On the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party yesterday, Ron Paul’s huge grassroots following achieved a new all-time, one-day political fundraising record — sending the lone constitutionalist running for president an estimated $6.04 million dollars. (See these front-page write-ups at The Politico and the Washington Times. Click here for a message of thanks from Ron Paul.)
To put this in perspective, consider the following:
The previous one-day record was held by John Kerry, who brought in $5.7 million through a deluge of phone calls the day after the Democratic National Convention in 2004. IOW, a primary GOP candidate — before a single vote has been cast — out-raised a unified Democratic Party.
Ron Paul’s record day yesterday comes on the heals of his previous one-day online fundraising record: $4.2 million on Nov. 5.
Ron Paul’s campaign spent next to nothing raising this $6.04 million, other than making sure their servers could handle the massive influx of donations. I am in fundraising, and this is unheard of. The whole effort was completely orchestrated by the grassroots, none of whom are paid by the campaign or get any cut at all from the moneys raised.
Ron Paul’s $6.04 million came as a result of 58,407 individual contributions. The average contribution was only $102.
Of these, 24,915 donors were first-time givers to the campaign. This means two things: 1) the grassroots following behind Ron Paul continues to grow strongly, and 2) there remains a ton of untapped dollars for the campaign as the primary season heats up.
Yesterday’s haul helped the Ron Paul campaign blow by their fourth quarter goal of $12 million, which seemed unrealistically ambitious after the $5.3 million the campaign raised in the third quarter. As of this moment, Ron Paul’s fourth quarter stands at $18.2 million.
All analysts agree: Ron Paul will have raised more than all the other GOP contenders in the fourth quarter, and will be on par with the fundraising machines of Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton (who brought in $20 million and $26 million, respectively, in the third quarter).
Ron Paul is the only candidate — of either party — to increase his revenues each quarter this year, from $640,000 to $2.5 million to $5.3 million to, my prediction, $20 million. That’s a nearly 400% rate of growth!
This quarter, over 120,000 individuals have donated to Ron Paul. The median gift, according to the campaign, is $50.
According to Open Secrets, Paul gets no money from political lobby’s or special interest groups.
So, there’s some numbers for you. This YouTube video will give you a sense of what the Ron Paul Revolution physically looks like. It is of a seemingly endless parade of Ron Paul supporters in Austin Texas as party of their Tea Party celebrations yesterday. Similar demonstrations of varying sizes took place across America, from California to Nevada to Washington, DC to Ohio and even up to Boston, which drew 700 supporters in a parade from the State House to historic Faneuil Hall, despite a major winter storm.
As you can see, this grassroots movement is translating into massive support on the ground. Both Matt Towery and the Iowa Independent predict a third place finish for Ron Paul in Iowa. Ron Paul is at 8 percent and climbing in New Hampshire, ahead of Fred Thompson. He is at 11 percent in South Carolina — within six points of second place. The revolution is just beginning!
Don’t you think it is time you give Ron Paul a look? As even those who don’t endorse him at National Review say (and Derbyshire and Freddoso do now endorse him, as does Barry Goldwater, Jr.), Ron Paul is the only candidate who would fundamentally change the direction of government for the good. The rest would keep us more or less on the same course.
To learn more about Ron Paul, the one candidate America’ Founders would count as one of their own, please visit www.RonPaul2008.com.
The following is a (slightly edited) letter I recently wrote to my brother-in-law about Ron Paul and foreign policy:
Dear ____,
Thank you for sending along the Jonah Goldberg article, “The Tradition of Ron Paul.” (found online here) I don’t subscribe to National Review (I just visit NRO), so I probably wouldn’t have seen this article if it weren’t for you, so I appreciate you thinking of me.
As you know, I am an enthusiastic supporter of Ron Paul, and have been so for a dozen or so years. Simply put, I am a constitutionalist – before anything else, politically – and Ron Paul is the most consistent, principled defender of the Constitution this nation has seen since James Madison. Some may disagree with his interpretation of the Constitution at some points (usually wrongly in my opinion), but no one can disagree that he is indeed highly principled and consistent in his application of principle. He has won more than a few followers who don’t agree with him on every issue (then again, who ever agrees with someone else on all things?!), but who admire him for his honest, straightforward nature. They know where he stands and they know they can trust him to keep his word. How refreshing in this day of political “triangulation” and entrenched special interests! Here is a man, after all, on whom the lobbyists admit they don’t waste their time, and who has received none of his millions raised this campaign from lobbyists and special interest groups, corporate or otherwise. Rather, hundreds of thousands of Americans from all walks of life have supported Ron Paul with individual contributions that average just $100.
My biggest problem with the Huckabee/Boortz Fair Tax is that is sold as a revenue-neutral replacement for the income tax. Why do we care to replace the income tax?!
Here’s a better idea — from the one and only truly limited, small government conservative in the race:
The Richmond Times-Dispatchreported Sunday on Ron Paul’s victory in Saturday’s Virginia Straw Poll. Unfortunately, they also claimed that Paul’s supporters were “bused in” and therefore the results should be ignored. Here is my letter in response:
What the Times-Dispatch rightly granted on one hand in reporting that Ron Paul won the 24th Annual Donald Huffman Advance and Presidential Straw Poll this weekend ["Paul wins Virginia GOP straw poll," News Section, Dec. 2], you more than took away in the details.
Paul did win convincingly over the rest of the GOP field – including a 70 vote margin over second place finisher Fred Thompson, who was boosted by a passionate speech on his behalf by former Senator George Allen with Va. Attorney General Bob McDonald by his side. However, the unverified allegation made by Party big-wigs that Paul’s victory was artificially achieved by the campaign “bus[ing] in young supporters” is demonstrably false. It is clear from the article that the Times-Dispatch reporter failed to interview a single Paul supporter or campaign official, but contented him or herself with simply parroting the disgruntled claims of the Party establishment.
I was there, and the facts are these: The official Paul campaign did not spend a single dollar busing in a single supporter, nor paying their way through the door. (The only bus I was aware of was one from Liberty University, which brought in many of Mike Huckabee’s 51 votes and third place finish.) Rather, Paul’s supporters – young and old, singles and families from all walks of life – took it upon themselves to get to the Straw Poll, driving themselves from all corners of the Old Dominion and paying the $35 registration fee on their own. Like so many other events orchestrated by this growing grassroots movement, this effort was spontaneously organized through the dozens of Ron Paul MeetUp groups across Virginia; I received just one communication from the official campaign (similar to what all the campaigns sent out, I’m sure) announcing the existence of the Straw Poll and it’s importance.
In light of these facts, the “worst” result Tucker Watkins, former 5th District GOP chairman, could say of Paul’s victory is that the Virginia Republican Party is now $6,370 richer, since he presumes that every one of the 182 votes Paul garnered were bought. But this would be false, too. More than a few people told me after the votes were tallied that Chris Kachouroff’s rousing speech on behalf of Ron Paul had won them over to the side of the one true conservative and constitutionalist in the race.
The truth is that Ron Paul is winning over a growing number of long-time Republicans, such as myself, and bringing thousands of new voters into the Party. After three successive losses in Virginia’s governor races and with dwindling numbers of Republicans in the House of Delegates, one would think our state’s Party leaders would be grateful. Rather, they have demeaned themselves and their honor by shamelessly spreading a lie.
The question is: why would the Times-Dispatch join them in this disgrace?
I am delighted to report that — despite big-time establishment support for Fred Thompson — Ron Paul won the Virginia Straw Poll last night. The Virginia Straw Poll Victory is Ron Paul’s 25th such win across the country — including 15 out of the last 19. The momentum is building!!!
My friend, Chris Kachouroff delivered a rousing speech for Ron Paul. This is a speech I am proud to say I helped write and edit. And I have to think — on top of the great organization we had in making sure Ron Paul supporters from around the state knew about the straw poll and got there — the speech helped secure a 70 vote margin of victory over the former Senator and “Law and Order” star (Mike Huckabee placed a distant third with 51 votes, compared to Paul’s 182). After all, we had more than one individual come up to us afterward and excitedly tell us that the speech persuaded him to vote for Ron Paul. And this despite a rousing speech by former Senator George Allen for, and the additional endorsement of popular VA Attorney General Bob McDonald of, Thompson.
I don’t mean to gloat — after all, most of the credit goes to Chris. But I am overjoyed and just had to share.
