Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign

Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign
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Campaign	U.S. presidential election, 2008
Candidate	Ron Paul Congressman 1976–1977 Congressman 1979–1985 Congressman 1997–present
Affiliation	Republican Party
Key people	Kent Snyder (Manager) Jesse Benton (Press Secretary)
Receipts	US$US$28,034,427 (2,007−12−31)
Slogan	Hope for America!
Website
Ron Paul 2008

Ron Paul is a 10th-term Congressman, a physician (M.D.), and a 2008 presidential candidate from the state of Texas, seeking the nomination of the Republican Party.

Campaign developments

See also: United States presidential election, 2008 timeline

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Ron Paul campaign logo

These are events related to Ron Paul's official 2008 campaign. For events related to the independent grassroots movement around him (the "Ron Paul Revolution"), see further below.

First Quarter 2007

Ron Paul formed a presidential exploratory committee on January 11. He also acquired data on public interest in his running for President around February 19. Based on the results from the exploratory committee and polling, Ron Paul officially entered the race on March 12.

On March 20, Ron Paul signed the American Freedom Agenda Pledge. He remains the only Republican presidential candidate to do so. On March 31, Paul reported that he raised US$639,989 and had US$524,919 on hand.

Second Quarter 2007

On April 10, Gallup/USA Today released a poll in which Ron Paul stood fifth among Republican presidential candidates, with 2 percent.

On June 30, 2007, in Des Moines, Iowa, Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance held a presidential candidates forum. Six candidates appeared—Romney, Brownback, Gilmore, Huckabee, Thompson, and Tancredo. Other than Paul, all Republican presidential candidates featured in the party's debates were invited. Paul campaign manager Lew Moore called ITF Executive Vice President Edward D. Failor, Jr. for information about the event. Failor, a senior advisor for the McCain campaign, told Moore that Paul was not invited and would not be allowed to participate because he was not considered a credible candidate.

In an interview with host Jan Mickelson of WHO News Radio 1040, Kent Snyder, chairman of Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign, and Edward Failor Jr., Failor said that Ron Paul was excluded because the schedule was "set in stone" a month ago. However, the schedule had been changed on June 8 to replace Jim Gilmore with Duncan Hunter. Mickelson mentioned that he had received an "amazing response" of "hundreds of emails" in protest at the decision after the radio interview, with the feedback nearly crashing the radio station's servers. Mickelson said he thought that Iowans for Tax Relief's decision reflected poorly on the state of Iowa and that to persist in barring Paul made him look "self-destructive" and "intractable" and to continue to bar him made it seem like a "personal thing".

Fellow candidate Tom Tancredo, who was invited to the event, had asked for Paul to be included. To protest his exclusion from the candidates' forum, Paul planned a competing rally in the same location as the forum, beginning directly afterwards.

Third Quarter 2007

On the night of July 3 and into the morning of the Fourth, Paul's supporters conducted a nationwide campaign to put up thousands of fliers, posters, and leaflets. The campaign was mostly organized through Meetup.com groups and was not conducted by request of the main campaign office. The goal of the campaign was to bypass a perceived media blackout and bring Paul's campaign directly to the American people on a day that would already have Americans thinking about liberty and freedom.

Paul participated in the Ames Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa on August 11. He ranked 5th out of 11 candidates, receiving 9.1 percent of the votes. According to John Fout, on TheStreet.com, Paul "shocked people in Iowa" by receiving more than 9 percent of the vote after only making three trips to Iowa, releasing ads only one week before the poll, and for beating Tommy Thompson, who visited all 99 counties in Iowa. A grass-roots operation called "Operation Spooner" had been held by Paul's supporters to call all voters in Iowa to ask them to support Ron Paul, in order to campaign for the straw poll in Ames on August 11. In an interview about the results of the straw poll, fellow candidate Mike Huckabee, who placed second, said that Ron Paul was the candidate most likely to overtake him nationally, saying, "I'm keeping an eye on him."

On September 29, Paul won the unofficial New Jersey Straw Poll with 73 percent, of around 200 attending and paying US$18 each, in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Next were 12 percent for Fred Thompson and 1 percent for each of these five: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Tom Tancredo, and Duncan Hunter. The last four each got 0 percent: John McCain, Sam Brownback, Alan Keyes, and John Cox.

Paul conducted a week-long on-line fundraising drive starting September 30 initially with a US$500,000 goal, but after that goal was reached after only two days, the goal was doubled to US$1 million, which also was successfully met, raising about US$1.2 million in only seven days. The innovative real-time funds meter allowed to observe sizes of the donations, which appeared to be less than US$50 per donation on average, indicating the large size of the donor group and Ron Paul's appeal to people with medium and lower incomes. It also means existence of a large pool of donors who could contribute in the future, being short of the US$2,300 per-donor maximum.

Fourth Quarter 2007

On October 25, work began among Ron Paul's supporters to commemorate the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, starting with the Web-site TeaParty07.com, the effort grew to include plans for simultaneous rallies in cities including Boston, Austin and Santa Monica, and the purchase of a blimp.

Paul's first major television campaign began November 8, at a total cost of US$1.1 million, started advertising in New Hampshire.

On December 1, 2007, the Los Angeles Times declared Paul a player in the presidential campaign. The Libertarian Party adopted a resolution on December 12 requesting Paul to run on the Libertarian ticket if he does not win the Republican Party nomination.

CBS News reported on December 21 that "Ron Paul can no longer be dismissed as the favorite of the fringe".

When the close proximity of the first contests to the holidays led to many candidates putting out Christmas videos — allowing them to keep presenting their message but in a more appropriate setting — Paul chose one that showed his extended family singing "Deck the Halls"; CBS News described it as portraying Paul as "warm and fuzzy" and with less religious overtones than other candidates' videos.

By December 31, the Paul campaign recruited 300 student volunteers from 39 states and 4 countries to help go door-to-door in Iowa.

First Quarter 2008

On January 7, Paul's campaign launched an eight state TV ad campaign targeting California, Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, North Dakota, Louisiana, Maine and Florida. This was in addition to the ad campaigns in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Polling

See also: Straw polls for the 2008 United States presidential election

On November 20, 2007, Ron Paul won a Zogby International blind poll of general voters by a wide margin over the other GOP contenders, but finishing third when polling was limited to "likely Republican primary voters". A blind poll presents potential voters with descriptions of candidates rather than candidate names.

In a CNN telephone poll conducted in February 2007, Paul was the candidate with the least name recognition besides John Cox, leading poll watchers to report that he has the most room to grow if his Internet popularity can expand to voter support. A Gallup poll conducted in July 2007 showed 3 percent of Republicans and Independents who lean Republican having Paul as their first choice for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

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Ron Paul rally poster in Nashville, Tennessee

A July 2007 Gallup analysis of the relationship between religiosity and preference among the Presidential candidates indicated that Republicans and Republican-leaning voters seldom or never attending church are several times more likely to favor Paul than those in the same group attending church regularly.

Paul drew 3 percent support in New Hampshire in a May 2007 Zogby poll, fifth among possible Republican contenders. Paul also came in second in fundraising in Montana and at the head of the pack of "second-tier" candidates in 14 other states.

In polling conducted at the Utah GOP convention on June 9, 2007, Paul placed second behind Mitt Romney. Paul also placed second in the straw poll conducted at the National Taxpayers Union conference, following Fred Thompson. Ron Paul placed second, polling 17 percent, in a Cobb County GOP straw poll on July 4, 2007. Ron Paul won the Coalition for New Hampshire Taxpayers straw poll with 65 percent of the vote. Rudy Giuliani placed a distant second with 8 percent.

Ron Paul placed third in the Illinois Straw Poll on August 16, 2007, with 18.87 percent of the vote, polling just 0.4 percent behind undeclared candidate Fred Thompson. Unlike the Ames Straw Poll, there was no cost for voting in the Illinois Straw Poll. Paul dominated the similar West Alabama Republican Assembly 2007 Presidential Preference Straw Poll on August 18, 2007, capturing 216 of 266 votes (81 percent), far ahead of distant second Mitt Romney, who won only 14. On August 18, Paul also won the Strafford County, New Hampshire, straw poll, with over 70 percent of the votes. Paul won the South Sound Ronald Reagan Republican Club's straw poll on August 21 in Snohomish County, Washington, with 30 percent of the vote, with Fred Thompson coming in a close second with 27 percent.

2008 Republican Straw Poll results

Two New Hampshire polls from November 11 place Ron Paul's support at 7 percent. He got 8 percent of likely New Hampshire primary Republican voters in another CBS News/ New York Times poll on November 9-12, and 9 percent in a Pew Research Center survey on November 7-25. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll which was conducted by telephone from November 29 through December 3, among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, Ron Paul got 8 percent.

Paul broke into double digits with 11 percent in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll in South Carolina between December 9 and 12, 2007. As of December 11, 2007 Ron Paul leads with 33 total straw poll wins. Fred Thompson is in second place with 24 straw poll wins, and Mitt Romney whose 23 wins finishes out the Top 3.

Primary/caucus results

Main article: Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008

Iowa

Ron Paul finished fifth in the 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses with 10 percent of the votes and 2 delegates, trailing John McCain and Fred Thompson, who each received 13 percent, and finishing ahead of Rudy Giuliani, who got 3 percent. He won Jefferson County and received 20 percent or more of the vote in another 6 of Iowa's 99 counties.

Wyoming

At the January 5, 2008 Wyoming Republican County Conventions, Ron Paul received no delegates. The Wyoming primary was largely ignored by candidates in favor of the higher-profile race in New Hampshire. The majority of the 1224 eligible voters at the conventions were elected in 2006.

New Hampshire

Paul received 8% of the vote in the January 8 New Hampshire primary, finishing 5th overall, and receiving no delegates, in the Republican field. Though he had hoped to improve on his Iowa performance, he vowed to stay in the race, telling supporters, "It's really only the beginning." Paul won one of the 237 New Hampshire Republican counties, Richmond, with 34% of the vote.

Fundraising

Ron Paul's 2007 fundraising efforts by quarter.

Paul has grown increasingly strong as a fundraising force, mostly through large numbers of donations from individual contributors, and has the record for one-day fundraising. Unlike other major party presidential candidates, Paul discloses all campaign fundraising immediately, instead of when required to each quarter by law.

Populist dominance

Practically all of Paul's campaign money comes from individual contributors, with 47 percent of the funds raised from small contributions of US$200 or less.

After raising more than US$7 million in November 2007 alone, Ron Paul at the conclusion of that month was on pace to raise over US$16.5 million for the fourth quarter, with detailed estimates as high as US$20 million.

The Politico expects Paul to be the #1 Republican fundraiser for the fourth quarter of 2007, unless Mitt Romney exceeds Paul's total via his own contributions.

First quarter 2007

Ron Paul raised more money in New Hampshire in the first quarter of 2007 than presumed Republican front-runners John McCain and Rudy Giuliani. As of March 31, 2007, Paul had raised US$639,989 for his campaign nationwide. Of that, he had spent US$115,070, giving him US$525,919 cash-on-hand.

Second quarter 2007

As of the end of the second quarter 2007, Ron Paul had over US$2.4 million in the bank, which was more than John McCain, who had US$2 million. He outraised every second-tier candidate, and was fourth in fundraising among the Republicans, behind the three frontrunners.

Third quarter 2007

During the third quarter, Paul received more itemized contributions (donations exceeding US$200) than both Giuliani and Romney in 7 states: Washington, New Mexico, Kansas, North Dakota, Montana, Alaska, and Hawaii. In Iowa he received only 2 percent less itemized contributions than Romney, the winner of the straw poll. Forty-nine percent of Paul's total contributions was from donations not exceeding US$200 and therefore was not included in the state totals for the quarter. 18 percent of Romney's total contributions were not included. Only 11 percent of Giuliani's total contributions were not included. With donations of US$200 or less included, it can be estimated that Paul received more contributions than both Giuliani and Romney in an additional 5 states: Iowa, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Nebraska. It also can be estimated that he only received one eighth (1/8) less than than Romney, the leader, in New Hampshire.

During the first three quarters of 2007, Paul reported more itemized contributions (donations exceeding US$200) than Fred Thompson in 28 states.

Thompson did not report any contributions in the first two quarters. Thompson reported less than 1 percent more than Paul in Kansas and Oklahoma. 47 percent of Paul's total contributions in the first three quarters was from donations not exceeding US$200 and therefore was not included in the state totals. 32 percent of Thompson's total contributions was not included in the state totals. With donations of US$200 or less included, it can be estimated that Thompson received more contributions than Paul in only the District of Columbia and 18 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Paul probably received more donations than Thompson in 32 states.

On September 2, 2007, Paul's campaign reported receiving donations in excess of US$100,000 during a fundraiser held Labor Day weekend.

In September 2007, Paul was reported to have received more donations from actively serving armed service men and women than any other Republican Presidential candidate.

On September 24, the Paul campaign began an internet funding drive on the RonPaul2008.com website with the goal of raising US$500,000 online by September 30. By September 27, the goal had been surpassed. Paul released a statement on his website saying "Frankly, I'm floored. And very, very grateful." The goal was raised to US$1 million by midnight September 30. This goal was surpassed on September 29, with 25 hours to spare; eventually raising slightly over US$1.2 million by midnight September 30 in seven days.

On October 3, the campaign produced a press release stating that it had raised US$5,080,000 in the third quarter, an increase of 114 percent from the second quarter. The campaign pointed out that the Republican candidates conventionally deemed "front-runners" had large decreases in fundraising during the same time period. The campaign reported cash on hand of US$5.4 million, which is more than John McCain. The campaign spent US$2,824,785 of the US$8,240,610 that he received in the first three quarters. That is only 34 percent.

Fourth quarter 2007

Money bombs

See also: Moneybomb

In early October 2007, a website was set up to raise US$1 million per week independently for Ron Paul's campaign by having individuals pledge en masse the same amount (per donor) on the same day each week. News media began referring to this effort as a "money bomb". By mid-October, several other "money bomb" fund raising dates, all unaffiliated with the actual Ron Paul campaign, had caused fund raising spikes of hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

Donation rates for November 5. On average, over 1500 people donated per hour.

In late October, a grass-roots website called "This November 5th" was launched, requesting pledges for the Paul campaign on November 5, the anti-establishment Guy Fawkes Day. They collected over 18,000 e-mail addresses.

On November 5, the campaign raised over US$4.3 million. That amount is the largest amount collected on a single day by any Republican candidate. Paul also set the record for largest amount of on-line fund raising in a single day ever in U.S. history with the November 5 event, though this was broken by another event of his on December 16. Paul eclipsed his overall third-quarter fundraising total around 2:30 p.m. EST. Paul's December campaign contributions rose to over US$7.1 million and the Q4 campaign contributions rose to over US$17 million as a result of this push. The campaign website displays a novel real-time display of the dollars and the names of donors. Smaller fund raising money bombs continued throughout November and early December, putting Paul on course to be a top candidate, financially, for the quarter.

December 16 donation rates

The next money bomb intended to raise millions occurred on December 16, a date chosen largely for being the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. A week previous, pledges to donate were comparable to the November 5 money bomb; the drive raised nearly US$2 million more than the November 5 event, bringing in over US$6 million in the largest single day of fund raising, on-line or not, in U.S. presidential campaign history. During the last minutes of the drive, the server refused to accept contributions due to an overload of donations, as about 100 contributors per minute donated to the campaign; More than an additional US$100,000 were donated within the hour past midnight. Criticisms have been leveled at the mainstream media for their marginal coverage of Paul's fundraising, such as on Morning Joe on December 18, 2007, when Willie Geist stated: "You raised 6 million dollars on one day and there it is buried on page 50 of The Washington Post." When MSNBC's Tucker Carlson interviewed Ron Paul's campaign chairman Kent Snyder he remarked of the low profile of Ron Paul news, "That must drive you bananas."

As of December 31, Ron Paul raised US$19,765,974 in the fourth quarter, bringing him to roughly US$28 million total. His fourth quarter donations came from 130,000 donors, including over 100,000 new contributors. Ron Paul's fourth quarter total was greater than any other Republican candidate's totals from the third quarter. Among Republicans, Tim Russert has asserted that Ron Paul raised more money than any other Republican candidate in the fourth quarter. The Wall Street Journal reports that Mitt Romney may have raised more money with an estimated US$20.8 million. "Unlike other candidates, few of his donors are giving the maximum $2,300 check. About 90 percent of Paul's contributions come through online donations that average $100 per donor", said Jesse Benton, campaign spokesman. Compared to Democratic candidates, Paul's fourth quarter total is close to Hillary Clinton's, who raised approximately US$20 million. Paul raised more than John Edwards, who received between US$4 million and US$5 million in the last quarter.

Internet popularity

Paul has participated in several 2008 GOP debates, the majority of which he won according to the sponsors' own online or text-message phone polls. After the first debate, ABC News noted that Paul has a "robust online presence." TIME magazine labels Paul "the new 2.0 candidate" in reference to "his success recruiting supporters through new social media channels". The New York Times writes that his campaign has "snowballed on the Internet". According to KDPaine and Partners, Ron Paul's YouTube videos make up half of the top 10 of all candidate videos and he has the largest overall viewership of any candidate. Jack Cafferty has stated Ron Paul's followers "at any given moment can almost overpower the Internet."

Rankings

Beyond the blogosphere, Paul has shown strength across other top Internet sites. Alexa.com data shows Paul's campaign website receiving more traffic than Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, or Mitt Romney. Hitwise ranks Ron Paul as the most frequent candidate search. Kate Kaye of ClickZNews reports that Ron Paul has "rocketed from fifth place to first" in their Republican Candidates' Site Traffic Market Share and Rankings report.

Google employees represent the single top contributor to Ron Paul's campaign (unless Army and Navy contributions are combined), and he is by far their most popular Republican candidate.

Social networking

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Man looking at a Ron Paul pamphlet at Nashville War Memorial.

In addition to his search popularity, Ron Paul has become popular on a variety of social networking websites. Paul has over 100,000 "friends" on MySpace, and was the Republican winner of the MySpace Presidential Primary in January 2008, with 37% of the votes. He also has a presence on Facebook, with over 58,800 people in a campaign-related group as of December 30, 2007. He is currently getting 9 percent of the votes in Facebook's Elections 2008 presidential poll, placing him first among Republicans and second among all candidates, behind Barack Obama, but ahead of Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.

Paul claims the most YouTube views of all Republican candidates, over 6.8 million,. Paul's YouTube channel is among the Top 40 most subscribed of all time, achieving 40,000 subscribers in December 2007. The Weekly Standard on December 10, 2007, reported: "To give an idea of Paul's viral velocity, if you hit “Rudy Giuliani” or “Mitt Romney” into YouTube's search engine, you'll turn up about 3,700 hits apiece. Do the same with “Ron Paul”, and you'll be wading through 63,000 videos." The Ron Paul Girl is an internet video not originally generated from the campaign, but which has amounted to hundreds of thousands of viewings and is thought to have contributed materially to internet fundraising. Also, many World of Warcraft players have named themselves after Ron Paul and staged an in-game support march.

As of December 19, 2007 Ron Paul has the largest distributed grassroots organization on Meetup.com of all candidates, with over 82,000 members in 1,116 Meetup groups, that have collectively planned and held nearly 21,000 offline events to rally support (and raise money) for their candidate. In comparison, Barack Obama—who has the second largest Meetup organization among active candidates—has just over 4,000 members among 70 Meetup groups. David Watson who is the Topeka, Kansas, Meetup.com coordinator, has started a Web site for connecting people to the different Ron Paul discussions.

Summed up by James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times, "Paulites tend to be tech-savvy, tired of traditional politics and suspicious of their government and the mainstream media. But after that, they defy categories...[consisting of] Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and Constitution Party followers uniting behind some or all of the Paul libertarian agenda -- ending the war in Iraq, abolishing gun control laws, legalizing marijuana and dismantling big hunks of the U.S. government, especially the IRS and Federal Reserve system."

Jack Cafferty has observed that Ron Paul's grassroots network is one "politicians dream about" and that no other candidate running has a base as dedicated or as vocal as Paul's. Ron Paul has also earned the attention of many sympathizers outside of the United States.

Grassroots campaign efforts

Ron Paul Revolution

Ron Paul Revolution design

Paul's candidacy draws a significant degree of support from grass roots movements, and supporters have worked independently of the official campaign or the GOP to raise Paul's public profile as well as record breaking campaign donations. A number of media have described these efforts as the "Ron Paul Revolution," an allusion to the American Revolution that frequently appears on placards and t-shirts at rallies and serves as a slogan that the official campaign has adopted. Supporters coined the words "love" in the revolution with "peace" and "hope."

Ron Paul Blimp

The Ron Paul Blimp is an aerial billboard emblazoned on one side with "Who is Ron Paul? Google Ron Paul" and "Ron Paul Revolution" on the other. The Ron Paul Blimp is set to fly from North Carolina, over Washington, New York and Boston, before heading to New Hampshire. Like the unprecedented online fundraising behind Paul’s bid, the blimp effort isn’t affiliated with the official campaign and pushes traditional political conventions. Paul supporters have donated over US$200,000 to give the blimp its financial backing.

There also exists a "micro-blimp" emblazoned with the same logos as the full sized blimp. The micro-blimp flies over the San Diego area. The micro-blimp was created by Elizabeth Blane, who bought the 20-foot blimp after hearing about the main dirigible.

Boston Tea Party re-enactment

On December 16, 2007, Ron Paul supporters re-enacted the dumping of tea into Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party by tossing banners that read "Tyranny" and "No Taxation Without Representation" into boxes that were in the harbor. Other supporters also planned to re-enact the event by dumping tea from the Ron Paul Blimp into the Boston harbor, although the blimp ended up being grounded that day.

Many other Ron Paul supporters also gathered in several other cities as part of the Tea Party re-enactment, including: Strasbourg, France; Santa Monica, California; Maui, Hawaii; and Freeport and Austin, Texas. The largest gathering outside Boston was in Austin, where many Paul enthusiasts wore period costumes and played flutes and snare drums. The Austin Police Department estimates 2000 to 3000 attendees. In California at the Santa Monica Pier, symbols of government excess were dumped into the bay -- then immediately hauled out to prevent any pollution.

Ron Paul himself tossed a barrel labeled "Iraq War" overboard at the Tea Party Re-enactment in Freeport, Texas.

Other efforts

Planned for these supporters are a "Rock for Ron Paul" concert January 17 in Hollywood and a "Hotties for Ron Paul" 2008 wall calendar. Various other "bombing" events are scheduled as well, all by grassroots organization and leadership. Some of these include a New Year's eve moneybomb on December 31, a New Year's moneybomb on January 1, a nationwide signbomb overnight on January 8, and a "Paul-a-Palooza" Ron Paul march in Las Vegas January 12-13. In addition, one 45-year-old artist and adventurer is bicycling from Santa Monica to the Jefferson Memorial in Washington to raise awareness about Paul. Even a Nevada brothel owner recently promised to take up a collection from his customers to back Paul's bid.

Paul supporters have created a number of songs in support of Ron Paul. Steve Dore, for example, produced a CD called "Early Songs of the Great Ron Paul Revolution," the profits from which were donated to Paul's campaign.

Criticism

In November, a Nevada brothel owner gave Paul his stamp of approval and raised money for the Texas congressman. Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite BunnyRanch near Carson City, wanted to leave collection boxes outside the door so people could drop in their political contributions. A spokesman for Paul says the congressman doesn't condone prostitution on a personal level. But, he says, "it's not the role of federal government and it's not in the constitution for federal government to regulate these things."

In December 2007, the Associated Press reported that Paul kept a US$500 donation from Don Black, operator of Stormfront, a white nationalist organization website. Paul's staff responded "Dr. Paul stands for freedom, peace, prosperity, and inalienable rights. If someone with small ideologies happens to contribute money to Ron, thinking he can influence Ron in any way, he's wasted his money, ... Ron is going to take the money and try to spread the message of freedom."

Paul was also criticized on Meet the Press by Tim Russert for asking that US$400 million in previously earmarked funds be directed back to his district for water projects, a nursing program, to expand a hospital cancer center and US$10 million to promote Texas shrimp. On Meet the Press, Paul defended his bid for the earmarked funds saying he never voted for an earmark in his life. Tim Russert said Paul's statement was like saying, "you voted for it before you voted against it." Congressman Paul responded,"I put them in because I represent people who are asking for some of their money back, ... I'm against the tax system, but I take all my tax credits. I want to get their money back for the people."

At the start of the Ron Paul Meetup group, co-host Don Mooney questioned, "How many of you wear tinfoil hats and dance the macarena?" Columnist Mona Charen recently said that Paul has "conspiracy-minded fans." "His supporters are the equivalent of crabgrass," says G.O.P. consultant Frank Luntz. "It's not the grass you want, and it spreads faster than the real stuff." When questioned about his view of conspiracies, however, Paul has responded by stating that he does not believe in "sinister government conspiracies", but rather the failure of bureaucracy.

The New Republic article regarding controversial newsletters

On January 8, the day of the New Hampshire primary, James Kirchick of The New Republic published a story detailing the contents of decades of Paul's past newsletters to constituents. Kirchick said that the writings showed "an obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry". A 1990 issue of the Ron Paul Political Report stated that "Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities". After the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the newsletter referred to African-American rioters as "barbarians" and suggested that the riots only stopped when it came time for "blacks to pick up their welfare checks". Other issues gave tactical advice to right-wing militia groups and advanced various conspiracy theories. The newsletters were published under Paul's name and were often written in the first person; at least once they closed with a personal note from Paul, and mirrored some views expressed by Paul and by organizations he supports, such as the Ludwig Van Mises Institute.

Paul disavowed the newsletters in a response to the New Republic article, saying that the quotations do not represent his beliefs, and that "I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts." He did not indicate whether he knew who wrote the articles, but noted that he accepts "moral responsibility" for not paying closer attention to writings published under his name.

On the same day, David Frum, former Bush speechwriter and senior adviser of the Rudolph Giuliani campaign, appeared on The Daily Show and, responding to a question about Paul's standing in the GOP, said "Ron Paul is one of these people who -- in a time of trouble, people turn often to some pretty terrible answers. And he is absolutely an example of that." He added, "He's one of those people who, the more you learn about him, the more disturbing a personality he becomes."

2008 GOP Presidential Debates

Main article: Republican Presidential Debates, 2008

May 3, 2007: California

Ron Paul participated in a presidential debate at the Reagan Presidential Library at Nancy Reagan's invitation. Paul appeared on Tucker Carlson's show hours before the debate. Nine other Republican candidates debated along with Paul. MSNBC moderated and televised the 90-minute debate, which was also simulcast by Politico.com to give viewers the opportunity to submit questions online. MSNBC's online votes showed Ron Paul standing out from the other candidates. As of May 4, 2007, Ron Paul was ranked first for "Best one liner," "Who stood out from the pack", "Most convincing debater", and "Who showed the most leadership qualities?" In all four, he had at least 29 percent of the total vote and was winning the "rating and comparing candidates" question. Since these were votes limited to self-selected online viewers of the debate, they may not reflect the views of the entire debate audience. The media faced criticism for largely ignoring Ron Paul's performance.

May 15, 2007: South Carolina

On Tuesday, May 15, Paul debated again—in the 2007 First-in-the-South Republican Party Presidential Candidates Debate, televised live by FOX News Channel from the University of South Carolina’s Koger Center for the Arts in Columbia, South Carolina. Fox News Channel Washington Managing Editor Brit Hume moderated the debate and FOX News Sunday Anchor Chris Wallace and White House Correspondent Wendell Goler asked questions of the candidates. In a phone text message based vote among viewers after the debate, Paul finished second with 25% considering him the winner of the debate.

He won the voting on vote.com and MSNBC.com. He appeared on Your World Cavuto before the debate and Hannity & Colmes after the debate.

During the debate, Congressman Paul commented that America's history of interventionism in the Middle East has led to an unpopular view of the U.S. in Middle Eastern countries. Agreeing with what has previously been asserted by the 9/11 Commission Report and the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) specialists on al Qaeda, Paul stated that the CIA removal of an elected Iranian leader (the 1953 removal of the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammed Mosaddeq in Operation Ajax) and the bombing of Iraq in the 1990s, culminating in the ongoing Iraq war, has led to increasing anti-American sentiment in the Middle East. He went on, stating that these events have also led to terrorists developing such a hatred for America that they're willing to die in suicide attacks and are able to recruit others for their cause.

When asked whether he thought the logic of a non-interventionist policy had changed after the September 11th attacks, the following exchange between Paul and fellow candidate Rudy Giuliani occurred:

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Paul and Giuliani

PAUL: No, non-intervention was a major contributing factor. Have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for ten years. We've been in the Middle East [for years]. I think [Ronald] Reagan was right. We don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting. We need to look at what we do, from the point of view of what it would be like if someone did it to us.

MODERATOR: Are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 Attacks, sir?

PAUL: I'm suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it, and they are delighted that we're over there because Osama bin Laden has said, "I'm glad you're over on our sand because we can target you so much easier." They've already now since that time have killed 3,400 of our men, and I don't think it was necessary.

GIULIANI: That's really an extraordinary statement. That's an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of September 11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I've heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th. And I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us that he didn't really mean that.

MODERATOR: Congressman?

PAUL: I believe very sincerely that the CIA is correct when they teach and talk about blowback. When we went into Iran in 1953 and installed the Shah, yes there was blowback. The reaction to that was the taking of our hostages, and that persists. And if we ignore that, we ignore that at our own risk. If we think we can do what we want around the world and not incite hatred, then we have a problem. They don't come here to attack us because we're rich and we're free, they come and attack us because we're over there. I mean what would we think if other foreign countries were doing that to us?

While the confrontation was given some media attention, it was largely cast as a win for Giuliani, and Paul's remarks drew strong criticism from some pundits from the political right, particularly FOX News commentator Sean Hannity and GOP spokesman Michael Steele.

Former head of the CIA's bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer, said of Paul's statements: "Last week, Representative Paul did all Americans an immense service by simply pointing out the obvious: Our Islamist enemies do not give a damn about the way we vote, think, or live.... We are indeed hated and being warred against because we are 'over there,' and not for what we are and how we live. Our failure to recognize the truth spoken by Mr. Paul – and spelled out for us in hundreds of pages of statements by Osama bin Laden since 1996 – is leading America toward military and economic disaster.... And no matter how you view Mr. Paul’s words, you can safely take one thing to the bank. The person most shaken by Mr. Paul’s frankness was Osama bin Laden, who knows that the current status quo in U.S. foreign policy toward the Islamic world is al-Qaeda’s one indispensable ally, and the only glue that provides cohesion between and among the diverse and often fractious Islamist groups that follow its banner."

In a press release following the debate, Paul's campaign chairman Kent Snyder said in response to Giuliani, "It is clear from his interruption that former Mayor Giuliani has not read the 9-11 Commission Report and has no clue on how to keep America safe" and on May 16, 2007, during an appearance on The Situation Room with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Paul asked for an apology from Giuliani and suggested that Giuliani should read the 9/11 Commission's Report.

Andrew Sullivan, early supporter of the Iraq War was led by Rep. Paul's remarks to conclude that:

The question serious supporters of a real war on terror must now ask is: will continuing the fight in Iraq help reverse this trend or cement it for decades to come? Is the war making us less secure and the world much less safe? Would withdrawal or continued engagement makes things better? At the very least, it seems to me, this question should be on the table in the Iraq debate. And yet the Republicans - with the exception of Ron Paul - don't even want to talk about it. Until they do, they are not a party serious about national security.

In the debate, only Paul and McCain did not endorse torture. Paul labeled the phrase enhanced interrogation techniques used in the debate to be Orwellian newspeak for torture. He has earlier stated that "the American people and government should never abide the use of torture by our military or intelligence agencies".

Since the debate, Ron Paul and his position have also been defended by Lew Rockwell, Pat Buchanan, Accuracy in Media, the John Birch Society and other conservative and libertarian commentators.

Accuracy in Media, a conservative media watchdog, has raised questions about a conflict of interest in Fox News' co-sponsorship of the May 15 Republican debate, pointing out that News Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, is a client of Giuliani.

June 5, 2007: New Hampshire

Ron Paul supporters outnumber supporters of other candidates at a pre-debate rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on June 5, 2007.

Ron Paul participated in this Republican debate in New Hampshire hosted by CNN. Responding to what the most pressing moral issue in America is, Paul answered that it is America's rejection of a Just War policy in favor of a preemptive military policy:

We in the past have always declared war in the defense of our liberties or go to aid of somebody,” he said. “But now we have accepted the principle of preemptive war–we have rejected the Just War theory of Christianity. "We have to come to our senses about this issue of war and preemption and go back to traditions and our Constitution and defend our liberties and defend our rights."

CNN gave Paul fewer than six minutes out of the two hours, giving candidates Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Rudy Giuliani over ten minutes each. In the CNN post-debate online vote, Paul received the highest marks in all categories except "snappiest dresser" and "Who had the most disappointing performance at the debate?"

August 5, 2007: Iowa

Congressman Paul participated in ABC News's Republican presidential debate at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Time Magazine's Mark Halperin evaluated Paul's performance "crowd-pleasing," and added, "if the Republicans nominated a candidate based on who most moved the applause meter, Paul would be giving his acceptance speech next summer."

According to an on-line poll at ABCNews.com, Ron Paul won the debate with 63 percent of votes. Paul's vote total was nearly eight times as many as the second-place Mitt Romney.

September 5, 2007: Durham, New Hampshire

Supporters outside of the Fox News debate on September 5, 2007.

Paul appeared in a live Republican debate hosted by Fox News at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire.

Congressman Paul heatedly argued with candidate Mike Huckabee over the war in Iraq, which exchange many news reports cited as the highlight of the debate. Directly challenged by Huckabee, Paul retorted that the war had contributed to the Republican Party's poor performance in the 2006 elections. Paul won Fox News' "public text-messaging" poll: more than 33 percent. Huckabee, Giuliani, and McCain got 18 percent, 15 percent, and 14 percent respectively. In response, Sean Hannity commented "Ron Paul is having all those 3 percent of people call in, I'm sure.".

September 17, 2007: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Ron Paul was in the first-ever Values Voters' Presidential Debate, this one for the GOP candidates, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was broadcast live on Sky Angel Television, the American Family Association Web site, and many Christian radio stations, including the VCY America network. Six other Republicans attended–John Cox, Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, and Tom Tancredo. The official site for the debate says that, in an immediate straw poll of 340 delegates, Huckabee won with 63 percent, Paul in second at 13 percent, and Keyes third at 7 percent.

A similar event was planned for the Democratic candidates on September 24, but none would confirm their participation. For a different debate which was previously announced for this date, see November 28, 2007, below.)

September 27, 2007: Baltimore, Maryland

Paul participated in a debate hosted by PBS television at Morgan State University with a panel exclusively of journalists of color. The organizers put empty podiums on the stage in the names of the absent candidates. Answering questions were Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, Alan Keyes, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, and Tom Tancredo. The first few questions concerned how some perceive the Republican Party to be racist. It was live on PBS and on www.pbs.org, which also made them available later via downloadable Podcast.

October 9, 2007: Dearborn, Michigan

Paul participated in a debate sponsored by CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The debate aired on MSNBC at 9 pm ET. Paul's theme for the evening seemed to be the long-term instability of the economy, as he fielded several questions relating to economic issues, warning that "as long as we live beyond our means, we are destined to live beneath our means". He also further expounded on the fundamentals of monetary theory, which he had mentioned in a previous debate.

October 16, 2007

The Republican Jewish Coalition candidates' forum on October 16, 2007, did not invite Ron Paul due to "time only for leading candidates" and his "record of consistently voting against assistance to Israel and his criticisms of the pro-Israel lobby", according to sources close to the RJC.

October 21, 2007

Ron Paul appeared in this 90-minute debate sponsored by FOX News.

A poll showed Ron Paul winning the informal “cell phone” poll.

Paul was the only candidate to be jeered during the debate: both times he advocated a non-interventionist foreign policy. Alan Colmes, in the post-debate analysis, stated that Paul drew the most spirited reaction of any candidate, both positive and negative.

Ron Paul hit on his theme of military non-interventionism, “70 percent of Americans want war over with and are sick and tired of big government at home and overseas.” They want their “civil liberties and not allow government to spend endlessly and bankrupt us.” Paul was also given questions related to his experience with Medicaid and made the distinction between his opposition to the Iraq War and that of Hillary Clinton, stating that Hillary does not support policies that would end the war.

November 28, 2007: Florida

Paul and McCain had been the only candidates who agreed to the Republican CNN-Youtube Presidential Debate originally scheduled for September 17, 2007. When it appeared that McCain might withdraw, UPI said, "The GOP version of the YouTube debate ... could end up with U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, debating himself." The event was re-scheduled. More candidates accepted. Eight participated: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson.

Before the debate, Paul's campaign rented the Palladium, a 1,000-seat arena near the debate venue, for his supporters.

Sixty to seventy questions were chosen for the debate, with Anderson Cooper–the moderator–determining which candidates would respond to each question. Paul spoke 9 times, for a total of 7:43 minutes. Ron Paul's first question wasn't until after the first half hour.

According to the on-line CNN scorecard, 51 percent of online CNN Voters selected Ron Paul as the debate's winner. But though he won the online vote in every major category except "Most Disappointing Performance," two of CNN's three analysts disagreed, naming Paul specifically as having had a "disappointing performance," while the third argued that "Paul came off very direct and clear" and was one of two candidates that "stood out the most".

John McCain and Ron Paul had a notable exchange over the Iraq War and the Vietnam War. McCain stated that troops wanted the US government to "let them win." Ron Paul replied, "The real question you have to ask is why do I get the most money from active duty officers and military personnel?" McCain also called Paul an isolationist, saying, "We allowed Hitler to come to power with that kind of isolationism." Paul replied that McCain was confusing isolationism with non-intervention, "I want to trade with people, talk with people, travel, but I don't want to send troops overseas using force to tell them how to live." Keith Olbermann and others noted that McCain's critiques of Paul's anti-war stance drew loud booing from the audience.

December 4, 2007: Iowa

This debate was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. It was to be sponsored by the Fox News Channel and the Republican Party of Iowa, hosted by the University of Iowa, and televised live on the Fox News Channel.

One of the requirements for participation was to poll 5 percent nationally, which barred Ron Paul. Since that announcement, party officials in Iowa received numerous angry calls demanding that Ron Paul be allowed in. CNN then showed Paul polling 8 percent.

December 9, 2007: Miami, Florida

This debate was sponsored and televised on the Spanish-speaking television network Univision, and was hosted by the University of Miami in Miami, Florida. The original invitation for September 16 was accepted only by John McCain and Duncan Hunter, after which Univision re-scheduled it. Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson debated..

December 12, 2007: Iowa

Sponsored by The Des Moines Register newspaper and Iowa Public Television, the debate among nine Republican candidates was broadcast live on the state-wide television network and re-broadcast later. It was available to all PBS stations, and was the last debate before the Iowa caucuses, January 3, 2008.

Scheduled to debate were Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson.

When asked to offer a resolution for other candidates, Ron Paul stated:

"My advice would be to re-read the oath of office, take it seriously, obey the Constitution. We can — we are well defended against all enemies foreign. We should be much more careful about defending against the enemies domestic."

January 5, 2008: Manchester, New Hampshire

ABC, WMUR-TV, and Facebook hosted back-to-back Republican and Democratic debates from Saint Anselm College on Saturday evening, 7 pm EST, two days after the official first-in-the-nation caucus. Charles Gibson moderated. Candidates were allowed to participate if they met one of three criteria, "place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys." Ron Paul participated in the debate.

January 6, 2008: Milford, New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Republican Party and Fox News held a forum on January 6, 2007. Fox News excluded Ron Paul from the debate, sparking numerous protest letters from Paul supporters. Fox News has not told the campaign the reason Paul wasn't invited, though the chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Committee has said he doesn't know if Paul will be invited later. It's currently unknown if Fox News decided not to invite Paul or if it was a decision made by the chairman. Fergus Cullen, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, issued a press release wherein he disagreed with decision of Fox News. On January 5, 2008, following Fox News continued refusal to allow Paul and Duncan Hunter into the forum, the New Hampshire Republican Party withdrew their sponsorship of the event.

Ron Paul held his own town hall event where voters were allowed to ask him questions directly. The event was broadcast live on local New Hampshire television and streamed online. Jay Leno invited Paul as a Tonight Show guest on January 7 specifically because he thought Paul's exclusion was "unfair." To see Paul on Leno's show, the first part is here and the second part is here.

January 10, 2008: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Fox News is hosting a debate at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Ron Paul has been invited to participate despite his exclusion from an earlier Fox News debate.

January 30, 2008: Los Angeles, California

The Los Angeles Times and CNN are hosting a Republican debate in Simi Valley, California.

Endorsements

Ron Paul has the official endorsement and support of a number of people in the 2008 nomination race, including academics, actors, politicians, and political organizations and pundits.

See also

• Political positions of Ron Paul
• Fundraising for the 2008 presidential election
• Republican Liberty Caucus
• Opinion polling for the Republican Party (United States) 2008 presidential candidates

External links

• Presidential Campaign Website
• Ron Paul Library, more than 900 articles and speeches by Ron Paul
• May 2007 Republican Debate Transcript, New York Times
• Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign at Curlie
• Ron Paul Wiki
• Ron Paul Ranking in Spartan Internet Political Performance Index
• USA Straw Polls