Ron Paul $2.8 Million On Hand: OpenSecrets.org

[Knightskye]

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00005906&cycle=2008

Raised: $5,005,154
Spent: $2,395,419
Cash on Hand: $2,830,958
Debts: $0
Last Report: Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Of course, it has been a month.

 

[hotbrownsauce]

woot, thanks

 

[Austin]

Haha, oh wow. Look at how much he raised compared to the average representative.

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/totVSavg.php?cid=N00005906&chamber=H

 

[Shotdown1027]

Great! He should transfer large portions of it to CFL and LibertyPAC, leaving at least 750k for his next congressional run.

 

[newyearsrevolution08]

Great! He should transfer large portions of it to CFL and LibertyPAC, leaving at least 750k for his next congressional run.

$750k wouldn't even elect you city council or mayor of a small city. Can $750k even win a congressional run? If so we should maybe work towards our 2010 efforts.....

 

[Shotdown1027]

750k is plenty to keep a popular incumbent in office. And WAY more than enough to win City Council or Mayor of a small city.

 

[nobody's_hero]

That is definitely a man who knows how to stretch our dollars. (In a good way).

Compare that to the number of candidates who finished their campaigns in debt. —Like I'd want those folks setting the budget.

 

[JohnMeridith]

$750k wouldn't even elect you city council or mayor of a small city. Can $750k even win a congressional run? If so we should maybe work towards our 2010 efforts.....

I think most of the reps here were in the 900k-1.5million range. 750k for RP should be enough IMO

 

[Knightskye]

$750k wouldn't even elect you city council or mayor of a small city. Can $750k even win a congressional run? If so we should maybe work towards our 2010 efforts.....

Spent wisely, I think it could win a congressional run.

BJ raised under $600,000. He was a new guy, running against a 20-year incumbent, and he got almost 40% of the vote.

Who's gonna run against Ron in 2010?

And would they fare better than the best the neocons had to offer (Chris Peden)?

 

[John E]

I would rather have seen it all spent on solid advertising during his presidential run for the GOP ticket.

I am not sure how he plans on using it now but I am sure it will be put towards something good.

 

[Matt Collins]

Can $750k even win a congressional run?

I would say in many if not most Congressional seats yes. www.opensecrets.org

 

[Madison]

It seems like I'm the only one who has a huge problem with this. In his Presidential and Congressional campaign, people donated money to be used to campaign and get elected. Keeping any of it for an alternative purpose, no matter how legitimate and sincere, is dishonest and deceptive to his donors and should not be allowed. A lot of us made sizable donations during his bid for the GOP nomination, yet he ran a terrible campaign and didn't even spend all the money we gave him, ending the race with $5 million still in the bank. Has that ever happened in politics before with such a large amount of money in defeat? It's ridiculous and I am still disgusted by it.

 

[trey4sports]

It seems like I'm the only one who has a huge problem with this. In his Presidential and Congressional campaign, people donated money to be used to campaign and get elected. Keeping any of it for an alternative purpose, no matter how legitimate and sincere, is dishonest and deceptive to his donors and should not be allowed. A lot of us made sizable donations during his bid for the GOP nomination, yet he ran a terrible campaign and didn't even spend all the money we gave him, ending the race with $5 million still in the bank. Has that ever happened in politics before with such a large amount of money in defeat? It's ridiculous and I am still disgusted by it.

had we invested the money in New Hampshire I believe we could have been much more formidable, and yes that amount of money in the bank going unused is crazy but I doubt Ron really ran to win. his whole strategy seemed to be that of campaigning in every state so he could educate people.

 

[RickyJ]

People gave the money to him for his run for President, not for him to sit on and hold. Sorry, but he let many donors down by not going all out for the job he was running for.

 

[DSouthChi]

This is another example of Ron Paul's bizarre political strategies - instead of spending the money on a high profile presidential run where he would have high media attention, he stacks it up so it can slowly dissipate.

He should've run for President!!!!

 

[Jbrabble]

This is another example of Ron Paul's bizarre political strategies - instead of spending the money on a high profile presidential run where he would have high media attention, he stacks it up so it can slowly dissipate.

He should've run for President!!!!

He did run for president. As far as the money go's maybe he just felt like he had no chance in the primaries so he didn't waste it idk. I have no doubt it will go towards expanding the movement.

 

[Matt Collins]

People gave the money to him for his run for President, not for him to sit on and hold. Sorry, but he let many donors down by not going all out for the job he was running for.

It seems like I'm the only one who has a huge problem with this. In his Presidential and Congressional campaign, people donated money to be used to campaign and get elected. Keeping any of it for an alternative purpose, no matter how legitimate and sincere, is dishonest and deceptive to his donors and should not be allowed.

Valid point and I agree to an extent however at the time which it was realized that RP had no chance to win the primary, pissing away money to go down in a blaze of glory would've done no one any good other than fattening the pockets of the media due to ad buys. At least now this money can be used to further the underlying principles behind the campaign.

had we invested the money in New Hampshire I believe we could have been much more formidable, and yes that amount of money in the bank going unused is crazy but I doubt Ron really ran to win. his whole strategy seemed to be that of campaigning in every state so he could educate people.

NH was unwinnable because the media ignored Ron. No amount of money in the world (other than having more than anyone else) would've changed that. Originally yes Ron was running a campaign of education with the humble goal to simply change the dialog of the debates. But there was a brief while where there was a chance to win; Ron even said it himself on Jay Leno.

 

[trey4sports]

Valid point and I agree to an extent however at the time which it was realized that RP had no chance to win the primary, pissing away money to go down in a blaze of glory would've done no one any good other than fattening the pockets of the media due to ad buys. At least now this money can be used to further the underlying principles behind the campaign.

NH was unwinnable because the media ignored Ron. No amount of money in the world (other than having more than anyone else) would've changed that. Originally yes Ron was running a campaign of education with the humble goal to simply change the dialog of the debates. But there was a brief while where there was a chance to win; Ron even said it himself on Jay Leno.

he said something along the lines of he has a better chance than others, or something to that effect. I dont believe there was ever a time when Ron truly believed he could WIN, and thats ok. maybe the approach of education is better in the long run. I find it hard to believe that everyday people would vote for Ron Paul. To most, the ideas we preach are radical but a campaign of education for four or eight solid years may get the ball rolling for our next run at the presidency.

Ive proposed we (the grassroots) create a PAC and fund the PAC rather than a direct campaign that way we can use grassroots commercials and ideas and run a truly bottom-up campaign.

Imagine a $5,000,000 money bomb
and
WE THE PEOPLE decide what commercials to air, what houses to mail to, what houses to phone bank, which newspaper ads get published, which states we target heavily and which we simply skip.
not only could we be in full control of the peoples campaign but we could also revolutionize the way campaigns are run.

 

[ForLiberty-RonPaul]

I think Ron Paul made a brilliant move by holding on to all that money. He realized, just as a lot of us realized, that the "powers that be" would never allow him to be elected or even nominated. By keeping this money he insured that he would be around for a while, sticking a thorn in the establishments side.

If he had blown his entire wad in the Presidential run, then he would be absolutely nowhere, and the media would be justified in calling him a fluke or fad.

 

[syborius]

had we invested the money in New Hampshire I believe we could have been much more formidable, and yes that amount of money in the bank going unused is crazy but I doubt Ron really ran to win. his whole strategy seemed to be that of campaigning in every state so he could educate people.

If memory serves correctly, the presidential war chest money was basically used up, this is the remainder of the funds, and a good portion that was raised when he converted back to the congressional run. I remember people donated millions for that. ANNNND, Ron did run to win, unfortunately he could not overcome the media bias, and the election process apparatus that is firmly held by the elite. The election system needs major overhaul if we are ever going to see our liberty candidates actually win.