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Supporters: Movement bigger than Paul
Published January 18, 2008
When Ron Paul first announced he was considering a run for the Republican nomination for president in January 2007, he didn’t know what to expect.
He said then he was forming an exploratory committee — the initial step toward a formal campaign — because he was asked to by a strong contingent of supporters. After first telling them no, he decided to create the committee to see if there was any interest out there for a Paul presidency.
“I’m willing to do this and test the waters,” he said at the time.
Exactly a year later, a humble push for the Lake Jackson congressman has turned into a nationwide campaign. Powered by individuals rather than campaign organizers, it has turned into the most-financed Republican campaign in the last quarter of 2007 with $20 million in donations raised mostly through the Internet.
It has been supported by a group of very young and committed volunteers who love Paul’s views on ending the Iraq war, bringing back the gold standard, ending the federal income tax and abolishing federal agencies such as the CIA and IRS.
And Paul loves the attention to those views from the young people. While campaigning in South Carolina and New Hampshire, Paul never once turned down an offer to take a picture with a supporter, film a video introduction for a high school TV news program or sign a pocket-sized version of the Constitution.
After placing fifth in the New Hampshire primary, Paul stayed long after giving a speech at a Concord hotel answering such requests to hundreds of hands reaching over a velvet rope.
“He doesn’t want to disappoint anyone,” said Karl Golovin, security director for Paul’s campaign.
A different campaign
Paul doesn’t have the army of paid staff members other candidates have, choosing instead to allow volunteers to campaign of their own volition for him. The two most successful fundraisers, which helped net him $10 million, were not initiated by his campaign.
“This is a freedom-loving group that has done whatever they want to,” he said.
Most of his campaign funding is spent on advertising on television, radio and direct mail campaigns, Paul’s campaign chair Kent Snyder said.
“The money is spent on traditional things,” he said. “We spent close to $4 million in New Hampshire.”
When he started his campaign, Paul was not taken seriously as a contender and Snyder said he had a hard time finding staff members with serious campaign experience.
“They laughed at the whole effort,” he said. “They didn’t think we could raise money.”
When his campaign gained traction and he raised the same amount of money as “top-tier” candidates, résumés poured in for campaign staff, he said.
Throughout his campaign, Paul has insisted he would not tell his supporters what to do nor would he disavow them for having views he did not share, such as promoting prostitution or conspiracy theories surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
When asked during the Republican debate in South Carolina last week if he would “divorce” himself from supporters who held views that the U.S. government was complicit in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks or ask them to abandon those views, Paul refused.
“Well, it doesn’t do me any good, so if they care about me, they should,” he said. “But the only thing I have control over is what I believe and what I say. I can’t tell them what to do.”
Many of his supporters will tell you they support the ideas Paul espouses rather than Paul himself. His supporters say that is why the former obstetrician turned congressman has been so successful gaining support and donations throughout the country.
“I don’t even relate to the guy,” said Tom Griffith, a Portsmouth, N.H., college student. “I have nothing in common with a 72-year-old man from Texas. But I believe in his ideas.”
While waiting for returns the night of the New Hampshire primary showing Paul likely would come in fifth place, University of Maryland student Mike Schwarz lamented that Paul’s campaign was bigger than the candidate.
“We’re using him as a vehicle to spread the message of freedom,” he said.
The success of Paul’s campaign, which also includes a fifth-place finish in the Iowa Caucuses and fourth-place showing in Tuesday’s Michigan Primary, has been hard to pinpoint for Paul or even seasoned political analysts.
“He’s tapped into something,” said George Stephanopolous, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton and now host of “This Week,” ABC’s Sunday news program. “I don’t know exactly what it is. All I know is whenever I go to a college campus, I see a lot of Ron Paul supporters.”
Contrasting approach
More than 300 people filled a snow-covered plaza last week in front of the gold-capped dome of the New Hampshire Capitol in Concord.
They were waiting for Republican candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona to arrive. As two charter buses pulled up on the side, an entourage of media and former politicians poured out of the bus and walked into the plaza, including CBS News anchor Katie Couric and former Texas senator and presidential candidate Phil Gramm.
As McCain walked out of the bus, reporters and photographers swamped him as he made his way to the center of the plaza to deliver a stump speech covering topics such as the nuclear ambitions of Iran, wasteful government spending and global warming.
“I need your support,” he told the crowd, which was peppered with supporters from other campaigns, including Paul’s. “We will hand to you a cleaner president than the one you had before I become president.”
While most presidential candidates rolled through a snowy New Hampshire with chartered buses, a security detail and an entourage of media and campaign aides, Paul’s approach was more modest.
Paul often traveled in a rented minivan with his campaign spokesman Jess Benton, Golovin and an assortment of family members that included his wife, Carol.
While waiting to speak to an anxious crowd the night of the New Hampshire Primary, Paul readied himself then turned around and looked at members of his family.
“Walk with me onto the stage,” he said.
While Paul talked to his rapt audience about ending the Iraq war, eliminating the Federal Reserve and empowering individual freedoms, his wife, his son, Rand Paul, and several other relatives stood behind him.
Being on the campaign trail might be exciting, but it also can be a bit stressful, Carol Paul said.
“I don’t know if it’s fun,” she said. “I understand it has to be done.”
Carol and Rand Paul have been part of a Paul presidential run before, when the congressman was the Libertarian candidate in 1988, as well as many of his congressional elections.
While Ron Paul signed placards and pocket Constitutions during his campaign, Carol Paul also was asked to pose for pictures as supporters told her they hoped she would be First Lady.
“It’s wonderful to hear that,” Carol Paul said of the crowds who cheer for her husband. “They know how important it is.”
Traveling from one campaign stop to another can get a little taxing after awhile, Paul’s daughter-in-law, Peggy Paul, said while he talked with students in New Hampshire.
“You just get caught up in the movement,” she said. “Sometimes it gets a little confusing,” knowing where to be.”
Ron Paul, who has five children and 17 grandchildren, said he loves having his family travel with him while he’s campaigning, at least because he knows where they are.
“If they’re not here, I’m always worrying about what they’re doing,” he said.
John Tompkins is senior reporter for The Facts. Contact him at (979) 237-0149.
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TRAILING THE CAMPAIGN
Facts senior reporter John Tompkins and chief photographer Dan Dalstra spent five days in New Hampshire and South Carolina examining the Ron Paul presidential campaign and its grassroots support. This is the second in a series of reports from their time on the campaign trail.
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