Posted by
Tonewah on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 4:37:00 PM
According to the latest financial disclosures, released yesterday, after subtracting debts from cash on hand, Ron Paul has the 2nd highest dollar amount among Republican candidates for President with around $5.5 million. Giuliani has the most, with $16.5, and Romney the least, being about $8 million in the red. Of course, most of Romney's debts are to himself, so it's not like he has to pay it back. Still, if you allow the others' borrowed money to count as fundraising, the Paul camp has raised the 4th highest total without borrowing a cent.
What makes this blog-worthy is the fact that Ron Paul is not a name on the lips of most Americans, yet he pulled in popular money last quarter. Paul's campaign has one of those fundraising thermometers on it's
web site. Currently, it shows about 1 million dollars raised from online donations in 2 weeks of the 4th quarter. It depicts a goal of $12 Million for the 4th quarter. That's almost more than any GOP candidate has raised in any quarter!
The question must be asked: Will this reflect votes in the primaries? If so, the front-runners should be getting a little nervous. This guy seems to say almost the opposite of everything they say. In the debates (I've watched all of them), I've noticed the candidates modify their answers after Ron Paul gets a big pop from the crowd. If it doesn't result in votes for Paul, the other candidates will recognize that millions of dollars that could have promoted them, didn't, because they didn't take seriously an active segment of their possible future constituency.
National polls show Paul at around 4% among registered Republicans. Among moderates, however, he polls in the double digits. On the internet, he's practically been elected
President. At locally promoted straw polls, for whatever they're worth, he finishes in first on a regular basis, even beating Mitt Romney in a straw poll where Paul was absent, and Romney made an in-person appeal for their votes. What does this mean?
I think it simply means the supporters of Ron Paul are more engaged in the election than the supporters of the other GOP candidates. If they can get 20% more of the Republican American voting public turned on to his message of small government, low taxes, and a return to a pre-2001 GOP foreign policy, the election could get quite interesting. If their efforts at least get his name into the ears of those 20%, there could be a big shift. If not, it will still, at the very least, be a lesson in fundraising.
*Blogger's Note: After initial publication of this blog entry, OpenSecrets added a line for Fred Thompson. Fred's $6 million places him in front of Paul in 2nd.