November 7th, 2007
Nov. 5 effort impresses with $4m raised online for Ron Paul
To Ron Paul supporters, Nov. 5 will be a day to go down in history.
On November 5th, 2007 Ron Paul supporters made history. The one day fundraising drive broke all records. Over 4.3 million dollars were raised in one day.
Meanwhile, the campaign itself raised $7.6 million towards a quarterly goal of $12 million.
What’s it all about? Let’s ask the media.
The Paul surge reflects, in part, the success of the Internet in providing a “place” for like-minded people to find each other and interact. In particular, “there’s a heavy libertarian strain within the high-tech community who are overrepresented online,” says Michael Cornfield, an expert on politics and the Internet.
Paul is polling in the low- to mid-single digits nationally and just at 3 percent in N.H., the CSM notes.
No matter how much money he earns and how much Internet buzz he generates, Andy Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, says, “You’ve got to come here,” says Mr. Smith. “You can’t have a virtual candidate who campaigns over the Internet to win an election.”
The AP says Paul may be able to tap into some support among the “Pat Buchanan wing of the party” to forge a 3rd or 4th place finish in the early going and upend some of the mainstream candidates.
“He’s got potential because there is a segment of the Republican electorate that is opposed to the war and is maybe anti-internationalist,” New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen said. “The Pat Buchanan wing of the party, if you will.”
Paul’s problem is that his Libertarian views pull in a wide range of people with little in common, the AP notes.
A check of Paul’s Internet support shows a vast array of fans. Libertarian sites sing his praises, as do anti-war veterans and voters angry at the Internal Revenue Service and at what they perceive is government intrusion.
He also attracts support in some fringe, anti-Semitic or white supremacist Web sites, even though Paul himself strongly rejects those views.
“He has this very small but very enthusiastic group of supporters,” said Republican strategist David Winston, who has studied the political use of new media. “It gives him the resources, but his problem is what’s the message that grows his support? That he has been unable to solve.”
My hunch? Real-world support stays at 3 percent. Americans will ultimately not be attracted to a view of the Constitution that doesn’t include any of the individual rights that have developed since 1789, no matter how they feel about the war or abortion.
