Attention: Ron Paul Has Lots of Money

"It’s probably time to stop lumping Ron Paul in with Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Duncan Hunter and all of the other self-deluded no-shots in the 2008 presidential race.

Because money talks, and the quirky 72-year-old Texas Congressman just raised a ton of it—more than $5 million between July and September, to be exact. He now has $5.3 million on hand, and his campaign, which is fueled by a devoted and growing internet army not unlike the one Howard Dean built four years ago, wants to raise another $12 million before the year is out.

That goal would have been laughed at just a few months ago, but now the cynics are keeping their mouths shut."

- rest at www.observer.com/2007/ron-paul-has-lots-money

 

Cato Scholar Comments on Ron Paul's Fundraising

Thursday 04 October 2007


David Boaz, executive vice president:

Ron Paul's amazing fundraising success -- with no support from the Republican establishment and little attention from the mainstream media -- is an indication of the wide appeal of his message of constitutionalism, reduced spending, and an end to the Iraq war. In some ways Ron Paul is the antidote for every problem that plagued Republicans in 2006: Voters were tired of Republican corruption, and Ron Paul has never succumbed to the temptations of Washington. They were fed up with overspending, and he's the original anti-spender. They're disillusioned by the seemingly endless war in Iraq, and Ron Paul opposed that war from the beginning. He's appealing to fed-up traditional Republicans and to younger voters who haven't yet been Republicans.

The fact that he raised $5 million mostly in small donations and over the Internet means two things: that his donors aren't "maxed out" and could still give more, and that he's reaching a broad range of new contributors, not the standard big donors who have filled the coffers of the leading candidates in both parties.

Ron Paul isn't likely to be the Republican nominee, but Republican leaders should think about what his surprising appeal is telling them.

- www.cato.org:80/homepage_item.php?id=680
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