Ahhh...I love the smell of good press in the morning

Many awakenings: Ron Paul is as surprised as anyone at the near messianic zeal he inspires

By SARAH LIEBOWITZ
Monitor staff

Ron Paul doesn't understand his own success. He didn't know his calls for an end to the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education would draw cheers, that his anti-income tax, anti-foreign intervention and libertarian message would resonate. He was reluctant to run for the Republican presidential nomination, he said yesterday: He was convinced it would take another "generation for education" before his message - rooted in Paul's reading of the Constitution - gained traction.

"I have been just dumbfounded about what's happening," Paul said yesterday in Manchester's Veteran's Park, where roughly 500 supporters gathered for a glimpse of the presidential candidate. "I've been talking this way for 30 years. But something, something special is happening."

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Paul's call: end the IRS

By GARRY RAYNO
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff

Manchester – Calls to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and repeal the Constitutional amendment that established the federal income tax drew loud applause yesterday for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.

The Texas Congressman drew an eclectic mix of more than 500 supporters -- young and old, Libertarians and anti-war Democrats, independents and conservative Republicans -- who cheered his message of limited government, low taxes, free markets, bringing the troops home from Iraq, and returning to a monetary policy based on the gold standard.

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Ron Paul supporters not quitting, online campaign donations increase

Ron Paul's quixotic campaign may be lurking in the shadows of American mainstream media, but his supporters are still rabidly holding on to the idea their candidate for the United States Presidency may pull an eleventh-hour surprise.

Paul stands for little government involvement and even smaller foreign intervention in matters overseas. He wants an immediate pullout from Iraq, and he also is anti-abortion in his personal stance, drawing conservatives, liberals and moderates alike.

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Ron Paul raises a million dollars on-line in less than 6 days

Thanks
a
Million!!!

"The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt." Cicero, circa 63 B.C.

Ron Paul is a first tier candidate. Only fools continue to say otherwise

From: Ron Paul Daily

You hear it time and time again…in articles, in blog posts, in comments. Stop wasting your vote, he has no chance. But reality is quite the opposite. Only an ignorant person would still try using those claims(but then again these same people think we are actually helping this country in Iraq).

Let’s look at statistics shall we?

First lets look at the polls. A) Straw Polls: Ron Paul has come in the top 3 in almost every single straw poll. He has also won most of them. In fact, if you add up all the people who voted in each straw poll since the campaigns began…Ron Paul is actually in the first place in the amount of people who voted for him.(and that includes the period before he became a sensation) B) Debates: Ron Paul has won every unbiased televised debate, except for one where he came in 2nd. Now I know some of you will say they spammed the polls…well WRONG…you couldn’t spam the polls, because you could only vote once per phone #(click here for proof). And lets not forget he has been doing better and better in each debate…in the last FOX debate Ron Paul came in FIRST, with twice as many votes as the 2nd guy. C) Gallop polls…Ron Paul is at 4% nationally according to Gallop. Some of you will think that’s not that good…but its quiet the contrary. 1. Gallop Polls don’t even mention Ron Paul by name when polling people. 2. Most people have not made up their mind yet(66%), and only about 12% are 100% behind their candidate. Everyone knows Mitt Romney/Rudy Giuliani/John McCain/Fred Thompson, Ron Paul will continue gaining traction as more and more voters find out about him. 3. Ron Paul support is not actually measured by the Gallop polls. They only measure past primary voters(those people who were registered Republicans and voted in 2000)…but only about 25% of Ron Paul supporters voted in the 2000 Republican primary…that means that Ron Paul’s numbers are not 4%, but actually close to 16%...and lets not forget, that this also ignores people who weren't 18 in 2000, which means if you are 25 and younger, you are not even counted. And we all know thats the group where Ron Paul gets most of his support from.

Then let’s look at other numbers: a grassroots network that dwarfs the competition(47,831 members + 5,487 interested, growing at 6% per week)…compared to less than a 200 for the 2nd place, and 0 for Rudy(his $$$ comes from big money lawyers and not real people). Each of these meetup members have spent a lot of time and money campaigning for Ron Paul. Other candidates may have millions of dollars, but they need to buy this kind of support(which they actively do...from paying for straw polls...to Mitt Romney's super volunteers who get paid $500 a month). Just look at competition: Rudy Giuliani is yet to win a straw poll as far as I know. (0 out of what 25? Who named this guy a front runner?) Mitt Romney only wins after spending millions on straw polls. He has not won one straw poll where he didn’t have to pay for people to vote. (Once again who named this guy a front runner?) John McCain? Once again, only wins when his campaign pays for votes. (And why is this guy still a front runner when he is broke?). Fred Thompson? Yes that guy does win once in a while…by supporters who have yet to hear him speak(neo-cons go in, disenfranchised voters come out). He only sounds decent when he is reading a script...why do you think he has skipped 3 debates so far?(yes I count the NH debate, because announcing your candidacy 30 minutes after a debate is equivalent to skipping it)

This brings me to the money primary. Ron Paul is currently having a competition to raise $500,000 in 1 week. Is that a goal for someone who is a 2nd tier? But WAIT! Ron Paul's support is even better than that. Ron Paul will raise the $500,000 in about 3 days, 14 hours…giving him plenty of time to raise $1,000,000 in 1 week. These are HARDLY 2nd tier numbers. Look at John Edwards on the democratic side…he is a front runner and is also aiming to raise 1 million dollars. But unlike Ron…he is raising 1 million in 10 days, while we are going to do it in 7. And if you are still wondering…by comparison, a 2nd tier candidate…Mike Huckabee(who gets labeled a front runner, even though he isn't), has set a goal of 2,500 donations for the month of September. He is currently at 1,700 after 2 weeks of fund raising. That’s PATHETIC…and shows exactly why Ron Paul is a front runner compared to him. And lets not forget that Ron Paul does not spend money like a drunken sailor…so he will have the cash to mount up a serious campaign when the time comes to it.

The Q3 numbers will show once and for all that only an ignorant person who has no clue what’s going on in this country…would call someone like Ron Paul a 2nd tier. The movement is in motion.

Next let’s look at other stats. 70% of the country is against the war in Iraq and 33% of Republicans are against the war in Iraq. To quote a Wall Street Journal article ““when half the room at the Republican debate erupts in applause for the anti-war candidate, something is going on.”.

The ONLY candidate in the GOP who has been steadily rising instead of free falling is Ron Paul. The ONLY candidate who surpasses all expectations is Ron Paul. The ONLY candidate who stands a chance of winning the general election is Ron Paul.

We do not need to win majority of Republicans over. Hell with 5 front runners(Giuliani, Thompson, Romney, McCain, Huckabee)…we probably don’t even need to win ¼ of republicans over. We need to win over just enough Republicans, and register just enough independents to win this thing. And contrary to popular belief…you do not need majority of the country to do this. A small group of people CAN make a difference…if they vote.

Judging by past primaries, only about 12 million Republicans voted in the 2000 primary. The primary where the Christian right came out and voted in mass. Those numbers will not be repeated again. The GOP has been decimated in the past 8 years under Bush. Some GOP organizations are even going bankrupt because of lack of interest. So in 2008 expect a total of 6 million Republicans to vote…if they are lucky(not a lot of interest for the GOP this year). That’s an average of 120,000 votes per state. Which means you can win the nomination by getting as little as 30,000 votes per state…which is EASILY achievable, considering how dedicated Ron Paul supporters are.

So go ahead and change your party affiliation to Republican…it takes as little as 5 minutes…and come primaries…you can actually make a difference in this country. 1 vote can make a difference. You can rescue this nation from the path to destruction it has been put on by the Bush administration.

This actually brings me to a good point…the front runners who some support based solely on the fact that they are front runners. Do NOT need your vote. 1-2 votes makes absolutely no difference for them(and yes this includes Obama). But these same 1-2 votes are worth a lot more when you make them for the best candidate running. These same 1-2 votes can help fix this country.

Democrat or Republican it doesn’t really matter in 2008 election, all of them are in cahoots….you may think your Democrats want out of the war…but neither Obama or Clinton were willing to make a statement in yesterday's debate that they’ll pull the troops out by 2013!!!! Do you understand how sick that is? 6 years from now we’ll still be in Iraq. And that’s coming from candidates who claim to be against the war. After last night's debate, Ron Paul is the only chance this country has of ending the war in Iraq.

This country was fooled in 2000 by a man who ran on non-intervention and no nation building, who lied to our face about what he planned to do. Don’t let it happen again. Do the proper legwork. Only vote for the candidate who has the RECORD of keeping his campaign promises. Only vote for the candidate who is not lying to your face to get your votes. Only vote for the candidate who does not pander to different groups in order to get elected. And that man is RON PAUL. He is the only one, who you can trust…and that’s a very sad state of how things are in this country.

www.ronpaul2008.com <--help donate...be part of exceeding expectations
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/R-DSVE.phtml - Look up to see if your state is a closed primary. If it is, you need to be registered as a Republican in order to vote in the primaries.
http://www.gop.com/RegisterToVote/ Make your vote count

Boston Globe Front Page Article on Ron Paul

Paul's their all

Impassioned young voters energizing Texas congressman's presidential bid

By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff | September 27, 2007

CHICAGO - Late on a balmy Friday night in Wicker Park, a gentrifying neighborhood just northwest of the Loop, a small tribe of 20-somethings gathers outside a corner bar. Their leader, a petite, energetic 25-year-old named Meghann Walker, hands out leaflets to people heading inside.

"Do you guys know Ron Paul is going to be in town tomorrow?" Walker asks a short-haired young woman in jeans and flip-flops. "There'll be a lot of good people there, that's for sure."

"Cool," the woman replies.

Walker, a waitress and anthropology student who lives in Chicago, cried on Election Night 2004, crushed that Democrat John Kerry had failed to unseat President Bush. Last year, deeply disillusioned with the Iraq war and with politicians of both par ties who had failed to stop it, she began a political odyssey that transformed her into a libertarian Republican.

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Training the trainers in South Carolina

In a scene that is repeating itself around the country, over 30 top activists from around South Carolina turned up in Columbia on Saturday to learn all of the in's and out's of grassroots campaigning. They will now take all of this useful stuff back to their towns and groups and implement strategies to identify and activate voters, increase Dr. Paul's name and issue identification, and win South Carolina for the forces of hope and freedom.

Ron Paul schools Ben Bernanke on the moral hazards of bad economic policies

Ron's Kind of Town, Chicago!

On the heals of a wildly successful West Coast Swing and top 3 showings in Florida, South Carolina, and Michigan straw polls, the Ron Paul Express rolled into the Windy City on Saturday to the cheers of 1500-2000 supporters who packed the room for Congressman Paul's biggest rally to date! Here is the video of this incredible event.

Ron Paul beats Guiliani, Thompson in Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference Straw Poll

Romney 39% (383 votes)
McCain 27% (260)
Paul 11% (106)
Giulaini 11% (104)
Thompson 7% (70)
Huckabee 3% (25)
Hunter 1% (12)
Brownback >1% (3)
Tancredo 0% (0)
Uncommitted 2% (16)

Huckabee, Brownback, and Tancredo did not give speeches. Romney bussed in supporters, other candidates did not.

A supporter reports from the ground:

We just got in from spending the weekend at the Michigan GOP Leadership Conference on scenic and historic Mackinac Island. Many exciting things happened during the last few days, including an opportunity to meet my adult-hood hero, Congressman Ron Paul. I don't have time to do a full post right now but I give you some highlights.

Ron Paul had an awesome turnout from his Michigan supporters in Mackinac City on Friday. We arrived early in the afternoon, and by the time he arrived at 5:30ish in the evening, there were probably a couple hundred supporters waiting for him at the ferry dock.

When we arrived at the island, we escorted Dr. Paul through the streets of Mackinac Island to the Grand Hotel. Dr. Paul kept an amazing pace as we walked up the 'big hill' to the hotel.

Supporters met at Mary's Bistro for a great dinner. Dr. Paul made an appearance afterwards and gave a speech, signed autographs, and took pictures with us. What a statesman and gentleman.

I was on the island with my wife and six kids. We had to catch the 9pm boat back to the mainland and gathered on the dock with many (100's) of Ron Paul supporters. All of a sudden from the back of the line I hear, "Ron Paul, Ron Paul, Ron Paul"...an eruption of cheers. I turn to my left and see none other than Rudy "Terror Terror Terror" Giuliani, with about 6 or 7 people trailing. Rudy joined us (a couple of hundred Ron Paul supporters) to make the 15 minute trip back to Mackinaw City. I can only say that this was probably the longest 15 minutes in Rudy's life. More on that later...

We headed back to the island this morning and arrived just about the time Ron Paul was leaving the luncheon at the hotel to head to the Chicago Rally. We stayed on the island the rest of the day 'Ron Paulin'.

My wife picked up a 'bug' while we were on the island. For the past five months I've been talking to her about Ron Paul, and she's been a supportive partner. But I've never seen her seek out anything about Ron Paul herself. Tonight, as soon as we got home, I found her at the computer, on RonPaul2008.com, learning more about Ron Paul - she's caught the 'Ron Paul Freedom Bug'.

Meet the REAL Mike Huckabee (Economic Record)

"Governor Huckabee says he is a fiscal conservative," Club for Growth President Pat Toomey said, "but his ten-year economic-policy record as the governor of Arkansas is mixed, at best. His history includes numerous tax hikes, ballooning government spending, and increased regulation. To be sure, Governor Huckabee's record displays an occasional deference to a pro-growth philosophy, but that is only a small slice of a much bigger picture. The Club for Growth feels citizens deserve a full picture of where Governor Huckabee stands on the critical economic issues of the day." - Club for Growth

• Immediately upon taking office, Governor Huckabee signed a sales tax hike in 1996 to fund the Games and Fishing Commission and the Department of Parks and Tourism (Cato Policy Analysis No. 315, 09/03/98).

• He supported an internet sales tax in 2001 (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07).
• He publicly opposed the repeal of a sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002 (Arkansas News Bureau 08/30/02).
• He signed bills raising taxes on gasoline (1999), cigarettes (2003) (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07), and a $5.25 per day bed-tax on private nursing home patients in 2001 (Arkansas New Bureau 03/01/01).
• He proposed another sales take hike in 2002 to fund education improvements (Arkansas News Bureau 12/05/02).
• He opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003 (Arkansas News Bureau 11/21/03).
• In 2004, he allowed a 17% sales tax increase to become law (The Gurdon Times 03/02/04).

Under Governor Huckabee's watch, state spending increased a whopping 65.3% from 1996 to 2004, three times the rate of inflation (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07). The number of state government workers rose 20% during his tenure (Arkansas Leader 04/15/06), and the state's general obligation debt shot up by almost $1 billion, according to Americans for Tax Reform. The massive increase in government spending is due in part to the number of new programs and expansion of already existing programs initiated by Governor Huckabee, including ARKids First, a multimillion-dollar government program to provide health coverage for thousands of Arkansas' children (Arkansas News Bureau 04/13/06).

• Raised the minimum wage in April 2006 from $5.15 to $6.25 an hour and encouraged Congress to take the same initiative on a national level (US Newswire 08/03/06), a proposal that President Bush and most congressional GOP members oppose.
• Sought to take revenue from his tax hike proposal to be used on economic development projects in 2002 (AP, 11/22/02).
• Threatened to investigate price-gouging after 9/11 if gasoline prices went up too high (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 09/12/01).
• Ordered regulatory agencies in Arkansas to investigate price-gouging in the nursing home industry (AP, 06/15/01).
• Signed a bill into law that would prevent companies from raising their prices a mere 10% ahead of a natural disaster. Services like roof repair and tree removal were targeted (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 03/07/97).

Governor Huckabee is on record opposing the most important element of genuine school choice-voucher programs that allow poor students in failing public schools to attend private schools and inject much needed competition into a decrepit public education system-because of a concern about government control of parochial schools (Arkansas Times 09/22/05). He also called No Child Left Behind "the greatest education reform effort by the federal government in my lifetime," (Washington Times 03/01/05) a program that stripped schools of local control and increased federal spending on education by 48% over three years (Heritage.org 11/09/06).

Republicans descend on Mackinac Island

MACKINAC ISLAND - Michigan Republicans convened Friday on Mackinac Island amidst a sea of Ron Paul supporters. Paul, a Texas congressman and one of seven GOP presidential hopefuls attending the biennial state Republican leadership conference, unexpectedly recruited supporters who lined the docks at the Lake Huron island's harbor and swarmed the Grand Hotel.

The large following in Mackinac is especially sweet for Paul because state GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis tried to get him removed from televised debates because of views that run counter to most Republicans. "This will be a test for us," Paul said earlier Friday in an interview with the Detroit Free Press editorial board.

In contrast, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had fewer visible supporters at the conference...

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The absurdity of calling Ron Paul a "second-tier" candidate

Here is the list of straw poll results for this cycle. How can anyone justify denying that Dr. Paul is a top-tier candidate with win records like this against all of the other Republicans? By this metric, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and Dr. Paul ARE the top tier! Yet the mainstream media continues to ignore Dr. Paul. It continued with the PFC Straw Poll yesterday. There were 42 news stories about the poll beforehand and only 8 reports of the results, and those were mostly reprints of an AP story about a comment made by McCain! Any objective observer must conclude that Dr. Paul is not getting a fair shake.

Ron Paul's Head-to-Head Records (Win-Lose-Tie):
Rudy Giuliani	21-3-0
Mitt Romney	14-10-0
Fred Thompson	11-12-0
John McCain	21-2-0
Mike Huckabee	19-3-1
Sam Brownback	20-2-1
Tom Tancredo	21-1-0
Duncan Hunter	20-2-0

Ron Paul shocks South Carolina GOP - Strong showing in Focus on the Family-linked Straw Poll

The Palmetto Family Council Straw Poll was last night in Columbia South Carolina. The PFC is a local affiliate of James Dobson's Focus on the Family and this event is historically considered a major test of organizational strength among S.C. evangelicals.

Even though the ballot contained the names of 20 candidates, Republican and Democrat, the night was dominated by only two...former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Dr. Ron Paul. Huckabee, along with Duncan Hunter and a couple of barely-ran's that I couldn't pick out of a line-up, appeared in person to make their pitch to the gathered faithful. Dr. Paul phoned in from Michigan and spoke for about 10 minutes highlighting his strong record on social and cultural issues such as abortion and immigration.

We had a great table and gave out a couple of hundred DVD's as well as issue papers, bumper stickers, slimjims, and tri-folds. Our numbers were so overwhelming that Duncan Hunter commented during his speech that he was glad he could come to the event and have his picture taken with all of these Ron Paul supporters.

In the end, we couldn't quite muster the votes to overcome Huckabee's popularity among evangelicals, but just as in Florida we came in a respectable second only 27 votes behind Huckabee! Here is the final vote total. Names not listed are those that received less than 2 votes.

Huckabee (206) 39%
Paul (179) 33%
Thompson (33) 6%
Brownback (29) 5%
Hunter (25) 5%
Romney (14) 3%
Gilbert (12) 2%
McCain (10) 2%
Cort (7) 1%
Guiliani (5) 1%

Did "Blowback" Cause 9/11?

Americans deserve better answers to old questions

By Jack Hunter
Charleston City Paper

When Texas Congressman Ron Paul suggested in a Republican presidential debate that 9/11 was caused in part by "blowback," a CIA term used to describe the negative consequences of mostly secretive foreign actions taken by the United States, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani replied with the following: "That's really an extraordinary statement. I don't think I've heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th."

And Giuliani isn't alone. There are millions of Americans, probably even a majority, who believe that 9/11 literally came out of the blue. That on September 10, 2001, we were minding our own business, then on the next day the United States was attacked for no reason. But the truth is, in the eyes of the rest of the world, we haven't been minding our own business for a very long time.

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Ron Paul: Utah turnout wows candidate

Before a crowd of 1,000, Republican hopeful speaks about foreign policy, war

By Sheena McFarland
The Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated: 09/16/2007 02:38:49 AM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

More than 1,000 people gathered Saturday at the Union Pacific Depot in Salt Lake City to rally behind U.S. Rep. Ron Paul in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Paul, an obstetrician from Texas, was impressed with the turnout.
"Wow. If they only knew you existed over in Washington, they'd change things over there," he said as he greeted the cheering crowd.

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Bienvenidos a Florida

A room with a view

I have arrived in Florida ahead of the Values Voter debate scheduled for tomorrow night at the Broward Center for Performing Arts. The show will be broadcast live on Sky Angel and other Christian cable systems as well as Christian radio and web sites. It will be re-broadcast on CSPAN.

Needless to say, the so-called front runners don't want to actually answer questions from Christians about their records, so Rudy McRomneyson (that's the terrible 3 plus Fred Thompson) will not be joining us, I guess they figure you don't need to answer questions from actual Republican voters when the Council on Foreign Relations and the Military Industrial Complex has already deemed that one of you will win.

Wired on Ron Paul supporters

SAN FRANCISCO –- Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul was given a warm reception in this liberal stronghold on Thursday as Silicon Valley professionals turned out to support the long shot campaign.

At a fundraiser at San Francisco's swanky Palace Hotel, a 40-odd group of Ron Paul supporters paid $500 a head to have breakfast with "Dr. Paul," as they call him. Outside, a large group of supporters chanted their support. Cars honked, and passers-by joined in the chanting.

"Ron Paul!" they shouted. "Freedom!"

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Ron Paul for President 2.0?

Kissing babies, stumping on the campaign tour and meeting with the local supporters all seems so... well 1.0. Texas Congressman and libertarian Dr. Ron Paul represents the new 2.0 candidate, with his success recruiting supporters through new social media channels. But Congressman Paul's online supporters may run far afield from the typical campaign supporter. With over 114,000 views, the MSNBC interview with Michelle Shinghal, representing Strippers for Ron Paul, showcased one of the many new and curious groups campaigning online for the Republican hopeful. With some candidates in the 2008 Presidential election embracing every facet of Web 2.0 to get their message out, from YouTube videos to MySpace profiles, your next president may be no further than a friend-add on Facebook.

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Ron Paul on the L.A. News

Success in L.A.

Los Angeles enthusiastically received Ron Paul yesterday!

The fundraising reception in the morning was a great success. It was held at the Ritz Carlton in Pasadena and tickets were $500 per person. Sold out!

After the breakfast, Dr. Paul went to a nearby university. He met with a group of students and press. He then spoke at a rally outside on campus. A police officer estimated the crowd to be between 700-900 people. They cheered Dr. Paul time and time again. Students and professors in the surrounding buildings had windows opened and listened too.

After the rally, Dr. Paul attended a fundraising reception on campus. Tickets were $500 per person for the event. Sold out!

Yesterday evening, Dr. Paul attended a fundraising dinner at the home of Bill Johnson. Tickets were $2,000 per person. Sold out!

Dr. Paul and staff then traveled to San Francisco arriving about 1:00 am this morning. It will be another busy day.

Kent Snyder
Chairman, Ron Paul 2008

News from the road

Ron at USC

Sorry that it's been a while since I have had a chance to post, but things have been pretty hectic lately. I have traveled to every corner of South Carolina in the past few days. I spent last night in Myrtle Beach meeting with supporters, the night before was Greenville, and Columbia the night before that. The previous day I was in Charleston where I will be returning to speak tomorrow. All of this ahead of Daytona Beach on Saturday and Fort Lauderdale on Sunday and Monday. Beyond that, I have no idea.

The personal highlight of the Myrtle Beach swing was having a drink with Robbie Knievel, who just happened to be at a road house that I stopped at for a burger. Nice guy.

I am so far out of the loop with HQ right now that I'm not even sure what most of the staff is up to. Ron has been having a great swing out west. Right now he's in California. He's in Seattle tomorrow and Utah on Saturday. The trip has generated great press and really energized the activists out on the left coast.

We have the Values Voter debate on Monday and a PBS debate on the 27th. There is also the Palmetto Family Straw Poll and Dinner on the 20th which I have been working on along with our awesome South Carolina coordinator Brian Gentry and an incredible and dedicated group of activists.

Back at HQ, they are putting the final touches on the new web site design, so keep an eye on ronpaul2008.com for the new look and features coming soon.

The new Ron Paul Store has also been rolled out. New items will be added weekly.

The world's most successful libertarian politician says, "Follow the Ron Paul Strategy"

I just dug up this little nugget from a 2003 Reason interview with Libertarian Movement founder and Costa Rica's most popular legislator, Otto Guevara. He suggests that working within the Republican structure is the best way to promote libertarian policies, and I wholeheartedly agree.

Does what ML does in Costa Rica have implications for libertarians in the United States?

"Well, given the electoral system you have here, a different strategy might be needed. I don't see the major parties changing the winner-take-all, first-past-the-post voting system. So perhaps, as an America, I would explore something like Ron Paul's strategy instead. The key for us was exposure, and if you don't necessarily have your own candidates, then it's important to incorporate certain people with a national profile, who can give your positions credibility."

Read the complete article here.

News from the road

Well, I have been in South Carolina for a few days now and I am really fired up over all of the great people working on the campaign here. I have met with a number of key activists in Columbia, Charleston, and Aiken. They are super folks with a lot of talent and energy. I will be speaking to MeetUp groups in Columbia, Greenvile, and Myrtle Beach next week. I am hoping to make it back down to Charleston next weekend before heading to Florida for the Values Voter debate on the 17th. If any of you are in the area and would like a chance to talk or attend one of these meetings, let me know. - F2S

Ron Paul Polling 3rd among GOP activists and rising!

Rep. Ron Paul showed the biggest gain from Grassfire’s May poll, rising from seventh position (6 percent) to a solid third position (13 percent) – a more than a 50 percent increase in support among grassroots conservatives. Mike Huckabee’s support also rose, from 3 to 7 percent. “Paul’s rise shows that conservatives are not all that thrilled with the anointed frontrunners,” says Elliott. “Paul’s message is resonating with many conservatives, and it would be wise for the other candidates to take note.”

Survey methodology
Grassfire.org conducted the survey August 27-September 2. All active Grassfire.org team members were invited to participate. 39,440 participated. The survey has a margin of error of less than 1% at a 99% confidence level for the Grassfire.org audience of approximately 1 million grassroots conservatives.

A message from Ron Paul

September 7, 2007

Has this been a hectic and encouraging time! First we got almost 17% in the Texas straw poll, an event set-up to represent the establishment, with very restrictive voting rules. That 17% of the Republican hierarchy would support our views, after a full day of pro-war propaganda, is good news. Then we won the more open Maryland Republican straw poll with 28%. In both cases, as usual, hard-working, well-organized volunteers made all the difference.

The Fox debate was a lot of fun as well. It's true that a few of the network people are not exactly with us on foreign or domestic policy (though one famous guy whispered to me that he is a libertarian), but the audience-with lots of students from the University of New Hampshire-was definitely fair and balanced, as their enthusiastic reaction showed.

My opponents called for more war, more torture, more secret prisons, more eavesdropping, more presidential power. Some seemed to identify the government and the people as if they were one entity. But you and I know that once the government moves beyond its very limited constitutional mandate, it is an opponent of the people, a rip-off operation that takes our money and our freedom and our social peace, and gives us a mess of statist pottage in return.

The government failed miserably on 911 to protect us, despite spending trillions. So the answer was supposed to be the giant, socialist Department of Homeland Security, protecting you and me from taking our toothpaste on the airplane. I was ridiculed for saying that the airlines, which know best how to protect their property, should have been allowed to arm their pilots. But then, you and I really believe in the Second Amendment. It is not just a political slogan for us.

When I discussed the blowback that came from us intervening on the Arabian peninsula, Chris Wallace asked me if I wanted to follow the marching orders of al-Qaeda. I responded that I wanted to follow the marching orders of the Constitution, and not wage undeclared, aggressive wars that cause us only trouble. This is a mystifying to some, of course, but not to more and more Americans.

There was much talk of taxes, and a pledge not to raise rates. But as usual, I was not allowed to discuss my lifelong pledge to abolish the income tax. Just holding the line, when the government takes such vast sums through an illegitimate guilty-until-proven-innocent system, is hardly enough. We need to slash taxes and spending if we are to have a future of prosperity for ourselves and our families.

After the debate, many young people gathered around the stage to discuss our ideas and ask questions about them (and to have me sign their badges). My colleagues got no such response, and after a few moments, "security" ordered me off the stage. Can't have any such demonstration of interest in liberty.

But the young are with us, and so are Americans of every stripe. Even party officials. When one of my opponent said it was OK to lose elections through supporting the Iraq war, that set party people's teeth on edge, and rightly so. The Republican party is shrinking. We need new people. It's either our ideas or President Hillary, and more and more people recognize it.

But the media, and everyone else, will be looking at fundraising totals at the end of this month. They'll judge us by how we do. And we need help to wage what we hope will be a full-scale, 50-state campaign. Please help me head into the next quarter fully armed to do battle for freedom, peace and prosperity. Make your most generous contribution https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate/. This Revolution is on the move, but it very much needs your support.

Sincerely,

Ron

Free Corn

There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some Exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the professor noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question.He asked, " Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"

The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side.

The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity.

The young man told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America. The government keeps pushing us toward communism - socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. While we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time

Fred Thompson: Friend of Abortionists

Combing through Thompson's archive, Newsweek found several files on his campaign strategy on abortion that could roil his 2008 bid. On a 1994 Eagle Forum survey, Thompson said he opposed criminalizing abortion. Two years later, on a Christian Coalition questionnaire, he checked "opposed" to a proposed constitutional amendment protecting the sanctity of human life. In a campaign policy statement filed in the archives, he also said he believes "the decision to have an early term abortion is a moral issue and should not be a legal one subject to the dictates of the government." During an interview with the Conservative Spectator, a Tennessee newspaper, he claimed to be pro-life but also said that, "The ultimate decision on abortion should be left with the woman and not the government."

Complete Article here

The Real Fred Thompson

FOR RELEASE September 6, 2007

Richard Viguerie: Thompson's Newest Hollywood Role--
Playing a Conservative

(Manassas, Virginia) Following are the main points made by Richard A. Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big-Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause (Bonus Books, 2006), in his new paper, "Fred Thompson, the Faux Conservative."

The full article is on-line here. It supplements Viguerie's July report, " Conservatives, Beware of Fred Thompson."

Fred Thompson is a Washington insider.

"Fred Thompson has spent more years in Washington as a lobbyist than as a U.S. Senator," Viguerie's paper points out.

His client list included Haitian tyrant Jean-Bertrand Aristide--the leftist murderer who called the United States "the great Satan" and defended "necklacing"—the gruesome torture of fastening a tire around a victim's neck, filling it with gasoline, and setting it on fire. Thompson's defense? "President Clinton supported Aristide too."

Fred Thompson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. CFR is the liberal foreign policy Establishment personified. This is the club for Dean Acheson and Henry Kissinger wanabees.

Fred Thompson is a Big-Government Expansionist.

Fred Thompson has quietly voted for George W. Bush's massive expansion of Big Government's intrusion into American citizens' personal lives. Thompson voted, for example, to allow government eavesdropping on presumed innocent citizens through "roving wiretaps."

He was a key water-boy for one of the most unconstitutional pieces of legislation in American history—the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act. Apparently there's something "dirty" about grassroots lobbying—unlike his lobbying for billions in corporate pork and welfare.

"Fred Thompson the political actor is very adept at delivering his lines about the need for fiscal responsibility, putting an end to pork and corporate welfare, and the rest of the conservative litany. Fred Thompson the lobbyist and Washington insider, however, sees pork as a juicy way to make a living," says Viguerie's paper.

Fred Thompson is no principled conservative.

He's voted 14 times against the Constitutional right to bear arms.

He's voted to grant amnesty to illegal aliens.

He's voted to squander billions of taxpayers' hard-earned dollars on subsidies to gimme-groups like tobacco farmers, the Peace Corps, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

As Viguerie's earlier paper, " Conservatives, Beware of Fred Thompson ," points out, Thompson provided legal services for a pro-abortion group—and then claimed that he couldn't remember the work he did.

The July report also notes that Thompson has never walked among conservatives or fought in the trenches with us, preferring the company of big-government establishment Republicans like Howard Baker and Lamar Alexander. "Tell me who you walk with," Viguerie says, "and I'll tell you who you are."

"Playing a conservative is just another acting job for Fred Thompson," Viguerie concludes.

That's why Viguerie used satire yesterday to show what's really going on— click here to read "Fred Thompson under contract to play 'The Conservative.'"

"Conservatives, keep your powder dry," Viguerie advises. "None of the four top-tier Republican candidates appears to be a true, principled conservative because none of them opposed the Republicans' massive expansion of government during the last ten years. The GOP has taken us for granted for too long. Conservatives should make the GOP and its candidates come to us and prove that they are worthy of our support."

Many more details about Fred Thompson's conservative charade are contained in the paper, "Fred Thompson, the Faux Conservative," available on-line here.

-30-

Ouch!

I planned a similar event in Cedar Rapids where only 300 people showed up. I thought that was painful. I wonder how many of them are staff?

Another Debate, Another Debate Poll Win for Ron Paul

Results of FOX News post-debate Poll:

Ron Paul -33%
Mike Huckabee - 18%
Rudy Giuliani - 15%
John McCain - 14%
Mitt Romney - 12%
Tom Tancredo - 2%
Duncan Hunter - 2%
Sam Brownback - 1%

Another Straw Poll, Another Straw Poll Win for Ron Paul

Ron Paul - 263 (28%)
Rudy Giuliani - 220 (24%)
Fred Thompson - 188 (20%)
Mitt Romney - 89 (10%)
John McCain - 54 (6%)
Mike Huckabee - 35 (4%)
Tom Tancredo - 16 (2%)
Sam Brownback - 12 (1%)
Duncan Hunter - 3 (0%)

Grassroots Candidate Wins Surprise Upset

ANNAPOLIS— After eleven days of presidential straw poll ballots cast at the Maryland Republican Party’s State Fair booth, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) was announced last night as the winner.

The Maryland Republican Party’s first-ever presidential straw poll at the State Fair resulted in nearly 1,000 Marylanders casting a vote for their favorite Republican candidate for president. The straw poll was open to all voting age adults regardless of party affiliation, and the voter had to be present at the booth. The campaigns of all nine presidential candidates appearing on the ballot were invited to have a representative at the State Fair booth at all times. While most campaigns did not have a representative present, the Ron Paul campaign had full representation for all eleven days.

Read more

Paul Campaign Concludes Successful Weekend with Strong Straw Poll Finish

FORT WORTH, TEXAS – Congressman Ron Paul placed third in today's Texas GOP Straw Poll with 16 percent of the vote. The solid outcome marked the conclusion of a highly successful weekend during which the campaign had a rally with over 1,000 attendees and raised well over $100,000. Today's results continue a trend around the nation of top or middle tier finishes for the Paul campaign.

The presence of Dr. Paul supporters dominated the straw poll site, and campaign leaders were pleased with the results in light of the difficult voting restrictions. Only recent party delegates were allowed to cast ballots, meaning that most of the thousands who turned out for Dr. Paul could cheer and celebrate but not vote. In addition, the straw poll was held several hours away from the Paul's stronghold of south Texas.

"This was a great weekend for our campaign, and Texans turned out in droves to support Dr. Paul," said campaign manager Lew Moore. "The pro-war party insiders voting in this straw poll may not support him, but the majority of attendees clearly did."

Dr. Paul is the only candidate who voted against the Iraq war and favors prompt withdrawal , a position supported by over 70 percent of the American people. Many experts believe that Republicans cannot win the presidency in 2008 if they nominate a pro-war candidate. Texans appeared to support this position by opening their wallets as the Paul campaign pulled in more money over the weekend from grassroots supporters than the Texas GOP raised from the entire straw poll.

Another Great Ron Paul video

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