Money pouring in to Ron Paul campaign

Julia Malone / Cox News Service | December 6, 2007

Ron Paul, the presidential candidate who was shunned by the pundits, is suddenly shattering the fund-raising records.

Aided by a nearly all-volunteer army of energized supporters, the Texas congressman with his shrink-the-government, anti-war message is predicting he will take in $12 million in the last quarter of 2007, making him the top Republican fund-raiser for the period.

Backers poured $4.2 million in online donations, the most ever for any candidate on a single day, on Nov. 5. Now his supporters are looking to break that record on Dec. 16 with a similar Internet event, this one with a Boston Tea Party theme.

What's more, the candidate himself is not soliciting the money, hosting events or hiring pros to bring in the contributions.

The cash flow is almost entirely driven by Paul supporters, who have set up Web sites for the fund-raising, organized door-to-door canvassing, and formed more than 1,300 neighborhood "Meet-up" groups through the Internet — all with little or no direction from the official campaign.

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In short, the 72-year-old obstetrician-lawmaker who says the nation should return to the modest government envisioned by the 18th century Founding Fathers, has inspired a movement for the online, logged-in 21st century.

Other campaigns have used the tools of the Internet as a way to mobilize massive numbers of donors. "Ron Paul was able to take it to the next level," said Alan Rosenblatt, associate director of online advocacy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning research and policy group.

Paul's "bottom up" organization — built and run by the grass roots and supported by thousands of small donations — has succeeded by tapping into issues that people care about, such as lower taxes and "getting the government out of my life," Rosenblatt said.

Although Paul has flatly ruled out a third-party run for the White House, his maverick campaign provides evidence that a future third party or independent movement could gain a national foothold.

Full article here.

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