Troyhand
12-24-2007, 02:57 AM
Pretty good article that gives a lot of info on RP and the Revolution. This paper hits a large demographic in Allentown, Bethlehem and east-central Pennsylvania.
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-ron_paul-a.6198063dec24,0,1292322.story
themorningcall.com
Ron Paul: From Dr. No to campaign sensation
Candidate's anti-government, anti-war message attracts big donations, fervent loyalists.
By Josh Drobnyk
Call Washington Bureau
December 24, 2007
The moment that Ron Paul might ascribe as the turning point in his campaign for president briefly looked like it might blow up in the Texas lawmaker's face.
It came in May, as Paul stood next to his rivals for the GOP nomination at a debate in South Carolina. Paul, a 72-year-old congressman, blamed the United States' bombing campaign in Iraq during the 1990s for motivating the Sept. 11 attacks.
''We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us,'' he said.
Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and the GOP front-runner, interrupted the moderator and chastised Paul for suggesting the United States brought on the Sept. 11 attacks.
''That's really an extraordinary statement,'' Giuliani said. ''I don't think I've ever heard that before and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11.''
The crowd burst into a thunderous applause. But Paul's candidacy, which until then was hobbling along with a tiny staff and little money, took off. And it has yet to land.
The campaign of the Pittsburgh native has become the presidential race's cult of personality, drawing an intensely loyal crowd of supporters around his anti-war, anti-government message, while out-raising many of his better-known opponents.
''It is just berserk,'' said Paul loyalist and former Pennsylvania state Libertarian Party Chairman Ken Sturzenacker, 62, of North Catasauqua, who said he'll drive to New Hampshire on New Year's Eve to help the Texas congressman's campaign. ''I think what we are seeing is a group that is saying we are not happy with the way the country is going and we're going to get off our butts and do something about it.''
Paul's campaign this month broke the single-day fund-raising record -- $6 million-plus -- despite his relatively poor standing in polls. It was the second time in two months he has raised more than $4 million in one day. His campaign says it has raised more than $18 million since Oct. 1, a figure that would likely put him in the top rung of fundraisers.
Behind him are a varied group of supporters made up of libertarians, independents, Republicans and conservative Democrats. Some, like Sturzenacker, have been following the 10-term lawmaker since his last presidential run, in 1988. Others, including Philip Koury, were barely alive then. The 20-year-old Northampton Community College student has given $150 to the campaign. He said he planned to vote for the first time this year, something he doubts he would have bothered to do without Paul in the race.
''He doesn't really flip flop ever -- on anything,'' said Koury, who has joined Sturzenacker and a dozen or so other Paul supporters on recent Saturdays to wave Paul signs in the Lehigh Valley. ''He is honest and you can tell he's honest.''
He added: ''His message has gotten me involved.''
The same is true for tens of thousands of other young voters, who have helped put the Internet to use for Paul in a way that is unmatched among his GOP rivals.
Paul's pages on Facebook and MySpace, two popular social networking Web sites, have twice the number of weekly supporters and friends as any other Republican candidate. Paul-related video clips on YouTube.com have received more than those involving all other GOP candidates combined. One, titled ''Ron Paul Courageously Speaks the Truth,'' includes Paul's explanation for the Sept. 11 attacks that drew the Giuliani retort. It has received more than 700,000 views since it was posted.
If it's not in the ether, his support is in the sky. Literally. Supporters have sent a blimp with Paul's name flying around the country, dubbed the ''Ron Paul Blimp Tour.''
Paul, for the most part, preaches a distinctly anti-government message. Supporters and critics alike call Paul ''Dr. No'' for his 40-year medical career and penchant for opposing legislation on the House floor.
He opposes international trade deals, proposes abolishing the Education, Energy and Homeland Security departments as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve Bank, and advocates overturning the Patriot Act. He's also wants to allow taxpayers to opt out of paying into Social Security. His Libertarian views don't extend to reproductive rights, though. He favors overturning Roe v. Wade.
He stands out from his rivals for the GOP nomination in wanting the United States military out of Iraq immediately, as well as every other country it has a presence in around the world.
''We can't afford the foreign policy that we have,'' Paul said in a debate this month in Iowa. ''We have to cut back. We have to live within our means. If we are going to spend money, we ought to spend it at home.''
Despite his fund-raising prowess, Paul isn't considered to have much of a chance of winning the nomination. He lags in the mid-single digits in national and early-state polls.
''If Paul were such a candidate who truly had wide appeal he would be where Mike Huckabee is right now,'' Wilkes University political science professor Tom Baldino said, referring to the former Arkansas governor and GOP candidate, whose poll numbers have jumped dramatically in recent weeks. ''That fact that his constituency is online isn't going to get him very far.''
That doesn't get Paul's supporters down though. Some suggest he has already won by bringing attention to a limited-government platform. Others hold out hope that the polls don't take into account what they say will be the large number of new voters his campaign will bring out.
''What is being looked over is that all of these people who don't vote normally, don't vote for a reason,'' said 48-year-old Rich Piotrowski, a former Libertarian congressional candidate from Allentown. ''What Paul is tapping into is this discontent that has been growing for years. I think in this primary you are going to see record-breaking turnout.''
He added: ''Is it enough to make him win? Who knows. All I know is there are a whole lot of people trying.''
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-ron_paul-a.6198063dec24,0,1292322.story
themorningcall.com
Ron Paul: From Dr. No to campaign sensation
Candidate's anti-government, anti-war message attracts big donations, fervent loyalists.
By Josh Drobnyk
Call Washington Bureau
December 24, 2007
The moment that Ron Paul might ascribe as the turning point in his campaign for president briefly looked like it might blow up in the Texas lawmaker's face.
It came in May, as Paul stood next to his rivals for the GOP nomination at a debate in South Carolina. Paul, a 72-year-old congressman, blamed the United States' bombing campaign in Iraq during the 1990s for motivating the Sept. 11 attacks.
''We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us,'' he said.
Rudy Giuliani, a former New York City mayor and the GOP front-runner, interrupted the moderator and chastised Paul for suggesting the United States brought on the Sept. 11 attacks.
''That's really an extraordinary statement,'' Giuliani said. ''I don't think I've ever heard that before and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11.''
The crowd burst into a thunderous applause. But Paul's candidacy, which until then was hobbling along with a tiny staff and little money, took off. And it has yet to land.
The campaign of the Pittsburgh native has become the presidential race's cult of personality, drawing an intensely loyal crowd of supporters around his anti-war, anti-government message, while out-raising many of his better-known opponents.
''It is just berserk,'' said Paul loyalist and former Pennsylvania state Libertarian Party Chairman Ken Sturzenacker, 62, of North Catasauqua, who said he'll drive to New Hampshire on New Year's Eve to help the Texas congressman's campaign. ''I think what we are seeing is a group that is saying we are not happy with the way the country is going and we're going to get off our butts and do something about it.''
Paul's campaign this month broke the single-day fund-raising record -- $6 million-plus -- despite his relatively poor standing in polls. It was the second time in two months he has raised more than $4 million in one day. His campaign says it has raised more than $18 million since Oct. 1, a figure that would likely put him in the top rung of fundraisers.
Behind him are a varied group of supporters made up of libertarians, independents, Republicans and conservative Democrats. Some, like Sturzenacker, have been following the 10-term lawmaker since his last presidential run, in 1988. Others, including Philip Koury, were barely alive then. The 20-year-old Northampton Community College student has given $150 to the campaign. He said he planned to vote for the first time this year, something he doubts he would have bothered to do without Paul in the race.
''He doesn't really flip flop ever -- on anything,'' said Koury, who has joined Sturzenacker and a dozen or so other Paul supporters on recent Saturdays to wave Paul signs in the Lehigh Valley. ''He is honest and you can tell he's honest.''
He added: ''His message has gotten me involved.''
The same is true for tens of thousands of other young voters, who have helped put the Internet to use for Paul in a way that is unmatched among his GOP rivals.
Paul's pages on Facebook and MySpace, two popular social networking Web sites, have twice the number of weekly supporters and friends as any other Republican candidate. Paul-related video clips on YouTube.com have received more than those involving all other GOP candidates combined. One, titled ''Ron Paul Courageously Speaks the Truth,'' includes Paul's explanation for the Sept. 11 attacks that drew the Giuliani retort. It has received more than 700,000 views since it was posted.
If it's not in the ether, his support is in the sky. Literally. Supporters have sent a blimp with Paul's name flying around the country, dubbed the ''Ron Paul Blimp Tour.''
Paul, for the most part, preaches a distinctly anti-government message. Supporters and critics alike call Paul ''Dr. No'' for his 40-year medical career and penchant for opposing legislation on the House floor.
He opposes international trade deals, proposes abolishing the Education, Energy and Homeland Security departments as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve Bank, and advocates overturning the Patriot Act. He's also wants to allow taxpayers to opt out of paying into Social Security. His Libertarian views don't extend to reproductive rights, though. He favors overturning Roe v. Wade.
He stands out from his rivals for the GOP nomination in wanting the United States military out of Iraq immediately, as well as every other country it has a presence in around the world.
''We can't afford the foreign policy that we have,'' Paul said in a debate this month in Iowa. ''We have to cut back. We have to live within our means. If we are going to spend money, we ought to spend it at home.''
Despite his fund-raising prowess, Paul isn't considered to have much of a chance of winning the nomination. He lags in the mid-single digits in national and early-state polls.
''If Paul were such a candidate who truly had wide appeal he would be where Mike Huckabee is right now,'' Wilkes University political science professor Tom Baldino said, referring to the former Arkansas governor and GOP candidate, whose poll numbers have jumped dramatically in recent weeks. ''That fact that his constituency is online isn't going to get him very far.''
That doesn't get Paul's supporters down though. Some suggest he has already won by bringing attention to a limited-government platform. Others hold out hope that the polls don't take into account what they say will be the large number of new voters his campaign will bring out.
''What is being looked over is that all of these people who don't vote normally, don't vote for a reason,'' said 48-year-old Rich Piotrowski, a former Libertarian congressional candidate from Allentown. ''What Paul is tapping into is this discontent that has been growing for years. I think in this primary you are going to see record-breaking turnout.''
He added: ''Is it enough to make him win? Who knows. All I know is there are a whole lot of people trying.''