October 03, 2007

Ron Paul: The $5 Million Man

Third-quarter fundraising numbers from the Republican presidential candidates remain a bit murky (still no official reports from the Giuliani and Romney camps), leaving plenty of room for reporters hungry for word from the GOP field to pounce on the news that Ron Paul raised upwards of $5 million over the past three months.

That's right, the civil-liberties-loving, Rudy-Giuliani-challenging, rabid-fan-attracting congressman from Texas seems to have raised about as much as New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) and Arizona Sen. John McCain (R), who are both seen as much more viable candidates in their respective fields.

Paul, widely considered a dark horse in the GOP race because of his opposition to the war, is also reporting the most significant bump in donations from the second quarter. The Hill notes that Hillary Rodham Clinton is the only other candidate whose fundraising grew in the past three months, but even she didn't clock gains as high as the 114-percent increase Paul is reporting.

In a release, the Paul camp said it had $5.3 million cash on hand. A little over a million of the campaign's tally was raised online in the last week of the quarter, a testament to the broad Internet support Paul has claimed throughout the race but, until now, has not translated into much besides a strong presence on blogs and in Web-based polls.

According to The Hill, the Paul campaign hopes to raise "$12 million in contributions for the fourth quarter." In the meantime, voters in Iowa and New Hampshire should brace themselves for more TV ads featuring that Ron Paul theme song.

Posted at 3:17 PM
Posted to: Campaigns, Republicans, Ron Paul, WH 2008
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