FW: Ron Paul's campaign buzz resonates on Internet

["Jeannette Howard" <jeannette@pacbell.net>]

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-Jeannette H.

 


Subject: Ron Paul's campaign buzz resonates on Internet

 

Ron Paul's campaign buzz resonates on Internet
 <http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5083907.html>
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5083907.html

By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau 

CENTER STRAFFORD, N.H. - In a New Hampshire meadow on a recent weekend, Ron
Paul is without a doubt the main draw at a Republican presidential straw
poll that attracts several long shot candidates.

Paying little heed to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Rep. Tom
Tancredo, the immigration-control firebrand from Colorado, a crowd circles
the Texan to quiz him on everything from foreign policy to the Federal
Reserve's intervention in the jittery financial markets.

In quiet, deliberative fashion, Paul answers all questions, sketching a
deeply minimalist philosophy. "I want to be president mainly for what I
don't want to do: I don't want to run your life, I don't want to run the
economy and I don't want to police the world," he tells a man who asks about
his dislike of the Federal Reserve.

Ranging from anti-war liberals to staunch conservatives, with a large dose
of libertarians, Paul's followers reflect a campaign that is drawing support
across the political spectrum - an uncommon feat in an era of wedge
politics, micro-targeting and playing to the base.

Paul, a resolutely libertarian-leaning 10-term congressman from Lake Jackson
known chiefly for his anti-war stance and reverence for the Constitution,
offers a simple explanation for his cross-party appeal. "There is only one
thing - the Constitution and freedom - that brings people together," he
said. "It's not divisive."

But interviews with Paul supporters of all political stripes suggest less
sunny reasons: alienation from both parties and a pervasive sense that the
country, as they know it, is slipping through their fingers.

For some, it's a bellicose foreign policy that culminated in the Iraq war.
Others cite economic unease, globalization and a sea of national debt. Some
fret about civil liberties lost in the post-9/11 era. Yet others argue that
U.S. sovereignty is threatened by porous borders.


Effect on voters


Linda Lagana, a Merrimack print shop owner, headed to a GOP debate in nearby
Manchester last June "feeling angry and hopeless about the state of our
country." But after hearing the 72-year-old Texan speak, "I felt for the
first time hope," the longtime Republican said. 

Though Paul's message focuses chiefly on liberty and the Constitution, the
obstetrician has a hard-to-pigeonhole record as a pro-gun, anti-war abortion
opponent who'd abolish the income tax, dismantle the Homeland Security and
Education departments, quit the United Nations, end the war on drugs,
militarize the border and return to the gold standard.

"I wouldn't say I support every one of his things strongly," said Jim
Crawford, a Virginia public relations executive and one-time Democrat who
attended the Strafford picnic. But Crawford said Paul's small-government,
less-taxation message trumps his differences with the candidate.

With Paul's supporters rallying for many reasons and from diverse political
viewpoints, it's a challenge keeping them in line, said Rich LaPlante, a
Merrimack software engineer who launched a Ron Paul MeetUp group that has 75
members.

"It isn't always 100 percent smooth sailing," said LaPlante, who left the
GOP over the war. "What we all agree on is getting Ron Paul elected is the
most direct and most promising way to promote all of our interests."


Internet presence


Though Paul polls 2 to 3 percent nationally - far from the double digits
recorded by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and U.S. Sen. John
McCain of Arizona - he has singular success on the Internet. 

Paul easily laps the GOP field in numbers of people who watch his YouTube
videos, "friend" him on MySpace, or mobilize volunteers through groups on
Meetup.com.

"We are way beyond anything I ever dreamed about, first on the Internet and
then translating that into fundraising and translating that into
volunteers," Paul said before taking part in a parade.

The Internet has been a campaign cash-generating tool, accounting for 80
percent of the $3 million Paul raised by midyear - a boon because direct
mail solicitations can eat 60 cents of every dollar raised.

Fueled by his Web fundraising success, Paul has increased his staff to 33
from the 7 or 8 he had just weeks ago. The campaign is beefing up operations
in early primary states and places such as Texas, where it hopes for a
respectable result at a Sept. 1 straw poll.

On the volunteer side, Paul's nearly 36,500 MeetUp members plan their own
events (more than 3,500 to date), create their own literature and operate
largely independently of the campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va.

"It's pretty clear that Ron Paul is the Howard Dean of the 2008 presidential
election, in that his campaign is being driven to a large degree by an
online community," said Andrew Rasiej, co-founder of TechPresident.com,
which tracks candidates' Web support. "Campaigns are terrified to a large
degree of this technology and have a very hard time dealing with free agents
doing stuff on their behalf, so Ron Paul is smart enough to say, 'I don't
get this, but I ain't going to stop it.' "


Quick mobilization


Though the decentralized grass roots has been a powerful engine, campaign
spokesman Jesse Benton acknowledged it comes at a price. "It can mean things
are not messaged exactly the way we like," he said. 

The campaign, for example, initially resisted as too hippie-ish a
volunteer-created "Ron Paul Revolution" T-shirt that highlighted the word
"love" spelled backwards in "revolution" - but bowed to its popularity with
supporters.

Paul's fans can mobilize on a dime, as some have learned at their peril.
After the Michigan GOP chairman threatened to try to bar Paul from further
debates, incensed by the candidate's view that 9/11 was a result of U.S.
foreign policy, Paul forces barraged him with e-mail and calls until he
relented.

At the recent Strafford straw poll, Paul won 208 of the 288 votes cast.
Romney was second with 26 votes.

But Paul and his advisers admit they have yet to prove whether the
enthusiasm will bear fruit when it counts. "We have to find out whether all
that excitement translates into real votes," Paul said.

Success aside, some suggest it's time for Paul and other second-tier
candidates to exit.

"You could give Ron Paul and [Democratic long shot] Mike Gravel an hour of
free TV time from now until Christmas and they still wouldn't have a
snowball's chance in hell of being nominated by their respective parties,"
nonpartisan political analyst Stuart Rothenberg opined recently.

Paul's advocates offer several explanations for the gap between Web support
and the polls. Among them: Many Paul supporters won't be picked up on
standard polling because of their youth or lack of participation in previous
GOP contests.


'Media blackout'


Another recurring theme - although not echoed by the campaign - dominates on
the blogosphere: Ron Paul is the victim of a deliberate media effort to
minimize his success. 

"We are fighting this terrible battle of media blackout," Lagana said. And
when Paul gets coverage, she added, "There is always this underlying
message, 'He can't win.' "

Marching in the Londonderry parade, Liz Comeau is convinced that Paul can
win - if his message gets out.

"I believe that the grass roots movement can be more powerful than money,"
said Comeau, a Dover property manager. "And that's what we're developing
here. It's a spontaneous grass roots movement."

  _____  


RON PAUL IN HIS OWN WORDS 


 

. On his belief that the Constitution no longer is at the center of the
government: "Ninety-nine percent of everything in the Constitution is to
restrict the federal government - it's not to restrain the people. And yet
today the people are being restrained and the government isn't restrained.
And the people no longer have their privacy and the government has all the
secrecy" 

. On his belief that the war in Iraq is unconstitutional because Congress
didn't provide a declaration of war: "If you give up one part of the
Constitution, you give up the whole thing because it becomes arbitrary for
the executive branch and the judicial branch and the legislative branch. And
that's where we are - we are an arbitrary government today. The government
does what they please with no restraint" 

. On his campaign drawing supporters from across the political spectrum:
"There is only one thing - the Constitution and freedom - that brings people
together. And it's not divisive. We are not confrontational and we're very
tolerant of other people's views. That's why individuals can come no matter
what views they have" 

. On the Federal Reserve injecting more than $100 billion of extra liquidity
into the banking system to stabilize a stock market rattled by the U.S.
subprime mortgage implosion: "Who is going to pay for that? The taxpayer
will pay for that. The people in the financial markets that took all these
risks, they are getting bailed out. I think the average guy knows a lot more
about that than anybody gives them credit for" 

. On his campaign: "In many ways what we are doing is sort of a stealth
campaign. Maybe ignoring us for a while isn't all that bad, as long as we do
the work and show up with the votes" 

 <http://www.ronpaul.org/>