Ron Paul Raises Almost $6 Million in One Day
Congressman Ron Paul’s supporters have been saying for several weeks now that they were planning another “moneybomb” for December 16th, hoping to rival their impressive $3.7 million total from November 5th. Well, it looks like they’ve been successful, because as of this writing, Ron Paul’s has raised about $5.7 million since midnight. Additionally, according to the Ron Paul campaign website, close to $18 million has been raised in this quarter alone–with two weeks to go, well surpassing their goal of raising $12 million this quarter.
Frankly, I don’t think anyone can dispute that this type of enthusiasm is anything but impressive. Especially when you consider that Mike Huckabee, according to his website, has only raised about $1.2 million so far in the month of December alone, despite a fairly sympathetic media and a huge push in the polls. It will be interesting to see how well this influx of fundraising can assist Paul in the early primaries. Frankly, I’d be surprised if he placed higher than third or fourth in any caucus or primary. On the other hand, I also thought that the campaign’s 4Q fundraising goal of $12 million was more ambitious than they could hope for, so I might well be proved wrong.
Hello,
More than 6 million, offline donations of 400k have yet to be included. 🙂
we broke 4mil on nov 5th, and we broke 6mil yesterday =]
good article tho
‘Outside the Beltway’, thank you for commenting. The next meeting, as a rule, is in Philly. Listen in Lexington and Concord. We honor our ancestors and follow their road. We take our children, students and books and teach history , literature and art. Peace on Earth , Goodwill to men. Happy holidays, thank you again from the pre 1776 families and friends(AKA Ron Paul Revolution).
6M in one day…
Good for him. I wonder though if everything is on the up and up? The candidates with a real shot at winning, regardless of party, don’t raise this kind of money. Something just doesn’t seem right but until someone proves these funds to be ill gotten, congratulations to Ron Paul.
Where’s the money coming from? A ton of small donations. I donated my $100, got my parents to donate, and I’m bringing voter registration forms for my independent and liberal friends. I’ve always been registered Republican but this primary I will be bringing 3 independents and a life-long Democrat with me to the polls.
As a libertarian Republican, its been hard for me to get my message across – until 7 years of Bush reminded everyone loud and clear what is wrong with big government. Suddenly, even those on the left of me realize that more federal power & spending isn’t going to make this country more free or make our economic markets more open to small business & globally competitive.
In the last few weeks, only Paul and Huckabee have been going up in the early primary polls. I really doubt that Romney or Giuliani or Thompson or McCain are going to find a sudden surge of new support and I think Huckabee’s record will bring him back down to reality. The other thing we have to factor into primary predictions is the number of unpledged delegates supporting Ron Paul.
I think its going to be the most interesting Republican convention in a loooong time.
I have nothing but enthusiasm for R. Paul and M. Huckabee. I believe it shows massive canyons forming in a coalition that has dominated American politics for 35 years. As a Liberal (with a big “L”), I think that an “interesting Republican convention” is literally music to my ears, given the usual “Delivered from God” kind of decision making that the party usually displays.
As a liberal (with a small, “l”, in this case), I’m also fascinated that the precise issues which are propelling these candidates to their prominence resonate at least somewhat with me. I think Paul is in general a loon, but his stance on the war is correct and that’s what’s behind his support. Likewise with Huckabee. I think the guy can’t be bothered to figure out foreign policy but the fact that even moderately breaking with the fiscal policy in which benefits flow overwhelmingly to the rich can only be good news. The fact that the establishment conservatives hate him for even suggesting such is wonderful to behold.
Finally, regardless of how this works out, the result will be a Republican party shattered. The divisions are finally breaking through the painted face and even if the people who actually rule the Republican party are able to beat them down, the divisions are exposed and won’t be going away.
Looming in the backdrop of Paul’s support is the latest chapter in the continuing saga of the GOP’s sellout of its supposed small government, fiscal responsibility principles. Between the White House and the 49 members in the Senate, the GOP could assure a more reasonable budget, but instead McConnell, Cochran, Stevens and too many of the rest just want their pork.
Paul himself reminds me just a little too much of a Canadian $1 coin (which isn’t gold either), but it would be interesting to know what the three biggest issues are for his avid supporters, if one could poll them. Budget? Patriot Act? Gold standard? Trade? Foreign policy? People who think Iraq is the country’s #1 problem could just vote for a Democrat. The libertarian appeal would seem to kick in more for someone who thinks Iraq isn’t the problem so much as it is a symptom of a bigger problem of a federal government with way too many hands in way too many cookie jars.
Not if they want out of Iraq as quickly as possible. Neither Clinton nor Obama have committed to withdrawing our troops after taking office. Their stances are much more nuanced than Paul’s.
I’m a Paul supporter so here is my answer:
Iraq is contained in #3. #1 and #3 allow us to do #2 without increasing the deficit. #1 includes the Patriot Act and other chinks in our Constitutional liberties. Sound money would be nice, but to be honest, I think #1 and #3 would go a long way towards reducing inflation.
Individuals, making an average donation of ~$100 (on the 16th). Almost 60,000 individuals donated that day, with ~25,000 of those being first-time donors to the campaign.
I think Ron Paul stands a decent chance at a 2nd place finish in New Hampshire or Iowa, for a couple reasons. Polling is decent at measuring breadth of support, but generally overlooks depth. And by depth, I mean, how strong the support is among supporters. For instance, roughly half of Huckabee’s supporters are uncertain he’s the candidate for him. I seriously doubt the same is true for Paul. Donation size and number of donors indicate that Paul’s support is deep among his supporters. You better believe that we’re going to be there for the primaries. Also, I think caucuses favor candidates with deep support even more. It’s really cold in Iowa in January, and caucusing requires a bigger time commitment than voting. This gives Paul an edge against candidates who have broad-but-shallow support. Another issue is that many polls only look at “likely Republican voters,” which ignores a lot of independents and Democrats who may be crossing the isle to vote for Paul. I was registered as a Libertarian until now, and Independent before that. I’m “off the radar.” Yet another issue is the disproportionate strength of his support among young people and how that might slightly affect the ability to poll for Paul’s support. For instance, I haven’t had a “land line” since 2001. I’ll never be included in a poll because of that.
Add all those things together, and I think that there is a definite chance that Paul will surprise everyone. He also has more than enough money to stay in the campaign until the big flood of February primaries. Obviously I have cause to be optimistic, but I don’t think that you should ignore a $4 million dollar day and a $6 million dollar day. Paul may end up having more Q4 donations (and donors) than any other Republican candidate. You can’t help looking at his relatively low polling numbers and think that they’re missing something.