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Posted on 11/30/2007 9:07:21 AM PST by traviskicks
Ron Paul may not win his party’s primary, but he is on track to capture another big title: Top Republican fundraiser for the final quarter of the money-obsessed 2008 presidential primary.
In the first two months of the quarter that began Oct. 1, Paul already has raised more than $9.75 million, putting him easily within range to best the amount rival Mitt Romney received from donors during the entire third quarter.
The Texas congressman has set a goal of raising $12 million before the fourth quarter’s Dec. 31st deadline, a sum New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani couldn’t achieve in the third quarter when fundraising events still dominated his schedule.
Paul’s chief e-bundler, music promoter Trevor Lyman, hopes to raise $2.5 million by day’s end with the campaign’s second online money bomb.
Of course, Romney can still buy the fourth quarter title by making a multi-million dollar donation to himself, which is widely expected.
And it could be that Paul’s striking, eleventh-hour surge may have come too late to dramatically change the campaign dynamics.
Nevertheless, Paul’s staff is racing to put up more advertisements before the Christmas season shuts down campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, where Paul threatens to peel away libertarian-minded Independent voters sought by now less well-funded rival John McCain.
And Republicans find themselves asking an unexpected question: Could Ron Paul have a real impact on who the party nominates?
Paul’s last stand provides fresh evidence of how the Internet can transform a dark horse candidate and make him harder to knock off.
“It’s highly improbable that he will get into the first tier. But he’s colorful,” says David Gergen, a former White House adviser.
He’s certainly not the Republican Party’s first renegade. Indeed, there is a certain familiarity to the rebellious rank-and-file pushback inside the Paul insurgency.
Think Pat Buchanan circa 1992 and his launch of the “cultural wars” against gays and feminists; and Buchanan again circa 1996 when he upset Bob Dole in New Hampshire with the cry: “All the peasants are coming with pitchforks. We're going to take this over the top."
Think John McCain circa 2000 and his Straight Talk Express and upset victory in New Hampshire over Bush that prompted the first-recorded gusher of online giving.
Given the right candidate or call to action, populist Republicans have a colorful history of shaking off the party yoke and reveling in a wild-and-crazy moment.
That helps explain why a quirky Texas congressman who opposes the Iraq war got into the race in the first place.
Same goes for Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who had hoped to use immigration as the launching pad for an insurgent campaign.
What makes the Paul phenomenon unique this cycle is that there is no clear front-runner who can simply ride out the rowdy rabble until the party’s top-down instincts silence them.
That is creating an intriguing choice for the 72-year-old doctor: plow ahead on what still seems a quixotic quest for the White House or play spoiler by using his millions to help take out one of the front-runners.
Thus far, Paul is playing it safe, still absorbing what seems to be his dumb luck.
His financial windfalls have come from spontaneous Internet giving or big, online donation days organized by supporters outside his campaign.
Earlier this month, those outsiders orchestrated a one-day $4 million donation dump, now nicknamed a “money bomb.”
Another is scheduled to take place today and a third later this month.
“It’s a tremendous burden put on us and a responsibility,” Paul told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough recently.
“We have all this money now. We didn’t plan to have this much money. Our obligation is to figure out how to spend it. We are doing our best.”
Before the first infusion of cash, Paul had begun a modest $1.1 million television ad drive, mostly in New Hampshire.
Since then, the ad campaign has been expanded in Iowa. Pre-money-bomb, Paul was airing three radio ads; now he has more than ten running.
His television messages are mostly biographical, noting his career as a doctor, his record of never voting for a tax increase, and his opposition to the Iraq war.
The radio ads have a slightly tougher edge, accusing his opponents of supporting amnesty for illegal aliens (a shot at McCain) and flip-flopping on issues (a dart at Romney).
But some Paul supporters grumble that the advertisements lack punch and they are pressuring the campaign to take on an edgier tone.
His first television commercial showed supporters, some sitting around a diner table, talking up his candidacy. “Look, the man’s a doctor; he understand the health care mess,” says one woman.
“OMG! Common Guys! This is a terrible ad! My goodness. The Ron Paul revolution means a lot more than this,” bemoaned one supporter in a blog posting.
“I got nothin’ but love for Ron Paul, but this is pretty bad,” responded another.
As Paul climbed to fourth place in some New Hampshire polls, his rivals have sensed the new threat.
McCain has stepped up his attacks on his less-known rival and more incoming is sure to follow.
And, of course, there are inherent hazards in having money when you haven’t really planned for it.
Howard Dean raised $41 million in 2003 in the first campaign to fully employ the Internet.
By year’s end, his early advertising campaigns and rapidly expanding operation had eaten all but about $9 million of that cash.
Among his expenditures: Stacks of cell phones for Iowa volunteers that wound up stored in an office unused.
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Interesting how my leftwing sites are interested in pumping up Paul.....
It is, though, entertaining to see so many lefties give their money to an anti-war libertarian with absolutely no chance of garnering the nomination. That's like preparing for battle by passing all your ammunition to a three-year-old with a cap gun.
Senator Lamont and President Forbes both show us that the most important metric is the amount of money a candidate has...
Thats not why they are doing it, anymore than they were in support of McCain in 2000.
You miss a key difference. Lamont, Forbes, and Romney spent their own money. Ron Paul’s money nearly all comes from small donors. Most of it was not even raised by his campaign. Paul’s money indicates a much higher level of enthusiasm compared to the other candidates you mention.
yea, sometimes I think the grassroots would have been better off keeping their money and spending it on their own... IMO, this will be the future of political campaigns.
Perhaps but the "campaign" had little to do with the signs. They were put up by people on their own initiative. That is the secret of Paul's success thus far.
This nitwit, and his legions of nitwit supporters, are going to go third party. Which is fine. They’re all a bunch of jihadist-boot-lickers who would never vote for a strong-military candidate anyway. If there was no L Ron, they’d all talk themselves into voting for the beast.
Is this a retirement trick? He won’t win his congresssional seat again next year. He has a scam going. The way to go is to convert his funds into Swiss Francs. You have to wonder who is screwing who’s wife here.
This “nitwit” has been elected to ten terms in a conservative Texas district despite consistent oppostion from GWB and the rest of the party leadership in his home state. You obviously hate him but a “nitwit” could never pull off that feet.
A fool and his money...
well, as was said on another thread:
“Wouldn’t you prefer that leftists be tricked into voting for someone who respects the Constitution, rather than we Republicans being tricked into voting for a gun-grabbing RINO like Guiliani?”
I think the minority of Paul supporters who are leftists are simply blinded by their opposition to the Iraq war, above all else. Then again, ironically, most conservative opponents of Paul’s may fall into a similar category too...
Most ‘conservative opponents’ of Ron Paul understand that contraryism isn’t a valid substitute for creativity.
Not a chance I would vote for Hillary ... but you can have fun voting for Rudy in the Generals
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