To Ron Paul? Considering how much money Ron Paul raised compared to how much Barr has raised (less than a million) it makes a whole lot of sense. However given the fact that Ron Paul's supporters haven't already flocked to Barr's banner and Paul endorsed all third party presidential candidates rather then Barr specifically I'm doubting that Paul will accept.
However it would be really interesting if I were wrong.
Just when you thought he was gone...
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Ron Paul plans his own conventionPersonally I hope he gets the number of attendees he's seeking. The GOP has strayed so far from its roots that its needs a wake up call or two and if nothing else some of the ideas Paul's campaign exposed have real value. Hopefully he'll be able to keep enough of supporters politically engaged so that the message will outlive the messenger.
Maverick GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul has booked an arena in Minneapolis for a "mini-convention" that could steal some of John McCain's thunder just days before he accepts the Republican nomination.A Paul campaign aide said the Texas congressman hopes to pack about 11,000 supporters into the Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota on Sept. 2, which coincides with the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center in neighboring St. Paul.
Paul, 72, will announce details for the rally Thursday at the start of the Texas Republican Convention in Houston.
The campaign hopes the daylong event will "send a message to the Republican Party," Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton tells the Tribune-Review.
"There is a growing surge of people out there just craving" for a return "to traditional American government, limited government that places personal liberty first and places an emphasis on personal responsibility and essentially gets out of the way after that," Benton said.
Its become obvious to everyone that the only way that Ron Paul is going to get nominated for the GOP candidate is for is either for McCain and Huckabee to meet some unlikely end or for him to beat both of them in a steel cage match to the death. However over the course of Ron Paul's campaign I came to appreciate his followers fervor to financially support their candidate and the many ingenious ways they came up with to support and promote him. The latest example of that is the calender Hotties for Ron Paul (which is nearly sold out). Below is Miss February:
" I like liberty, long walks on the beach, kittens, the constitution, and elderly free market economic policy wonks."
File this one under "Whodathunkit?"
From The Politico:
Literally if you had bet me four months ago that Ron Paul would beat then pundit predicted front runner Rudy Giuliani in every one of the races prior to Florida I'd have taken that bet and then asked you what you were smoking. Looking at it now I think it goes to show exactly how much strength Paul's message has with people and that Rudy's strategy was a total gamble. Frankly I hope Paul beats Giuliani in Florida too. That would shut down Rudy's campaign and possibly enable McCain to win on Tsunami Tuesday and still give Paul's campaign enough impetus to continue onward.
Ron Paul continues to best Giuliani
Ron Paul, the Texas congressman frequently dismissed as a long shot candidate with no real chance at winning the Republican presidential nomination, has won nearly twice as many total votes to date as Rudy Giuliani, a candidate still widely viewed as a strong contender.
With his second place finish in Saturday’s Nevada caucus, where Paul defeated Giuliani in every county in the state, the Texas congressman has now received 106,414 votes to 60,220 for Giuliani. Both candidates have collected zero actual delegates.
Over at TNR James Kirchick tracked down some of Ron Paul's old newsletters and discovered that the allegations of their racist content were in fact true.
From TNR:
Ron Paul responded stating:Finding the pre-1999 newsletters was no easy task, but I was able to track many of them down at the libraries of the University of Kansas and the Wisconsin Historical Society. Of course, with few bylines, it is difficult to know whether any particular article was written by Paul himself. Some of the earlier newsletters are signed by him, though the vast majority of the editions I saw contain no bylines at all. Complicating matters, many of the unbylined newsletters were written in the first person, implying that Paul was the author.
But, whoever actually wrote them, the newsletters I saw all had one thing in common: They were published under a banner containing Paul's name, and the articles (except for one special edition of a newsletter that contained the byline of another writer) seem designed to create the impression that they were written by him--and reflected his views. What they reveal are decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays. In short, they suggest that Ron Paul is not the plain-speaking antiwar activist his supporters believe they are backing--but rather a member in good standing of some of the oldest and ugliest traditions in American politics.
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – In response to an article published by The New Republic, Ron Paul issued the following statement:
“The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts.
“In fact, I have always agreed with Martin Luther King, Jr. that we should only be concerned with the content of a person's character, not the color of their skin. As I stated on the floor of the U.S. House on April 20, 1999: ‘I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies.’
“This story is old news and has been rehashed for over a decade. It's once again being resurrected for obvious political reasons on the day of the New Hampshire primary.
“When I was out of Congress and practicing medicine full-time, a newsletter was published under my name that I did not edit. Several writers contributed to the product. For over a decade, I have publicly taken moral responsibility for not paying closer attention to what went out under my name.”
Anyway you slice it its ugly. If he isn't a racist he allowed himself to be used as a tool by racists (for a suspiciously long time). Unfortunately this is exactly the type of stuff that will allow mainstream Republicans and the media to disregard the positions and ideas that Ron Paul has espoused. Ultimately it will have to be his supporters that carry them forward after the elections are over by staying engaged in both politics and public discourse. Otherwise they'll just be smothered under the weight of the "racist" tar and feathers.If the momentum keeps going at the current rate he'll crack eighteen million for the quarter by midnight pacific standard time.
From the Boston Globe:
On Nov. 5, supporters of Ron Paul raked in more than $4.2 million in donations in 24 hours, mostly of them collected over the Internet.
Today, they're at it again. Hoping to detonate what they call a "money bomb," the supporters started fundraising at midnight Saturday and have already raised $2 million as of about 10:30 a.m. today, more than at this point on Nov. 5, according to figures they posted online. They hope to collect a total of $10 million by midnight Sunday.
Last time, they tied their fundraising to Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates a British mercenary who tried unsuccesfully to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. This time, they're seizing on the 234th aniversary of the Boston Tea Party and converging on this snowy city to rally.
He's the only candidate, Republican or Democrat, to increase his fundraising haul with every quarter, raising $640,000 in the first quarter, $2.4 million in the second, $5.1 million in the third. And more than two-thirds of the money, his aides say, has come from the Internet. In what was first seen as an overly ambitious goal, aides said they needed to raise $12 million by Dec. 31 to be able to stay competitive in the early primary states. With the money raised, campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said Paul bought television spots in Iowa and New Hampshire and radio ads in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida. Benton added that the campaign has attracted 107,000 donors this quarter, with the median contribution of about $50.Amazing what people will do for you when you allow them to use their own methods and ideas to support you rather than continually reigning them in.
Over at RCP John Stossel has posted his most recent interview which is of Ron Paul. Here are a few highlights:
What should government do?
Ron Paul: Protect our freedoms. Have a strong national defense. Look at and take care of our borders. Have a sound currency. That was the responsibility of the federal government, not to run our lives and run everything in the economy and extend the interstate-commerce clause and the general-welfare clause to do anything they want to do.
So defense, the military, police forces enforce contracts, and that's about it?
That's it. We would have a court system to enforce contracts, and when people do harm to others, when they take property or injure property, or pollute a neighbor's air, I think there's a role for government to protect our environment through private-property rights.
So keep us safe, enforce contracts, run the courts, pollution rules and otherwise butt out? Leave us alone?
Basically that, which would mean if I'm elected, I should immediately take a pay cut. You know, because I wouldn't have so much to do.
I'm really hoping Ron Paul keeps up enough momentum, money, and media buzz to keep going after the early primary states. Hopefully the longer the better he does the more likely the GOP is to see the folly of its base pandering, morality dictating, fiscally irresponsible ways.
Due to too many Ron Paul supporters showing up. Apparently the headline speaker there was stumping for Fred Thompson.
Last night on CNN's YouTube debate Ron Paul answered the question, "Do you believe in a conspiracy to make a new (North American) union? While his answer wasn't as damning as Kucinich's UFO statements it certainly didn't help Paul out any.
Last night on the YouTube debate Mr. Paul gave the most concrete answer to date.
"I have no intention of running as an independent."
There is one loophole in that statement though. Would he run as The Constitution Party's candidate?
Placing him in fourth place according to a CNN poll. Meanwhile Giuliani and McCain are within the margin of error for second place with Romney solidly in first. Ron Paul's ad blitz is having an effect and Thompson's lack of well anything resembling momentum, excitement, or organization have cost him dearly. I think McCain isn't as much gaining momentum as he is picking up Giuliani defectors as Giuliani has been making it very clear that he'll trade his values for votes. I'm betting after NH we'll see the GOP lineup pared down to the top four. Frankly I'm hoping McCain ends up beating Giuliani and Ron Paul does better than the poll estimates once all the votes are tallied in NH.
Looks like Paul has broken the record for the most money raised in a day this campaign season...
From The Politico
Right now as of 8:10 CST he's raised a total of 6.69 million dollars 3.93 million dollars today. and roughly four hours left. Odds are he'll at least crack 7 million total dollars by raised midnight. Amazing what people will do for you when you inspire them isn't it?Ron Paul's 'money bomb'
Proving again his ability to raise significant cash online, Ron Paul has raised nearly $2 million since midnight via his website.
In what is being called a "money bomb," Paul's fervent backers spread the word that today they'd blast their candidate with Internet contributions, setting up a website, "This November 5th," to push the plan. An aide said they had nothing to do with the effort.
"Supporters have spontaneously organized what I can only refer to as a one-day attack of donations," said Paul spokeswoman Kate Rick. "We started at midnight with $2.77 million raised for the quarter, and have, as of 9:36 am, climbed up to over $4.1."
As of 12:27, Paul had raised $4.73 million total....
Looks like after his appearance on the Tonight Show he actually managed to get a little overdue MSM coverage from Time magazine.
The leader of the disaffected in next year's presidential election — the Howard Dean, the Ross Perot, the Pat Buchanan — is a kindly great-grandfather and obstetrician whose passion is monetary policy. Paul, a 72-year-old hard-core libertarian Republican Congressman who is against foreign intervention, subsidies and the federal income tax, is not only drawing impressive crowds (more than 2,000 at a post-debate rally at the University of Michigan last month) but also raising tons of cash. In the third quarter of 2007, Paul took in $5.3 million (just slightly less than G.O.P. rival John McCain), mostly in small, individual donations. On Oct. 22, he aired his first TV ads, $1.1 million worth in New Hampshire.Not bad but I think they missed the point that part of Paul's appeal comes from the fact that he's calling for constitutional purity during a time when the rights that it guarantees appear to be threatened. They have an interesting close though:
The numbers are even more impressive considering that as of early October, 72% of G.O.P. voters told Gallup pollsters they didn't know enough about Paul to form an opinion. He has been able to attract followers in the debates, where he's presented a clear, simple philosophy of personal freedom and responsibility. He bluntly refers to the U.S. as an empire. And the nerdiness lends Paul's simple message an aura of credibility, especially on a stage with more polished politicians and their nuanced positions. "He's about something that American nerd culture can get on board with: really knowing one subject and going all out on it," says Ben Darrington, a Ron Paul supporter at Yale.
Paul doesn't expect that he will win the nomination, and he has no interest in running as an independent again. But he also doesn't see himself endorsing one of the other Republicans in the general election. "Those people who support me wouldn't believe it," he says. "If I said, 'Giuliani's a great guy, and he'll reduce subsidies and bring the troops home'? I couldn't do that." Even nerd revolutions don't surrender.You'll note the usage of the word "independent" rather than the term "third party" which is the exact same thing he said in his appearance on the Tonight Show.
This is an ugly development. Some Ron Paul supporters apparently thought that upgrading from comment spam to actual spam was a good idea.
From the University of Alabama at Birmingham
UAB Spam Team Spots First Presidential Campaign SpamI've previously mentioned that if Ron Paul supporters want their candidate to be taken seriously they are going to have to start policing their own. Illegal and annoying tactics like this are counterproductive. If the community of Ron Paul supporters doesn't start taking steps to decry those that perform such actions your silence might be viewed as tacit approval and ultimately end up hurting Ron Paul.
Anti-spam researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) noted a disturbing new trend following Sunday's Republican Candidates Presidential debate. One of the candidates has a new spam campaign dedicated to proclaiming him victorious in the debate and extolling his virtues as the future president.
There is no reason to believe the current spam campaign is actually endorsed by Ron Paul or his official campaign engine, according to Gary Warner, UAB Director of Research in Computer Forensics.
...
The new messages have headlines such as:
Ron Paul Wins GOP Debate!
Ron Paul Eliminates the IRS!
Ron Paul Stops Iraq War!
Vote Ron Paul 2008!
Iraq Scam Exposed, Ron Paul
Government Wasteful Spending Eliminated By Ron Paul
Warner says, "We've seen many previous emails reported as spam from other campaigns or parties, but when we've investigated them, they all were sent from the legitimate parties." The important distinction between the new emails and previous emails, Warner says, is the fraudulent nature of the message. Legitimate messages tell who they are from, and provide a means of "unsubscribing" from future messages from the same source.
From the Political Insider:
Paul Leaves Third Party Door Open An Inch
During an MSNBC interview Wednesday, Rep. Ron Paul was asked if he would run for president as a third-party candidate. Paul replied, "No, I don't plan to run in a third party. That's not my goal. But if we have a candidate that loves the war and loves the neocon position of promoting--" Interviewer Norah O'Donnell cut Paul off at that point, and did not return to the topic during the rest of the interview.
DWSUWF shows that the number of Hits to Ron Paul's website totally trashes Red States. He even offers us this nice graph:
Proof that Dr. Paul's brand of conservatism is drawing more interest than Red State's brand of authoritarian social conservatism? Maybe.
Over at Eunomia Daniel Larison sums it up this way:
"It is a great irony this year that it is the purists who are actually swelling Republican ranks, while the pragmatists and big-tent folks are doing their best to empty that tent.
...
Rather than translating the energy and excitement that Paul generates into an advantage for the GOP and the movement, the response is to recoil in horror and send Paul’s people packing. ... it seems to me that the impulse to ban newly arrived Paul supporters is much more representative of the state of the movement and the GOP these days."
I couldn't have said it better myself.
From Redstate
Given that fact that some Ron Paul supporters just comment spam blogs that mention Ron Paul with pro Ron Paul posts I can see where one might get the urge to put a stop to that. However by banning all talk of Ron Paul by new members also cuts out those who genuinely wish to debate his ideas. Whats more troubling is this is a continuation of a trend of GOP members that are tuning and shutting out anyone who doesn't meet their litmus test of what a Republican is (that normally being a social conservative). Its just that kind of divisive behavior that, in part, cost the GOP the majority.Effective immediately, new users may *not* shill for Ron Paul in any way shape, form or fashion. Not in comments, not in diaries, nada. If your account is less than 6 months old, you can talk about something else, you can participate in the other threads and be your zany libertarian self all you want, but you cannot pimp Ron Paul. Those with accounts more than six months old may proceed as normal.
Now, I could offer a long-winded explanation for *why* this new policy is being instituted, but I'm guessing that most of you can probably guess. Unless you lack the self-awareness to understand just how annoying, time-consuming, and bandwidth-wasting responding to the same idiotic arguments from a bunch of liberals pretending to be Republicans can be. Which, judging by your comment history, you really don't understand, so allow me to offer an alternate explanation: we are a bunch of fascists and we're upset that you've discovered where we keep the black helicopters, so we're silencing you in an attempt to keep you from warning the rest of your brethren so we can round you all up and send you to re-education camps all at once.
Hey, we're sure *some* of Ron Paul's supporters really are Republicans. They can post at any one of a zillion Ron Paul online forums. Those who have *earned* our respect by contributing usefully for a substantial period of time will be listened to with appropriate respect. Those who have not will have to *earn* that respect by contributing usefully in the other threads... and not mentioning Ron Paul. Given a month of solid contributing, send one of us an email and we'll consider lifting the restriction on your account.
with Barack Obama coming in at number two.
From the Houston Chronicle
Paul leads in donations from military voters, with Obama next
WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, the congressman from the Houston area who opposes the Iraq war, has gotten more contributions than any other White House contender from donors identified as affiliated with the military.
According to a Houston Chronicle analysis of campaign records from January through September, Paul received $63,440 in donations from current military employees and several retired military personnel.
Democrat Barack Obama, another war critic, was second in military giving. The Illinois senator got $53,968 during the nine months.
...
The military contributions — nearly 1,000 of them are listed in Federal Election Commission records for this year — represent a small fraction of the overall contributions to the candidates.
...
Nevertheless, analysts said the ability of Paul and Obama to rake in as much money from military employees as they did suggests there is a certain degree of dissatisfaction with the Iraq campaign among veterans and those in uniform.
...
Jennifer Duffy, an analyst with the non-partisan Cook Political Report, speculated that Paul might be an attractive candidate for military personnel who oppose the war, "but don't want to cross the line and vote for a Democrat."
Interesting. I see this as a sign that some in the military find alternate ways of voicing their dissatisfaction for the current way the war is being run than directly speaking out. The real question is what's going to happen should they come home from their tours and start stumping for Paul and Obama? Thats certainly not a picture that either Clinton or Giulliani want to see.
h/t to MemeorandumBut MSNBC sees it differently:
ROMNEY LOSES NV STRAW POLL
***UPDATE***Correction: An earlier version of this post had incorrect straw poll results. Romney was NOT fourth, but second. The post below is now correct.
From NBC/NJ's Erin McPike
SPARKS, Nev. – Ron Paul won the GOP presidential straw poll conducted by organizers at the Conservative Leadership Conference held at the Nugget Casino this weekend “by a large margin,” according to an organizer.
Paul won with 33 percent, Romney came in second with 16 percent and Duncan Hunter was just behind with 15 percent. "Undecided" was fourth with 11 percent, and Thompson and Giuliani were next and ahead of the rest of the pack -- all in single digits. Raw numbers haven't been provided, but there were approximately 430 registrants at the opening of the conference.
Although many of the Republican presidential teams had surrogates representing them at the conference, Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter were the only candidates to speak at the conference, and the victor himself was not there.
Further proof that many in the MSM aren't taking Ron Paul seriously at all. Conversely the WaPo is paying attention:
Disciples of Ron Paul, Spreading the Word in N.H.
"This month, the 10-term Texas Republican stunned the GOP field by raising a little more than $5 million in the third quarter, 70 percent of it from online donations; Sen. John McCain, once considered the front-runner for the GOP nomination, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who placed a strong second in the Iowa straw poll in August, raised $6 million and $1 million, respectively. For months now, Paul has been the most popular GOP candidate on the Web, with more supporters on MySpace, Facebook and Meetup than Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney, who won the Iowa straw poll and leads in the polls here."
Additionally the article brings up one highly salient point,"In a state where Patrick Buchanan upset Bob Dole, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, more than a decade ago, anything is possible, says Andrew Smith, a pollster and director of the University of New Hampshire's Survey Center." Simply put Ron Paul has the absolute best chances of winning a primary in NH and he can pull that off nobody will be able to easily dismiss him any longer.
h/t to the Daily Dish
Since I'm a "Walk softly and carry a big stick." kind of guy I have to admit this has a certain appeal to me.
From the Union Leader:
It is not we non-interventionists who are isolationsists. The real isolationists are those who impose sanctions and embargoes on countries and peoples across the globe because they disagree with the internal and foreign policies of their leaders. The real isolationists are those who choose to use force overseas to promote democracy, rather than seek change through diplomacy, engagement, and by setting a positive example.
I do not believe that ideas have an expiration date, or that their value can be gauged by their novelty. The test for new and old is that of wisdom and experience, or as the editors wrote "historical reality," which argues passionately now against the course of anti-Constitutional interventionism.
A Paul administration would see Americans engaged overseas like never before, in business and cultural activities. But a Paul administration would never attempt to export democracy or other values at the barrel of a gun, as we have seen over and over again that this is a counterproductive approach that actually leads the United States to be resented and more isolated in the world.
