What Ron Paul Will Do With His Cash Haul

Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign has been defined by exceeded expectations. During debates, the Texas Republican has separated himself from the GOP pack with unrelenting criticism of the Iraq War. On the Internet, his supporters have flooded discussion forums with such ferocity that several websites have barred their participation. And in the world of political fundraising no one, not even Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama have had single day successes that approach Paul's cash hauls.

The latest of these occurred yesterday, when the Paul campaign took in a record $6 million in a 24-hour period. The total, which came a month and a half after supporters - independent of the candidate - brought in $4.2 million dollars on a single day, eclipsed the record $5.7 million that Sen. John Kerry raised after he received the 2004 Democratic nomination.

The money is indeed impressive and has made Paul the envy of some in the GOP field.

"We have friendly relationships with a couple of the other campaigns," Jesse Benton, Paul's spokesperson told the Huffington Post. "I joke with the [Mike] Huckabee campaign. We wish we had their poll numbers and they wish they had our cash."

But, as Benton acknowledges, with surveys showing Paul well behind in Iowa and trailing in New Hampshire, the question remains, what can the campaign do with their stuffed coffers to generate growth in the polls.

Apparently, a lot. Already preparations are being made to build infrastructure in the February 5th primary states, signifying that Paul plans to stay in the race no matter how the early elections go.

"Our immediate focus is Iowa and New Hampshire," said Benton. "But what is great about having this money now is that it allows us to step back, hire staff and get some paid media for the February 5th primary. We still need to do well in New Hampshire and Iowa to prove that we can continue to grow and maintain momentum."

Paul's team will also be promoting what it calls the "Christmas Vacation" program, which involves paying the room and board expenses of college students who want to help out in the first two states during the winter break.

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But it's not just college kids who are coming on board. Within the next few days, the Paul campaign says they will hit 200 employees nationally with roughly half of them based in Iowa.

"We are hiring people so fast it's hard to keep track," said Benton

In addition, Paul will be devoting more money to advertisements, with a fifth campaign commercial set to be released soon in both New Hampshire and Iowa. And yet, for someone who has profited so bountifully of the web, little in terms of Internet innovations is being planned.

"We will go as far as the web wants us to go," said Benton. "We don't do anything magical on the web. It's just that the message is so powerful that it goes viral and spreads."

Real change for the Paul campaign, however, may not be something that the candidate or his staffers can possibly affect. As Benton notes, the perception of Paul as a fringe candidate (even after all the cash hauls) remains ingrained in the media psyche.

"We still have a ways to go," he said. "To get into the earned media cycle you have to earn it. More and more people are talking about Ron and mentioning him as a candidate. The talk about him being nice and having loyal fans but no chance of winning is finally fading out... These fundraising events have given us a megaphone to say there is a lot of support for us out there."

And indeed, other Republican candidates are starting to take notice. Even if Paul doesn't win the nomination, his fundraising efforts have made him a remarkable political weapon. As an aide to a rival campaign said, when asked what he would like to see the Texan do with all his money: "I'd like to see him spend it on Huffington Post web ads."

Comments

[HumeSkeptic]

"Ron Paul may seem an unlikely advocate for the repeal of federal drug laws, but this stance stems from the same impulse that leads him to call for the abolition of the Food and Drug Administration and its "health nannies." He says that decades of government programs can soften Americans' sense of personal responsibility and that the free market can do a better job of keeping people safe and healthy than the government can."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070800966_2.html

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Now, I can see an argument for repealing some of the drug laws, but abolishing the Food and Drug Administration because they are "health nannies." ?

Really?

So all those food labels and drug warnings are useless, or would each have to do our own research to protect ourselves from whatever companies put in our food?

And "free market" would take care of our health?

Really?

How well has the free market done so far, since that is pretty close to what we have, with some 45 million uninsured?

Great idea, Dr. Paul!

[HumeSkeptic]

'He (Ron Paul) also wants America to withdraw from the United Nations and NATO. He is against the government's "delusional, feel-good" policies of giving aid to needy countries in places like Africa; instead, private citizens and private groups should give charity if they want to. He has written that Americans "don't need to be forced to pay for foreign welfare at the barrel of a government gun."'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070800966_2.html
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And here, silly me, I felt proud that my country was able to help the victims of that Tsunami in Indonesia, to go to the aid of our fellow human beings, to save lives, to provide medicine.

And how would private charities have handled massive airlifts that were needed and ships that had to be diverted by our Navy to help the needy?

And what does Ron Paul find so objectionable to our government helping fight AIDS in Africa?

Would he have his local Catholic church handle a problem of that magnitude with Sunday collections?

And, somehow, I never felt that I was "forced to pay for foreign welfare at the barrel of a government gun".

What Government gun?

Is that not a good way to spend money overseas, even from a diplomatic and political viewpoint, even if we discard all morality?

And where is it in the Constitution that our government should not help human beings in need?

[HumeSkeptic]

"Is bailing out people that chose to live on the coastline a proper function of the federal government?" he asks. "Why do people in Arizona have to be robbed in order to support the people on the coast?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070800966_2.html
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Now, mind you, it is not just that Ron Paul is mad at FEMA, which we all were. It's not that. Ron Paul is against the very IDEA of government helping people after disasters like Katrina.

He says that none of the tax money from people of Arizona should go to help NOLA.

Really?

Then why in the heck do we call the U.S. a country if we refuse to help our fellow countrymen in need?

And what is the "proper function" of the Federal Government if not to provide safety and protection for the people?

Should we have told New Yorkers to take care of 9/11 themselves, because it is they who decided to build those tall towers?

[HumeSkeptic]

Ron Paul on Social Security:

"As for Social Security, "we didn't have it until 1935," Paul says. "I mean, do you read stories about how many people were laying in the streets and dying and didn't have medical treatment? . . . Prices were low and the country was productive and families took care of themselves and churches built hospitals and there was no starvation."

...

In other words, Paul thinks we are better off without Social Security. According to him, it caused poverty, and there was no poverty before 1935.

Really?

"Where to begin with this one?" asks Michael Katz, a historian of poverty at the University of Pennsylvania who has studied charity case records from the early 20th century. "The stories just break your heart, the kind of suffering that people endured. . . . Stories of families that had literally no cash and had to kind of beg to get the most minimal forms of food, who lived in tiny, little rooms that were ill-heated and ill-ventilated, who were sick all the time, who had meager clothing . . ."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070800966_3.html

[DavidE]

I guess I might vote for Ron Paul as a protest vote if Hillary wins the Democratic nomination. I don't really agree with many of his policies though. I'm more of a liberal. I believe that the government needs to regulate businesses to protect individuals. I don't have the faith of some that they'd just do what is right if left alone.

Paul's gold standard idea is just bad economics. Sure it'd reduce inflatation, but it does it by severly restricting the money supply. It'd have the same effect as drastically increasing the fed rate.

[dickidaypsu]

I'm a dyed in the wool blue blooded Liberal. My primary isn't until April 22nd, by then the Democratic nominee will have been chosen with or without my vote.

I'm changing my registration to Republican so I can vote for Ron Paul.

[WilliePilgrim]

To me it seems hard to argue against the evidence that the thing that gets a candidate into the white house is the amount of exposure which is closely correlated to the amount of money that they not only get as contributions, but the amount they spend on buying political advertising. The more they spend on advertising, the more interesting they become to the noisemakers on the tube, and so it kind of snowballs. Right now it's still only a moderately sized snowball for Ron Paul, but that is how they sometimes start, nd judging by the way it's been able to grow so far, it is likely to grow a bit still until it goes critical and once they do,if they do, it's frightening to be in the way.

[ptarantino]

What's Ron Paul going to do about Blackwater?

Are they left to their own without any accountabilty, because of free-markets?

[prolifeprogressive]

Nice to see Huffpo and Dkos warm up to Paul a bit and on the same day no less.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/17/12335/093/779/423320

[ptarantino]

I want to know how Ron Paul would clip giant companies wings a little?

What would he do about little pockets of Al-Queda.. kill them or let them be?

Why hasn't he helped in impeaching Cheney/Bush?

Why is he playing both sides of the fence on 9/11 truth? Is he going to go after these people?

[janmarie]

Hope he runs as an independent. I'm thinking if Ron Paul was elected president the corporate media won't report it.

[LITU]

Ron Paul is Miltie Friedman's wet dream: free-market capitalism, with no government regulation. Let the foxes watch the henhouses so to speak. Idiots, the lot of ya!

[loki]

Maybe he should move it to an offshore account, and start looking for property to live at in a democratic country, because we are about as close to a democracy nowadays as North Korea is. But as long as everyone refuses to look behind the Gold Curtain and mindlessly believes the theatrical performance portraying democracy things will never get better. Its what is behind the curtain which is killing America, the Constitution, and our freedoms and rights as human beings and citizens. Peek behind the Golden Curtain and you will see a Authoritarianism group in control who are pulling the leavers in America. A group compiled of power seeking US style capitalist, war pigs, NeoNaziCons, and Greedy selfish democrats and fake Christians who only have their personal self interest at heart and to control everyone else to do their bidding.

We were never a democracy, not even in the constitution. And no matter how many say we are cant change the truth. We were a republic, and are a republic under the constitution, and we only pretend to be a democracy, but in practice we have come under rule of an authoritarianism government. If you disagree, then just look at the definition of authoritarianism and then look at the way things are done in America and by who.

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Authoritarianism describes a form of social control characterized by strict obedience to the authority of a state or organization, often maintaining and enforcing control through the use of oppressive measures. Authoritarian regimes are strongly hierarchical.
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[ElkoJohn]

`
hopefully, the Ron Paul libertarians can take back the repug party.
.

[godlessclif]

More Blimps! More Blimps!

"Follow that Zeppelin!" ...alternate history by Fritz Lieber. Great SciFi story.