You won't see much about Republican congressman Ron Paul's insurgent candidacy for President on the big TV gabfests or on the front page of your major newspapers. But what occurred over the last two days in the longshot Paul campaign may be the most important single chapter in the Republican race thus far.
To recap: casting his 5th of November online fundraising plea as a not-subtle Guy Fawkes attack on the entrenched political powers in his own party, Paul's campaign raised an astounding $4.2 million in about 24 hours from more than 37,000 contributors nationally. His campaign calls it "the largest single-day online primary fundraising effort by a presidential candidate in United States election history."
Paul polls in the single digits and his constitutional conservatism runs counter to most Republican mainstream issues - he's like another species entirely at the GOP debates - but I believe his candidacy has one overriding aspect to it that even admiring political analysts are overlooking.
I don't think Ron Paul intends to quit his campaign after Feb. 5, or after the first week in March when most of the big states will have voted. I don't think he'll quit after the Republican National Convention. I don't even think he'll quit after Election Day.
I think Ron Paul and his followers are a semi-permanent feature on the conservative-Republican landscape, and I believe his importance will grow. The guy clearly has legs (I've been getting Paul emails for months now), his message is resonating, and not just on the right. Here's Glenn Greenwald:
Regardless of how much attention the media pays, the explosion of support for the Paul campaign yesterday is much more than a one-time event. The Paul campaign is now a bona fide phenomenon of real significance, and it is difficult to see this as anything other than a very positive development.
There are, relatively speaking, very few people who agree with most of Paul's policy positions. In fact, a large portion of Americans -- perhaps most -- will find something in his litany of beliefs with which they not only disagree, but vehemently so. Paul has a coherent political world-view and states his positions clearly and unapologetically, without hedges, and that approach naturally ensures greater disagreement than the form of please-everyone obfuscation which drives most candidates.
I agree with everything Glenn says, but I'd add this. Ron Paul won't become President, or even the GOP nominee. But I think his real aim is to tear down the modern Republican Party, to dismember the aging conservative movement, and rebuild it entirely along a set of principles he believes in. And there, he may well have a chance. And what does that mean for the 2008 race?
UPDATE: Markos calls it "biggest example of people-power this cycle" and a "beautiful thing to behold." Jerome Armstrong notes: "Already at over 6.5M this quarter, Ron Paul is on track to raise more money than any other Republican candidate, and probably will raise more than either Clinton or Obama in the 4th quarter," and goes on to point out that the Paul effort makes the biggest and best use of open-source content and social networks of any campaign.
from Amazon.
