Ron Paul Raises $4.2 Million in One Day
Written by Sam on November 6th, 2007WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, aided by an extraordinary outpouring of Internet support Monday, hauled in more than $4.2 million in nearly 24 hours. Paul, the Texas congressman with a libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day.Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie “V for Vendetta.” Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of the film on the online video site YouTube as well as the Guy Fawkes Day refrain: “Remember, remember the 5th of November.”
Paul’s total deposed Mitt Romney as the single-day fundraising record holder in the Republican presidential field. When it comes to sums amassed in one day, Paul now ranks only behind Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, who raised nearly $6.2 million on June 30, and Barack Obama.
That is some serious cash for someone who “conservatives” say is just a fringe case.
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Earlier tonight, I attended a debate and straw poll hosted by the New York City Young Republicans at the Metropolitan Republican Club on the Upper East Side. YRs spoke on behalf of the candidates.
Ron Paul won the straw poll with 26 votes.
He bested Rudy Giuliani who received 21 votes. If my memory is right, John McCain, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee all trailed the front runners with single digit vote totals. (Fred Thompson did not even have a representative speak at the event.)
You had to be a dues-paying member of the YRs to vote in the straw poll. Dues were $35 — a large enough amount, I think, to give the straw poll some credibility.
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Seriously, Sam, all of the Ron Paul-worshiping on this site has just gotten ridiculous.
Does he have great things to say about small government? Yeah. Does he then allocate pork projects to his home district while maintaining his holiness by voting against appropriations bills that he knows will pass regardless? Yes, indeed.
Paul, for all his great insights about freedom and whatnot, won’t stop bloviating about returning to the gold standard. He won’t stop making the perfect the enemy of the good, as the Club for Growth’s white paper on him reveals, and his self-righteousness gets to be a tad annoying. He goes completely off the deep-end advocating for ending even important programs in the Federal government, such as the CIA and the FBI.
I won’t paint Paul with the blame for the outright nuttiness that some of his supporters express, but it does add more to be questioned. Check out this reference on Ace of Spades HQ for some examples of the nuttiness and his cautious I-won’t-go-there-but-I’ll-give-it-an-audience approach:
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/245699.php
Do you really want to take Paul seriously now?
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By the way, the previous comment makes no note of Paul’s completely unrealistic and absurd notion of international affairs, which I have referenced before:
http://www.savethegop.com/2007/05/17/re-ron-paul/
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Raising money is not an indicator of sanity. Jim Jones had hundreds of followers move to south america and then commit suicide for him. That to me takes more effort than writing a check to a US presidential candidate. Is that a ridiculous analogy? Yes. I would venture to say that most of Pauls support are from fringe righties and lefties, who have found each other in this unusual presidential race. Where was this big support for Paul the last time he ran? Exactly, its a flash in the pan. The world would be a very, very dangerous place with Paul as president, like it or not, and thats an argument that cannot be refuted.
I also find it humorous that some people try to claim that this guy is charging up the mountain with all of this money. He is polling at or below 4%! Where is his support outside of his web of rabid supporters?
Pretending that this guy isnt fringe is not borne out by any single data point.
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The terrorists are not coming from Iraq. The Muslim diaspora in Britain, Germany, France, and the Netherlands is a real threat, and the ideology of radical Islam in Europe is being funded by Saudi Arabia. For some reason, we’re pointlessly screwing around in Iraq while leaving our borders completely undefended, ignoring mass Muslim immigration into Europe, and cozying up to the Saudis. I also predict that the end result of the Iraq War will be a flood of refugees from Iraq to the United States, causing us no end of problems in the future.
Paul’s policy of secure borders and nonintervention is eminently sensible compared to our present “invade the world, invite the world” strategy.
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Langley, I consider someone out raising John McCain in the last quarter and then $4 million in one day news worthy events. It’s no secret I am partial to Ron Paul, but I still haven’t decided who I am voting for in January. It might not be him. I’ve narrowed it down to Paul, McCain, Giuliani, and Thompson.
Furthermore, even in the very slim chance that Ron Paul were to actually become President, do you honestly believe he would be capable of taking us back to a gold standard (which I don’t have a problem with by the way) and eliminating the FBI and CIA? No, but he might actually be able to cut back spending, lower taxes even more, eliminate some wasteful programs that aren’t vital, and maybe pay off some of the national debt. Basically, just about everything George Bush didn’t.
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As a “conservative” (your quotation marks, not mine) I am indeed telling you that Paul is a fringe case. No further explanation is needed beyond what I’ve already written.
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Sam,
All of those things can be achieved without electing a nutjob like Paul. Thompson, McCain, Guiliani and Thompson could all do those easily. More than likely, as President Paul would veto every single bill that came to him because it wasnt perfect. Conservatives dont need to look to Paul for basics like spending restraint, as most of the problem lies in the congress anyway.
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Paul Mirengoff also has harsh words for Paul and his supporters:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2007/11/018955.php
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Langley,
As someone who disagrees with Ron Paul’s positions on the issues, how do you think the other Republican Presidential candidates should address the impulses that are attracting Ron Paul the support he is getting?
Could the Ron Paul supporters be one of the blocks of voters that gets a Republican candidate to 51 percent in November ‘08?
I hear what you are saying — Ron Paul has some out-of-the-ordinary ideas and some on the fringes are supporting him. But, there are at least some mainstream folks supporting Ron Paul, too — the $4 million-plus raised in one day demonstrates that.
The Republican Party should reach out to Ron Paul’s supporters to attempt to tap into this energy.
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You can read the post from Power Line I linked to get a feel about what I think about a lot of Paul’s supporters - not all of them, but certainly a chunk of them, and certainly the most vocal. Paul Mirengoff makes a better argument about it than I could.
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RE my first comment on this post, here is a link to some press coverage of that NYC YRs straw poll last night in which Ron Paul came out on top:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2007/11/07/new-york-young-republicans-pick-paul/
http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/88483
And the NYC YR press release:
http://nyyrcrecord.blogspot.com/
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Ron Paul isn’t just fringe…he’s on the edge of the fringe itself. He’s a lunatic. Raising this money means absolutely nothing.
Moveon.org has spent and raises millions and millions…they are still the fringe.