It's official. Not only did Ron Paul outperform his amazing fundraising day on Nov. 5, but he also beat John Kerry's previous one-day fund raising record ($5.8 million) by pulling in more than $6 million on Sunday.
Paul's fourth quarter fundraising goal was $12 million, which he has now beat by more than 50 percent with two weeks to go (he stands at $18.2 million as of this writing). What's even more amazing is that this has all happened before a single primary has taken place. John Kerry's record happened only after he secured the Democratic nomination.
Moreover, this latest fundraising effort was once again a grass roots campaign, with no support from Ron Paul's staff. Does that tell you something?
A lot of people complain about money in politics, and that it's too easy for candidates to be bought by large corporations, and rich private interests. Here is proof that there is another way.
And more importantly, a way that is not government-controlled. The average donation size varied only between $90 and $120. Then there is the Ron Paul Blimp. Sure, many will scoff at this, but this is an interesting turn of events for one important reason. It wasn't set up as a PAC. It's a private advertising corporation.
That means that any donations you make towards the blimp do not count towards the maximum you can give to the campaign. For those who think this is shady or otherwise below board, they have retained the services of Brad Smith, the former chairman of the FEC, as legal counsel.
Odds are that this amazing event will go mostly unnoticed by the mainstream media. He's not a "real candidate" to many, whatever that means. But what this should show is that there is a significant number of people who believe in what this man is saying, and are willing to put their money where their mouths are.
There are a lot of people who are just sick and tired of the same big government policies from both the Republicans and the Democrats and want real change ... not the pseudo change that is promised by the usual bunch of candidates. And what could surprise people is his ability to bring back people who had just given up:
Not that Paul is necessarily competing directly against his rivals. Campaign officials and volunteers alike say they see themselves as striving more to reach residents who have given up on politics. It is hard to imagine voters deciding between Paul and the pro-Iraq-war Republicans in the rest of the field, they say, but they also are not making concerted efforts to reach independents leaning toward an antiwar Democrat such as Obama.
"It's a lot of lifelong Republicans, folks who've been out of it and were discouraged," Jared Chicoine, New Hampshire campaign coordinator for Paul. "We don't find droves of Democrats saying, 'This is our man.' He is a conservative. He is an antiwar conservative in the line of what Republicans used to be."
Nick Schweitzer of Wauwatosa is a software consultant, amateur photographer and political commentator. He writes a blog at www.nickschweitzer.net.
8 Comments
"Campaign officials and volunteers alike say they see themselves as striving more to reach residents who have given up on politics."
The strategy of energizing the disaffected voters accounts for lack of polling numbers - most polls contact a small group of "likely" voters. "Likely" meaning they voted/caucused in the last election.
These newly energized voters are a large and uncounted force.
Dr. Ron Paul's message of less federal government will help business owners because by getting the federal government out of our lives. Reducing fed gov't to the size of year 2000 will allow the federal income tax to be removed. Yes, no IRS!
Learn more about removing the federal income tax at http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/debt-and-taxes/
Nice work and I'll be checking your blog regularly now.
RonPaul2008.com
America's New Year's Day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59WxCwMK57o
Mr. Schweitzer,
Thank you for your fair and balanced article on Dr. Ron Pauls campaign. Your comments are welcomed and very much appreciated. This is the kind of exposure that is so very criticle to its success. A major reason that Dr. Paul continues to have such a "low" ranking in the national polls, I think, is 1) that pollsters utilize "voter registration" lists available from the county registrars nationwide. These lists provide polling information of individuals that voted in prior elections, where and when they voted as well as the personal data associated with the voter. Because each party is only interested in reaching their supporters, and in some cases independents,little consideration is given to opposing party. What is so different in this election is that Dr.Paul is being supported by a "new breed" of supporter that transcends "political and party boundries", a phenomenon Main Stream Media has yet to figure out. His supporters range from moderate and left leaning republicans, tired of the status quo and the "talking bobblehead" rehtoric that the so-called "top tier" candidates are spewing,the recent scandals that have plagued it, to those who believe that the war is wrong, and are sick of having religion crammed down their necks. Dr.Paul is extremely popular with the disenfranchised and disaffected and detached democrats who feel betrayed by a Congress that promised a "new direction platform" last year but have failed miserably to deliver. Not so remarkably he is also favored by independents and libertarians but he is most incredibly attracting a mass of relatively young supporters, between the ages of 18 and 40, whose entire history has been connected to Presidents with the last names of"Bush" and/or "Clinton". This point leads directly to what I feel is the most probable explanation for his poll numbers to be considered "low". This generation of Americans is highly "mobile" and "technologically savvy" as can be witnessed in its ability to raise the historical amounts of money on the internet. Remember ... these are "money-in-the-bank" credit card transactions. if someone could develope a method of storing and retrieving cell phone, blackberry and i-phone numbers ... well, I'll just let your imagination run with that scenario.
Anyway, thanks again for your piece and providing us with a place to comment.
Before I go ... Warning to All Who Intend to Vote in the Upcoming Primary & General Elections. Remember to take a folding chair of stool, plenty of water and a brown bag lunch because someting tells me that the polling lines are going to be long, long, long!
Remember, the Ron Paul for President Campaign is history in the making! He's catchin on, I'm tellin ya! Be ready for it!
If it weren't for Paul's views on the economy, defense, healthcare and education maybe he'd be a real candidate. JMHO, but eliminating the Dept of Education so that certain states can have defacto permission to teach creationism; weakening the military because he believes that will keep us from instigating attack; having no healthcare plan to speak of and not recognizing that regulation in moderation makes sense in maintaining civility and safety in a capitalist society; just doesn't appeal to me, no matter how right he is about government overstepping in many areas.
This begs the question of what does Ron Paul's support really mean – I think it is a great question more important than the man himself – in the end the financial and grass-root support simply shows there is much support for Dr. Pauls views; it's an idea, a general feeling - that we as Americans deserve better. We need politicians that are themselves constitutionalists, that follow the law and do not heed to special interests, lobbyists, or seek to impose their will (rather than the will of the American people) on the general citizenry. Hence the immense support for Ron Paul's political ideology, but until more politicians pay heed to what the American people want, and the general voting population stops voting for "the lesser of two evils" rather than voting for the best candidate, there is little hope even for such a well financed movement, sadly its the ignorance and apathy of the American people who are to blame. Until power is restored to the people, which over the years has been stolen from us on both sides of the political spectrum (with unions, health care & defense companies being prime examples) - the American people will continue to be treated like dogs until the quest for greed and control ceases. So its time to face reality, and acknowledge that things have gone too far for some time now, and there is little hope in the current system - which is why it is imperative for us to change the system from within by always voting to reduce the power of the federal government, and return power to the states and to the people. We are now outsiders, our country as been taken from us long ago - if you still you think you live in a nation of "we the people", and think that we live in a free country think again... our only real recourse in taking back out county is from within, and in working the system as best we can for the sake of freedom.
-- Go Ron Paul
Steve Cole
This isn't about dem vs. repub, this is about BIG GOVERNMENT vs. YOU.
We finally have a good shot at making change toward smaller government. Dr. Ron Paul is our man.
Unfortunately RP wants to go back to the gold standard. And he seems to be anti-immigration. The US needs immigration of young workers to help fund the retirement of Baby Boomers. On the gold standard, RP needs to read Milton Friedman. I just can't vote for someone who supports the gold standard. We might as well adopt the stone standard.