Houston Chronicle on Ron Paul surprise

[Bradley in DC]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4969941.html

Ron Paul reports fundraising surprise
Presidential hopeful's bank total topped rival McCain's

By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Ron Paul, the Lake Jackson congressman running a long shot campaign, reported raising nearly $2.4 million from April through June and ended the quarter with a similar amount in the bank.

The total is a remarkable showing for Paul, putting him in a better financial position — with less cash on hand but no debt — than Arizona Sen. John McCain. Paul still barely registers in public opinion polls and raised far less than McCain or the other leading Republicans. But his libertarian views and opposition to the war in Iraq have ignited a fire among nontraditional contributors, particularly on the Internet.

Paul has relied on his debate appearances and on an online network to spread his message. He also spent $120,000 on printing and mailing fundraising letters, his single biggest expense. Overall, he has raised $3 million for the year and spent $646,000.

McCain's presidential campaign reported spending more than it raised from April through June, leaving him financially strapped with $3.2 million cash on hand and a $1.8 million debt.

The presidential campaigns had until midnight Sunday to file full financial reports to the Federal Election Commission.

Democrat Barack Obama reported having about $34 million in primary cash on hand; Hillary Rodham Clinton reported $33 million. Obama had an edge on money owed by the campaign; he reported less than $1 million in debts and Clinton reported $3 million.

Democrat John Edwards increased his cash on hand this quarter despite a drop in contributions for his presidential nomination campaign. In his filing, the Edwards campaign reported $12 million in the bank for the primary elections, an increase of more than $2 million over his cash on hand at the end of March.

Overall, Edwards has raised $21.8 million for the primary and $1.3 million for the general election.

Edwards retained his place ahead of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.

Dodd on Sunday reported raising nearly $3.3 million, with nearly $6.4 million in the bank. For the year, Dodd has total receipts of $12.1 million, which includes a $4.7 million transfer from his Senate campaign account.

Richardson on Saturday reported raising $7 million in the second quarter and having a similar amount in the bank.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who are leading the Republican field in money and polls, reported their finances on Friday. McCain and most of the Democratic candidates had until midnight Sunday to file reports.

Other presidential candidates filing reports:

• Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., raised $1.4 million, slightly more than his campaign brought in during the previous quarter. The candidate reported having $460,236 in the bank.

• Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican, raised $764,000 for his presidential campaign from April through June and had $437,000 cash on hand at the end of last month.

• Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson raised $461,000 in the second quarter.The Republican reported nearly $122,000 cash on hand, but also listed debts and obligations of more than $127,000.

 

[DisabledVet]

Long shot.....I CANT WAIT until Ron wins the race and is sworn in....the beauty of the internet is that we can go back in time and pull out and call to task EVERY SINGLE liar in the media whom slandered and held down the one true voice of freedom..... I will make it my goal to create a website that will publicly humiliate each person so bent on keeping our country going down in flames by trying to control what we think.

They are digging their own graves...

 

[jonahtrainer]

Long shot.....I CANT WAIT until Ron wins the race and is sworn in....the beauty of the internet is that we can go back in time and pull out and call to task EVERY SINGLE liar in the media whom slandered and held down the one true voice of freedom..... I will make it my goal to create a website that will publicly humiliate each person so bent on keeping our country going down in flames by trying to control what we think.

They are digging their own graves...

I AGREE!

"Just as Ron Paul spoke of blowback in the context of military interference in foreign affairs, unless the mainstream media ends the Ron Paul blackout and misinformation drive, they will lose the next generation who is seeing it as a biased, manipulating, election-fixing force not to be trusted." Here

 

[Bradley in DC]

Long shot.....I CANT WAIT until Ron wins the race and is sworn in....the beauty of the internet is that we can go back in time and pull out and call to task EVERY SINGLE liar in the media whom slandered and held down the one true voice of freedom..... I will make it my goal to create a website that will publicly humiliate each person so bent on keeping our country going down in flames by trying to control what we think.

They are digging their own graves...

Nah, calm down. Not digging their own graves--they're accurately reporting the national polls (which are not rigged but reflect that very few people, yet, know of Dr. Paul). They are helping us lower expectations. And, they are setting themselves up for future "come from behind" stories. Relax, everyone. We need to embrace the media as much as possible. Our biggest problem is getting Dr. Paul's name and message out since he does very well with those who know and understand him.

 

[DjLoTi]

DV, that's a good idea, and I hope you do that. This is especially surprising coming from a paper that's right next to RP's district.

 

[DisabledVet]

Nah, calm down. Not digging their own graves--they're accurately reporting the national polls (which are not rigged but reflect that very few people, yet, know of Dr. Paul). They are helping us lower expectations. And, they are setting themselves up for future "come from behind" stories. Relax, everyone. We need to embrace the media as much as possible. Our biggest problem is getting Dr. Paul's name and message out since he does very well with those who know and understand him.

You make a point but I find no evidence to back it up. Rather I find the contrary where we find him intentionally excluded, marginalized and yet even with the obvious proof of his campaigns success he is almost always preceded with the term "long shot"......

I don't see how lowering expectations is helping us?...it is creating more of a hurdle to create the support needed to even make a "come from behind" push.

 

[Bradley in DC]

You make a point but I find no evidence to back it up. Rather I find the contrary where we find him intentionally excluded, marginalized and yet even with the obvious proof of his campaigns success he is almost always preceded with the term "long shot"......

I don't see how lowering expectations is helping us?...it is creating more of a hurdle to create the support needed to even make a "come from behind" push.

Relax, again, this is all early still--not even Labor Day when campaigns traditionally start. Dr. Paul is, no doubt, polling nationally in the low single digits (and no better than that in any state I've seen). At this point (HUGE caveat here), I'll bet fewer than ten percent of likely voters know his name or enough about him to have an opinion. Stories labelling that a long-shot are accurate.

Expectations: look at McCain, unless he wins, the stories will say he's toast. If Dr. Paul comes in the top three, the stories will say he "won" because he was the long-shot (the odds pay better at the track!).

 

[LibertyEagle]

Bradley,

How are we going to get him known?

 

[wbbgjr]

there's too many of us meetup members that aren't doing enough. I'll be the first to say I haven't done enough on the volunteering front.

I think out meetup groups should ask members to volunteer their phone numbers... what I mean is that the internet is great and all, but it's very impersonal. let's actually make out meetup groups a community and reach out to those who joined but are sitting on the sidelines.

 

[Bradley in DC]

Bradley,

How are we going to get him known?

Donate to the campaign (resources for ads), call Iowans, get active in your local Meetup, write local letters to the editor/op-eds, write blogs, tell your family and friends, put a bumper sticker on your car and laptop, put yard signs up (check with local ordinances).

Our Belly of the Beast group just started (two happy hours and a sign making party in two weeks). Already we (that would be the "royal we") sent a data request to the DC Board of Elections and got a list of all of the Registered Republicans here (30k of us!). We're breaking it down to ward chairman volunteers, planning on going door-to-door to every single Republican in the district (we have a closed primary here).

Put your own ads for Meetup groups, etc., in local papers (community press announcements, etc., don't usually cost anything), Craigslist, etc.

We need another sign overnight on August 4th, the night before the next debate. Put out press statements to local media on it (again, please follow local ordinances) and be prepared to do interviews. Give the local media a tie-in to a national story (they love that). There will be news that the debate is going to happen but no (other) actual news yet.

BEFRIEND YOUR LOCAL PRESS! Make yourself a resource to them. This is just a quick list off the top of my head, I may add more later.

 

[AZ Libertarian]

WHEN are we going to see a 'CAFR' style accounting of ;

money raised MONEY SPENT cash on hand

Everything I've seen so far leaves out the middle column. I could SWEAR I saw somewhere that Rudy J spent more than he raised and is in the red. Is this why the above article omits Rudy's and Mitt's numbers?

 

[Roxi]

to those of you who are sitting on the sidelines.....GET OFF YOUR BUTTS!!!!

walk down to the nearest, busiest corner an hour a day with a big ron paul sign and some flyers

flyers are 8 cents a piece, cheaper if you get a lot of them, or call 1800RONPAUL and ask them for some slim jims if you can't afford to print your own, MAKE signs at home...you dont need an official meetup group event to get out there and do this
you can also send an email to your entire meetup group by emailing ronpaul-(###) #=meetup group number, if you dont know how to do this PM me and ill help you

so send out an email saying ill be on such and such corner this day at this hour and WHO will join me...if no one joins you get out there and do it yourself

Dont be embarrased to be alone standing on a streetcorner with a sign...at least it doesnt say will work for food...(no offense to anyone who does this)

we are doing this once a week, we are also going to busy areas of town like malls and shopping centers and wal-marts once a week...we are going through 1000 flyers a week, i just ordered 5,000 slim jims from HQ those will be gone in a few weeks as well...there are no excuses, the straw poll is nearing, lots of people in your hometown have relatives in Iowa, they will be sending out emails and making phone calls about how they just heard about this Ron Paul guy...from YOU

DO YOUR PART if you want this to happen

(not trying to be rude...i just get a little overexcited!)

 

[Bradley in DC]

to those of you who are sitting on the sidelines.....GET OFF YOUR BUTTS!!!!

walk down to the nearest, busiest corner an hour a day with a big ron paul sign and some flyers

flyers are 8 cents a piece, cheaper if you get a lot of them, or call 1800RONPAUL and ask them for some slim jims if you can't afford to print your own, MAKE signs at home...you dont need an official meetup group event to get out there and do this
you can also send an email to your entire meetup group by emailing ronpaul-(###) #=meetup group number, if you dont know how to do this PM me and ill help you

so send out an email saying ill be on such and such corner this day at this hour and WHO will join me...if no one joins you get out there and do it yourself

Dont be embarrased to be alone standing on a streetcorner with a sign...at least it doesnt say will work for food...(no offense to anyone who does this)

we are doing this once a week, we are also going to busy areas of town like malls and shopping centers and wal-marts once a week...we are going through 1000 flyers a week, i just ordered 5,000 slim jims from HQ those will be gone in a few weeks as well...there are no excuses, the straw poll is nearing, lots of people in your hometown have relatives in Iowa, they will be sending out emails and making phone calls about how they just heard about this Ron Paul guy...from YOU

DO YOUR PART if you want this to happen

(not trying to be rude...i just get a little overexcited!)

Wahoo!!!!