)!!!!
When I wake up every morning, the map is covered in Paul green!
"Ron Paul's War Chest Swelled in 4th Quarter"
So says the WALL STREET JOURNAL, folks!
Chris Williams
Wall Street Journal
Monday, December 31, 2007
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul may lag behind in public-opinion polls. But after raising about $19 million for the final three months of the year, he is now among his party's front-runners in the race for campaign cash.
When the books close on the year's fourth quarter today, the plain-spoken antiwar Texas congressman will have posted one of the best fund-raising periods of any Republican presidential candidate this year.
To be sure, other Republican candidates hadn't disclosed their fourth-quarter fund-raising figures as of yesterday. But to date, only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has issued a better three-month report, and just once: $20.8 million in the first quarter, not counting loans the former venture capitalist made to his campaign.
Mr. Paul's fund-raising performance is all the more remarkable because his bid for the Republican nomination remains such a long shot. An advocate of small government who opposes American participation in most international organizations and treaties, and who would leave questions like abortion up to the states, Mr. Paul registers in single digits in polls nationally and in the key early-voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. His fourth-quarter fund-raising figures represent a remarkable acceleration; for the first three quarters of this year combined, he raised just $8.2 million.
The 72-year-old congressman, who is also an obstetrician, is the only candidate in either party so far to disclose his fourth-quarter fund-raising figures. He posts a running tally on his Web site, updated frequently, and with the names of his most recent contributors displayed. As of midday yesterday, Mr. Paul had raised $18.95 million and had more checks to count that had come in through the mail.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a folksy Baptist minister who has surged to the top of the polls in Iowa and elsewhere with strong support from Christian evangelicals, also had his best fund-raising quarter. However, Mr. Huckabee's campaign declined to announce its total take.
Mr. Huckabee's Web site shows he has raised nearly $5 million online during the quarter -- and that alone is more than double the $2.3 million he raised in the first nine months of the year. In a conference call with reporters Friday, Mr. Huckabee said he now has about $2 million in the bank and no campaign debts.
Neither Mr. Romney nor any of the other Republican candidates would say yesterday how much they had raised in the quarter. The deadline for filing public reports of their year-end finances is Jan. 31.
Mr. Paul's ability to reel in increasingly large hauls of campaign cash is a measure of his supporters' passion for his libertarian views -- and an unflattering mirror of his better known rivals' campaigns, whose fund-raising trends have been downward.
Mr. Paul's total is all the more impressive because, unlike other candidates, few of his donors are giving the maximum $2,300 check. About 90 percent of Mr. Paul's contributions come through online donations that average $100 per donor, said his spokesman, Jesse Benton. "We have powerful grassroots support," he said. "It shows how hungry people are for real change."
It also means Mr. Paul will have money to run television ads and hire staff for campaign operations even in big states, like Florida, which holds its primary on Jan. 29.
FULL STORY: CLICK HEREPrinted from: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2007/311207_chest.htm"
"Ron Paul: I Don't Want To Run The Economy. I Don't Know How To.
Amanda Michel
Huffington Post
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
"Ron Paul! Ron Paul! Ron Paul, You Rock! Ron Paul Revolution!" Even Ron Paul himself seemed slightly surprised at the vehement enthusiasm that 280 students brought to the opening ceremonies of "Ron Paul's Christmas Vacation," a week-long program of pre-caucus student canvassing in Iowa. Though national polls put Paul around 1%, the students, many of whom would be braving ruggedly frigid conditions camping in empty Iowan summer cabins, were pumped. The crowd was truly a mixed bag: strict pacifists, ardent Republicans, punks who never before deigned participate in the process, war veterans aghast at what they saw in Iraq, and a few older folks who got red in the face just discussing illegal immigration. (Although, it should be noted, the crowd was about 80% male.)
Where as many contemporary politicians find their ego ideal in the 20th century - be it Ronald Reagan or FDR - Paul's supporters see him as a reflection of heroes from the pre-telegraph era, repeatedly citing George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Positioning government as an incompetent, petty little bureaucrat who enhances nothing and muddles everything, Paul in his speech to the assembled students noted that our rights come not from government but "from the creator."
After articulating his platform of nonintervention, "freedom" and strict constitutionalism, he went on to say that if he became President, since he would be dismantling so many federal agencies, his "job would be greatly reduced, so I would take a major pay cut." He followed that up by declaring "I don't want to run the economy. I don't know how to." (That seems a bit of a worrisome statement from a candidate confident enough to offer a campaign t-shirt emblazoned with "Abolish the Fed.")
For the audience, presumably part of the 45% of young Americans who do not believe that the federal government cares about their generation, the notion of stripping it bare seems boldly appealing. College-age conservatives with an abiding love for Milton Friedman and drowning government in the bathtub have only truly known one Republican president in their lifetime and he hasn't exactly kept a tight hand on the government pursestrings. As John Zambenini, Paul's young Iowa press coordinator put it, "Bush spends money like two drunk Democrats."
However, even more students seemed drawn to his foreign policy positions than his domestic priorities. As the only Republican presidential candidate to vote against the war, Paul's desire for immediate withdrawal from Iraq generated tremendous enthusiasm amongst the assembled students. Jordan Rhea, a student at a private Christian college, noted that Christians had lost their focus on "love your neighbor" in recent years. "Too many Republican Christians say 'they're all evil, we're good', but it is just not that simple." Kyle Johnson, 19, who has no party affiliation and had never previously been involved in politics, says he supports Paul, in part, because of his fear of a draft and his desire to "end American empire." William Stewart-Starks, a thoughtful young veteran who served in Iraq and was drawn to Paul through that experience explained, "it is really hard to talk to people about my experiences there, it stays with you. I was a medic and it just all seemed so senseless."
Almost every student I spoke with had first heard of the Ron Paul campaign not from the Ron Paul campaign itself but from its vastly effective decentralized machinery which echoes some of the early success of the Howard Dean campaign by creating a tremendous feeling of ownership and empowerment amongst his young supporters. Paul relies on online microdonation drives orchestrated by regular supporters. He harnesses pre-existing internet communities instead of trying to build one "owned" by the campaign. The Paul campaign site directs visitors outward to Facebook, digg, twitter, and meetup.
Campaign officials seem happy to let their young supporters self-organize, as they largely did with the Christmas Break event. Similarly, students spoke with particular pride about the Ron Paul blimp. Yes, it is the first blimp for a presidential candidate and it is probably orbiting around New Hampshire right now. Supporters quickly raised $400,000 on the internet to make it possible. As the blimp project is being described, another student walks by and enthusiastically says, "the internet is totally libertarian."
Zephyr Teachout, a law professor and former head of internet organizing for Dean, notes the importance of decentralization to both the Dean and the Paul campaigns and explains that it isn't just about utilizing cool internet tools (How many times can journalists mention how the number of MySpace friends each candidate has without drawing conclusions about what it actually signifies?) Instead, Teachout says, decentralization is "done in the million tiny communications that signal, "I'm happy when you act on your own, I respect you as a political actor" instead of "I've got it all figured out."
Of course, decentralization certainly has its downsides for Ron Paul given that the campaign tends to attract a diverse set of followers including a good number of eccentric conspiracy theorists and paranoid cranks. For instance, much has been made of the relationship between Paul and Alex Jones, a radio talk show host who believes 9/11 was an inside job. (LINK) As opposed to the incredibly strict message discipline that most presidential campaigns rely on, Paul seems to manage their supporters, no matter how crazy they may be, with a lighter touch.
Students I spoke with admiringly mentioned what they perceived as Paul's integrity, honesty, consistency and lack of "phoniness." (One popular story: as a doctor in Texas, Paul apparently didn't accept Medicaid or Medicare, federally funded programs he doesn't believe in, but would pro-rate or donate his services.) In a political age of compromise and equivocation, Paul's extremely ideologically driven campaign stands as a striking counterpoint for supporters. But this enthusiasm for his personal traits sometimes seems to overshadow an understanding of his specific policy proposals. I would imagine many of his supporters would be hard pressed to explain how America would benefit from a return to the gold standard. Of course, to be fair, I think most Americans would be hard pressed to explain how the gold standard worked.
This utter consistency of Paul's ideology, where nothing comes in half-measures, seems like a utopian, self-contained universe where one improbable idea flows logically to the next. Adam Wood, a student from Kansas, explained that even Paul's ideas can't all realistically be implemented, he respected what he saw as the only hypocrisy free candidate in the Republican establishment, saying "For example, how can you be pro-life on abortion and then be pro-capital punishment? That's just political pandering."
Ultimately, young Americans who feel that they live in a political desert will crawl towards anything, even a mirage, hoping it is an oasis. Even if I disagree with much of Ron Paul's platform, by and large, his young supporters I spoke with were, by and large, enthusiastic, thoughtful, committed and, contrary to popular opinion, they don't wear tinfoil hats. (At least not to formal functions.) However, given the ideological broadness of his support base at the Christmas Break camp, the Paul tent has become very, very big. If a Paul government ever came to power, they might realize just how little many of them have in common.
But on this evening during this first event of what promises to be a long week on the campaign trail, students were still excitedly finding their commonalities. One blonde girl with glasses cheerfully bounded up to a nearby student organizer saying, "Hi, you're my facebook friend so I just wanted to introduce myself in person."Printed from: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/010108Economy.htm"
"Paul intent on winning Rep nomination"
He should if it is a FAIR ELECTION!
"Press TV
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Republican US presidential hopeful Ron Paul's campaign has made a plea for raising another 23 million dollars to win the nomination.
Kent Snyder, Paul's campaign chairman described the progress they had made in 11 months as phenomenal and added that 'the dedication, creativity, generosity, and just plain hard work by you and tens of thousands of other Americans have already made history'.
"But we are not finished making history! First, Ron Paul becomes the Republican nominee. Second, Dr. Paul becomes President Paul. Third, our country becomes America again," Snyder continued.
Paul's campaign ended up raising nearly 19 million dollars in the fourth quarter after setting a goal of 12 million.
The libertarian-leaning Texan's success has led to an increase in attacks from paid propagandists.
Fox News excluded Paul's campaign from its upcoming debate scheduled for January 6, just two days before the New Hampshire primary.
Paul who has been running a multi state campaign for months is likely to win the GOP nomination if he succeeds in the New Hampshire primary.Printed from: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/010108nomination.htM"
"Los Angeles Times: Should Ron Paul be allowed at Sunday's debate?"
"Andrew Malcolm
Los Angeles Times
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
There seems to be a debate going on between Fox News and New Hampshire Republicans over precisely who will participate in this weekend's presidential debate.
Rumor has it that online fundraising sensation and Texas congressman Ron Paul and San Diego congressman Duncan Hunter will be excluded because their N.H. poll numbers are not in double digits, although Paul's fourth quarter fundraising numbers were way into double digits, nearing $20 million, according to his website. In the first 240 minutes of the new year, nearly $11,000 more came in.
Over the weekend a Fox News spokeswoman told Top of the Ticket that the New Hampshire Republican Party was making the choice of candidates to participate in the televised GOP presidential debate on Jan. 6 with Chris Wallace moderating. She even provided the chairman's e-mail: fergus@nhgop.org to confirm that. Alas, the chairman never responded to us.
Then, on Monday, that state party chair, Fergus Cullen, issued a statement saying that limiting candidates was not in the party's tradition, suggesting the media should not be in the ....
business of excluding serious candidates and talks were continuing with Fox.
So whose decision is it?
Understandably, neither side apparently wants to incur the online wrath of Paul's passionate parishioners, who scour the Internet around the clock and descend like locusts on any opportunity to praise Paul or right perceived wrongs on any website or blog they can find. If word got out that Fox/News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch's e-mail was rmurdoch@newscorp.com, his mailbox would be full in a flash.
Paul's supporters have set up a special protest website to marshal support, as well as urge his fervent followers as follows:
"We need to send a message to Fox's Rupert Murdoch & his fellow Neocon buddies that he is not Musharraf and the U.S. is not Pakistan, yet! Fox News cannot just stifle public opinion, debate and impact a primary election by excluding Ron Paul just because they don't like his message of freedom and liberty. Cover them up with e-mails and they will just say it was a mistake or miscommunication. Be respectful as all of the e-mail addresses below are just employees trying to keep their jobs with the world's largest media monopoly."
The mainstream media -- or msm -- are a particular target of Paul's vociferous followers, an eclectic mix of libertarians and disaffected Republicans, Democrats and, until now, non-voters. Outspoken to say the least, they disregard stories like this one and this one and this one and this one and this one and this one. They believe that major newspapers and broadcast networks have conspired to pay insufficient attention to Dr. Paul, a 72-year-old ob-gyn and 10-term House member, citing his low numbers in polls, which Paulites believe are self-fulfilling frauds designed to cause voters to invest their votes in more traditional candidates with a seemingly more realistic chance of winning.
Only when these followers, led by a mysterious amateur musician and fundraiser, began making their average $100 campaign donations by the thousands last fall, setting a new one-day online record in excess of $6 million and making Paul the only Republican candidate to increase his donations every quarter in 2007, did the media begin paying attention. But no amount of attention seems sufficient for Paulites, who complain when there is no coverage and then complain again about any coverage they do get. Watch the comments section below.
They gather in chatrooms and more than 1,200 meet-up groups across the country to paint signs, write letters, organize marches and protests, support each other and otherwise promote the Ron Paul Revolution, which they believe will arrive when primary voting starts.
Some 300 young Paul supporters have been in caucus-training camps in Iowa in recent days and are shooting for maybe a stunning third-place there ahead of more famous fellows like John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson. And they hope to possibly do even better in New Hampshire where the state slogan "Live Free or Die" would seem to lend itself to their cause.
But first fights first. Iowa this Thursday. The Fox forum on Sunday. Then on to New Hampshire and beyond, carrying Dr. Paul's antiabortion, antiwar, strict constitutionalist banner.Printed from: http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2008/010108debate.htm"
