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.
Ouch! Why would he pull off his feet?
That would be quite a feat if he pulled off his feet.
What’s to be creative about? Either you respect the Constitution - AS WRITTEN - as the supreme law of the land and shrink FedGov to fit it or you don’t. No creativity needed, just determination...
Name one DECENT republican running, who truly believes in limited government at a vastly smaller size and who does not want to continue to grow government at all. Just one, besides Dr. Paul... and, more limitedly, Tom T. and Duncan H. No, it’s not Fred, so who is it???
“Basically, nothing. He doesn’t need to spend money, except on traditional print and TV ads. All of his support is generated from the grassroots who spend their OWN money and their OWN time supporting Paul. Such support is worth millions, that other campaigns would die for.”
They spend their own money...in other words in kind donations - correct?
Which are still regulated by maximums. So are you saying RP is in violation of campaign finance laws?
I agree. I just drove from West Texas to Central Florida along the I-10 corridor. I saw Ron Paul signs all over the place. It’s unreal! He has a lot of support. I don’t blame people. I voted for the man twice when I lived in his district in Texas.
Every single dollar we raise is going to a good cause. We are not wasting a penny. We are not going to shut down over Christmas. It’s no surprise to us, our message is better than theirs. We are raising loads of cash and turning out thousands of diverse people everywhere we go because Liberty, Prosperity and Peace are American ideals. We are going to win New Hampshire and we could come in 2nd across the board without a national front-runner.
Dr. Paul is not going to run 3rd party. The only reason he is running for President is because millions of people across the nation begged him.
I know because I was there in January when he said he didn’t want to run, and I was there in February when he came back saying everyone else wanted him to so maybe there was something to it.
I’ve got $5 that says if Dr. Paul got the nomination, you would vote for Hillary over him.
exactly, another newb heard from.
*yawn*
Don't be a jackass. They're called independent expenditure contributions, and they're not capped. Look it up - even McCain couldn't savage the First Amendment that badly.
You're digging your hole deeper. A couple of examples of how. Paul voted FOR the Reagan and Bush tax cuts and FOR spending CUTS. The National Taxpayers Union rates him so high, for example, because of his record of voting FOR spending cuts as well as against spending increases. Now if you think that votes for spending cuts and tax cuts are "contrarian" and "uncreative" you must have despised Reagan.
"You hate Jews."
Your statement indicates you are severely out of touch with reality.
Why on earth do you want to escalate a perfectly good argument about the neocons by inserting unwarranted anti-semitism into it?
True, some neocons are probably Jewish, but then so are some FReepers.
Show me where all neocons are Jewish, and that being Jewish is a prerequisite to being neocon, and I'll gladly back down.
But you can't.
???
How can he hold the title? Ron Paul is a Libertarian.
Why isn't Ron Paul running as a Libertarian?
...I believe there are legitimate government functions. There is a legitimate need in an orderly society for some government to maintain freedom or we will have tyranny by individuals. The strongest man on the block will run the neighborhood. We have government to insure that we don’t each one of us have to carry a club to defend ourselves. But again, I stand on my statement that I think that libertarianism and conservatism are travelling the same path."
- Ronald Reagan - 1975
Good for Ron Paul. The Republican Party needs a wake up call. I’m not with Paul on foreign policy but his domestic agenda is top notch. He is a legitimate voice that needs to be taken seriously.
“If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism”
Thanks for posting that quote from Reagan. I hope that the TRUE Republicans here will realize that the party has lost it’s way.
Thank you for all your thoughtful, logical posts here. It’s amazing to me how many people here claim that Ron Paul supporters are obnoxious (or whatever). If these boards are any indication, the exact opposite is true.
hee haaa
What a testy little person you are.
What about the question?
I answered it. If you can’t be bothered to look up the rules for independent expenditure contributions, that’s your problem.
No. It really is your problem. It is you who is a RP supporter.
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