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Paul Draws Disillusioned Republicans to Presidential Campaign
By Catherine Dodge
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Representative Ron Paul's presidential campaign has qualities that Republicans might admire: a charged-up base and the ability to tap the Internet for cash. Instead, the Texan is a pariah in the party.
Paul is the only Republican contender to call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq; he wants to scrap the income tax and sees no role for government in education or health care. That message has attracted a small but fervent group of supporters, who gave $5.2 million in the last quarter -- just shy of the $5.7 million raised by one-time frontrunner John McCain, the Arizona senator.
Paul's few campaign appearances draw enthusiastic crowds. In Iowa recently for his first trip there in 11 weeks, Paul, a retired obstetrician, was greeted with a standing ovation from about 600 mostly student supporters at Iowa State University in Ames.
``They say there's a revolution going on, and it looks like it's run by the young people,'' Paul, 72, told the crowd.
While Paul shares with other Republicans a disdain for taxes and regulation, he regularly splits with them in Congress, giving him little chance of winning next year's nomination, much less the presidency.
Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who isn't affiliated with any campaign, said if Paul starts to spend his money he may garner 10 percent in the New Hampshire primary -- even more if he exceeds expectations in the Iowa caucuses that precede New Hampshire. ``You have independents who can cross over to make the protest vote against the war'' in New Hampshire, he said.
Voting No
Paul voted against the Iraq war and the Patriot Act, which gave law enforcement greater latitude to investigate terrorism. He wants to abolish the Federal Reserve and link the dollar to gold. His aversion to government spending is such that he has refused his congressional pension.
His message to the Iowa State crowd was simple. ``My campaign is this: I don't want to run your lives,'' Paul told his supporters, many wearing Ron Paul Revolution t-shirts. ``I don't intend to run the economy.''
He continued, ``I don't want to run the world.''
Such rhetoric resonates with the 20 percent or so of Americans ``who think the federal government is controlling too much of our lives,'' said Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington.
The appeal is cross-generational. ``He really wants to liberate the country and the American people and free us from the control the government has,'' said Colin Sairio, a 19-year- old sophomore from St. Paul, Minnesota. Ken Van Doren, 59, drove five hours to hear Paul speak in Ames from his home in Mauston, Wisconsin, where he serves on the city council and owns American Liberty Construction.
`Ron Paulican'
Van Doren, who said he often votes Republican, describes his party affiliation as ``Ron Paulican.'' He is critical of the government for wanting to ``license, tax, regulate and control virtually every aspect of our lives and businesses.''
Paul ran for president in 1988 on the Libertarian Party ticket and got only 0.5 percent of the vote. While his support this year barely registers nationally -- 2 percent in an Oct. 19-22 Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll -- Federal Election Commission data show his donors come from every state. Contributions have doubled each quarter, and the campaign's goal is $12 million in the final three months of the year.
``He's found this really significant body of pent-up frustration within the Republican Party,'' said Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Allentown, Pennsylvania. ``He's tapping into a fairly long line of individuals who were destined not to win the race but to have a place in shaping the election.''
`Tells the Truth'
Michael Nystrom, a 39-year-old freelance Web consultant in Arlington, Massachusetts, and editor of a Web log, or blog, dubbed the Ron Paul Daily, said the candidate's appeal is that he ``tells the truth, and he doesn't care if people listen to him or not.''
That characteristic has proved popular with young voters as well as long-time Libertarians and disgruntled Republicans. More than 200 Students for Ron Paul chapters have sprung up at colleges, according to his campaign.
``Young people are very discouraged about the type of government we have and what they are inheriting,'' Paul said in an interview on Capitol Hill. ``All of a sudden they've heard a different message, and they like it.''
Paul's opposition to the Iraq war is his campaign's dominant theme. ``It disturbs me to no end that this war is going on and there's no end in sight,'' he said.
Paul's grassroots support is ``probably bigger than I would have predicted,'' given that he has delivered his message for 30 years, Paul said.
While ``the odds aren't real good'' for him winning the nomination, he said, ``people are not very happy with the status quo, Republicans or Democrats.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington, at [email protected]
By Catherine Dodge
Oct. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Representative Ron Paul's presidential campaign has qualities that Republicans might admire: a charged-up base and the ability to tap the Internet for cash. Instead, the Texan is a pariah in the party.
Paul is the only Republican contender to call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq; he wants to scrap the income tax and sees no role for government in education or health care. That message has attracted a small but fervent group of supporters, who gave $5.2 million in the last quarter -- just shy of the $5.7 million raised by one-time frontrunner John McCain, the Arizona senator.
Paul's few campaign appearances draw enthusiastic crowds. In Iowa recently for his first trip there in 11 weeks, Paul, a retired obstetrician, was greeted with a standing ovation from about 600 mostly student supporters at Iowa State University in Ames.
``They say there's a revolution going on, and it looks like it's run by the young people,'' Paul, 72, told the crowd.
While Paul shares with other Republicans a disdain for taxes and regulation, he regularly splits with them in Congress, giving him little chance of winning next year's nomination, much less the presidency.
Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who isn't affiliated with any campaign, said if Paul starts to spend his money he may garner 10 percent in the New Hampshire primary -- even more if he exceeds expectations in the Iowa caucuses that precede New Hampshire. ``You have independents who can cross over to make the protest vote against the war'' in New Hampshire, he said.
Voting No
Paul voted against the Iraq war and the Patriot Act, which gave law enforcement greater latitude to investigate terrorism. He wants to abolish the Federal Reserve and link the dollar to gold. His aversion to government spending is such that he has refused his congressional pension.
His message to the Iowa State crowd was simple. ``My campaign is this: I don't want to run your lives,'' Paul told his supporters, many wearing Ron Paul Revolution t-shirts. ``I don't intend to run the economy.''
He continued, ``I don't want to run the world.''
Such rhetoric resonates with the 20 percent or so of Americans ``who think the federal government is controlling too much of our lives,'' said Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington.
The appeal is cross-generational. ``He really wants to liberate the country and the American people and free us from the control the government has,'' said Colin Sairio, a 19-year- old sophomore from St. Paul, Minnesota. Ken Van Doren, 59, drove five hours to hear Paul speak in Ames from his home in Mauston, Wisconsin, where he serves on the city council and owns American Liberty Construction.
`Ron Paulican'
Van Doren, who said he often votes Republican, describes his party affiliation as ``Ron Paulican.'' He is critical of the government for wanting to ``license, tax, regulate and control virtually every aspect of our lives and businesses.''
Paul ran for president in 1988 on the Libertarian Party ticket and got only 0.5 percent of the vote. While his support this year barely registers nationally -- 2 percent in an Oct. 19-22 Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll -- Federal Election Commission data show his donors come from every state. Contributions have doubled each quarter, and the campaign's goal is $12 million in the final three months of the year.
``He's found this really significant body of pent-up frustration within the Republican Party,'' said Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion in Allentown, Pennsylvania. ``He's tapping into a fairly long line of individuals who were destined not to win the race but to have a place in shaping the election.''
`Tells the Truth'
Michael Nystrom, a 39-year-old freelance Web consultant in Arlington, Massachusetts, and editor of a Web log, or blog, dubbed the Ron Paul Daily, said the candidate's appeal is that he ``tells the truth, and he doesn't care if people listen to him or not.''
That characteristic has proved popular with young voters as well as long-time Libertarians and disgruntled Republicans. More than 200 Students for Ron Paul chapters have sprung up at colleges, according to his campaign.
``Young people are very discouraged about the type of government we have and what they are inheriting,'' Paul said in an interview on Capitol Hill. ``All of a sudden they've heard a different message, and they like it.''
Paul's opposition to the Iraq war is his campaign's dominant theme. ``It disturbs me to no end that this war is going on and there's no end in sight,'' he said.
Paul's grassroots support is ``probably bigger than I would have predicted,'' given that he has delivered his message for 30 years, Paul said.
While ``the odds aren't real good'' for him winning the nomination, he said, ``people are not very happy with the status quo, Republicans or Democrats.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Dodge in Washington, at [email protected]
