The Ron Paul Express keeps rolling

Certain numbers keep calling attention to the phenomenon that is Ron Paul.

The most obvious one, of course, was the more than $4.2 million that his campaign reported raising in a single day via the Internet earlier this month.  This week, other figures stand out: He attracted a crowd of more than 1,000 people in Nevada, and a new poll showed him doubling his support in New Hampshire.

As is increasingly the case with Paul, the audience that came to hear him speak Monday in Las Vegas was not only large, it was enthusiastic.  A story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal has the details and the atmospherics.

In New Hampshire, the survey of likely Republican primary voters by CNN and Manchester-based television station WMUR found backing for Paul jumping from 4% in a September poll to 8% now.  In July, Paul was at 2% in the poll; the geometric progression clearly is a trend the Paul camp wants to see continue.

Will it?  The "smart" political money would bet against it.  Then again, who would have predicted a few months ago that Paul would be closing in on double digits in a New Hampshire poll.

GQ today joined the growing list of those paying more attention to Paul (though likely not enough to satisfy his ardent band of followers).  The magazine named him an honoree in its annual Men of the Year issue; he's part of a truly eclectic roster that includes Bill Clinton, actor Daniel Craig, hip-hop musician Kanye West, "Sopranos" creator David Chase, tennis star Roger Federer, baseball's Alex Rodriguez and flamboyant artist/filmmaker Julian Schnabel.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[John Kirkman]

We Americans love our Freedom and all who died fighting for it. Absolutely disgusting the way Our Constitution is being violated..

Paul, Obama, and Kucinich are the only one's since Jimmy Carter to give a damn about civil liberties. Clinton and both Bushes were abysmal on our precious liberties.

[Leonardo]

This should have been a "no brainier" folks...
This is NOT a popularity contest...
I will choose a "Man of Integrity" over "you know the rest..." ANY DAY!!!

America be proud...

[Deep Toad]

Holy cow! A writeup that is neutral and fact-based. What is the world coming to?

;-)

[W. Gary Johnson, New York, NY]

I still think GQ should have had Ron Paul on the cover.

[tonykarr]

I am 66 and have been a Republican since 1976. Ron Paul is a breath of fresh air. He is for smaller government, bringing the tropps home, secure borders, lower taxes, freedom and liberty. He is also honest, straight forward and without handlers.

Who doesn't like that?

My family will be voting for Ron Paul!

[WilliamL]

Paul sure has money, but does he have a chance once people get to know his stands? On the other hand, Mike Huckabee is only gaining as people get to know him and his fresh, reasonable positions - he's a close number 2 in Iowa. He could sure use some of Paul's fans' money!

[Bob C]

Thank you for writing an honest article.
It speaks volumes about a reporter who writes the news rather than trying to manipulate it. All candidates should be held to their platforms, their ideas and why they hold those ideas...enough of soundbites, enough of business as usual, honesty for a change is refreshing. Thanks again.

[libertynow]

Ron Paul driven that freedom train won't you come on board?

[Dan]

Ron Paul is the only choice. The rest are all play acting. It's a disgrace.

[mark]

When has there ever been this much excitement for a candidate?Not just from the hearts and minds of "WE THE PEOPLE",but from their pockets.This Freedom Movement is just getting started!

[Cleaner44]

Ron Paul will win. People love his ideas and honesty. While some may think he does not have a chance to win, that he is a "long shot" candidate, they are wrong. He dominates in Straw Polls, Debate Polls, Fund Raising, Web Traffic and Grass Roots Networking. I have created a website to support this statement.

Please visit www.thecaseforronpaul.com and judge for yourself.

[Mike]

" anti-semitic views as abolishing the FED"

Holy cow, how is being against the FED anti-semitic? Does that mean that maybe Jews run the FED? I always heard them say that insiuating THAT was anti-semitic! I guess now if you say you dont like cheeseburgers, its anti-semitic too.

[Valeria]

The usa today has the full page ad today. It's in there too. Sure is refreshing to see a reporter who doesn't try to bring Ron Paul to a halt. We need this man ! Kucinich is against guns, the others just don't have what it takes in my opinion. Ron Paul is consistent in what he says and in how he votes. He will make a great president. I feel Ron Paul is true presidential material. He believes in our constitution as we all do. We have the ten planks of the communist manifesto operating right now in the united states. They are talking about chipping people. Why do we need to have a chip in us? well they try to tell you that it is for medical purposes but the real reason is to track what your doing. Where you go, what you spend and what you buy. It is also opens the door to predators. It will allow them to steal all of your private information. Bank account numbers, your address, ect. How communistic is this?? You can see this chip on the web. Just google chip for humans.

Ron Paul will bring a quick halt to the governments invasion of our private lives. We have to do that if we are to keep our freedom and liberty. If nothing else they have clearly stepped outside their boundaries of the constitution and we cannot trust any of these other candidates to scale it down. If we want to keep our freedom we must fight for it. The ONLY leader we have for it is Ron Paul. He is a strict constitutionalist. Once you scale it down, people's lives will get back to normal. Want to learn what the constitution does for you? Google Michael Badnarik Videos. He is a constitutional expert too. He has classes on it. They are free and it is what Americans must know. We hear news casters all the time talk about our "democracy" WE DON'T LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY! WE live in a REPUBLIC ! this is the dumbing down of Americans. You hear it over and over again and pretty soon you start to believe it. IT'S A REPUBLIC ! if you can keep it. Vote Ron Paul

[Ian]

Good article Mr. Frederick. Certainly better then Mr. Malcoms very weak piece.

Keep it rolling people... Ron Paul in 08!

[Chad]

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

[Liz C]

Even 8% in NH is a low, inaccurate number. These polls only call Republicans who voted in the last election (a.k.a likely Republican voters). They do not include the independent vote, nor do they include new voters (age 18-21 who obviously did not vote in the last election), nor do they include 3rd party voters, nor do they include people who have not voted for years out of apathy and/or disgust, nor do they include anyone who does not own a landline phone. (Ron Paul is hitting it big with people in their 20's and 30's. MANY of those people do not own landline phones. Pollsters do not call cell phones!).
So, polls really are NOT accurate when it comes to Paul, at least. Also, keep in mind that Kerry was at about 4% in the polls in NH one month before the primary, and he won the nomination.

[Joseph]

I'm betting on Seabiscuit (Ron Paul) to win by 20 lengths going away.

War Admiral (fill in the name of your favorite can't lose, corporate shill, dissembling candidate from either party) will be left in the dust.

His media coverage may be small but his message is mighty, and We the People hear it through the cackling din of the self-annointed political royalty and their court jesters.

Paul is a stateman reminiscent of Churchill, Gandhi, Roger Williams the founder of Rhode Island, and Lincoln who sticks by his principles. This integrity to principles is the magnetic force which attracts his support.

[Glen Kane]

If you liked Ron Reagan, you"ll love Ron Paul.

[Chuck C]

Thank you, Mr. Frederick, for the rare gift of an unbiased commentary on Dr. Paul's campaign.

This is off-topic, I know, but I have to pass it on: there's a petition on at the Center for Costitutional Rights to ask Dubya to uphold and defend that poor, abused document.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/383/t/4089/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=822

They're sending thousands of copies of the Constitution to the president as a Christmas gift.

[Kenny Hanson]

Remember remember the 16th of December...

VOTE FOR RON PAUL!!!

[Jimmy D]

I'm ashamed to say I have not voted in years. I grew up in New England in a middle class Democratic family. My apathy ran deep until precisely one month ago. That's when I found Ron Paul's message. Today I sent in my voter registration card so I could vote in the Primary. I've donated $300 to his campaign and will be maxxing out my donation over the coming months. I've ordered cards and stamps to help spread the word. The last six years have been the most damaging ever in American history. This admisistration has destroyed our constitution and our reputation. Our economy is quickly becoming the next victim. Ron Paul is the only one who can restore all three. Thank you Ron Paul, for waking up America. Thank you for waking me up sir. I only hope enough Americans will see this opportunity for real change, as I fear it may be our last.

[Joseph]

Just as Albert Einstein discovered relativity by thought experiments, let us do a thought experiment to examine the rules for our economy. The proposed thought experiment can also be done physically on your home's dining room table.

Imagine playing the board game Monopoly with this change of the rules.

Eliminate the central bank being the only source of loans and mortgages.

Allow loans between players. Each time a player passes GO he makes an installment payment on all his outstanding loans. Payment size is negotiable with whoever holds his note. The interest rate for all loans is 0%.

Establish a Real Estate Investment Trust mutual money fund and require each player to make a deposit in any amount each time they pass GO. Keep track of balance accrued for each player. Allow any player who lands directly on Go to decide if the Mutual Fund can buy any property on the board at its face value including improvements if made by another player. The mutual fund has to have sufficient cash funds to cover the sale and the deed is placed in control of the Mutual Fund. The Mutual Fund cannot sell properties it holds to cover the purchase.

Whenever a player lands on a property owned by the Mutual Fund, the rent paid is apportioned to the current balances based on relative percent of fund shares owned.

When a player lands on property, he can use his account balance in the Mutual Fund to buy the property restricted to the amount of cash holdings of the Fund. The Fund cannot sell properties it holds to cover his withdrawal for the purchase.

The Mutual Fund depositors can vote to hold an auction sale to liquidate deeds held by the fund. Vote rules are each depositor gets only one vote.

Switch the objective of the game from driving out all competition and leaving only one player standing. The game objective is now to fully develop all properties until all the game pieces representing development are on the board or all the currency is gone from the central bank as it depletes from players passing GO. Create new game pieces to represent movie theaters, factories, shopping malls, or amusement parks to add to the homes and hotels. Play stops when the central bank is empty of currency. Or if you want to continue play, have every remaining player pay a flat tax on all the currency they hold to replenish the central bank. No tax on property assets or mutual fund balance.

There is the possibility for a player or two to go bust during the course of play but in the end there will be several players left. The winner is who has the highest net worth of the remaining players.

A free economy works rather nicely without a central bank charging interest on the currency issued.

We really don't need the Federal Reserve.

You will appreciate this if you play Monopoly with the rules outlined above.

The players, not the central bank, are the real wealth definers.

Break the Monopoly of the Federal Reserve!

Elect Ron Paul. He will guide us in the creation of new game rules for Our the People's economy.

[Glen]

Let's keep it rollin for Dr. Paul!!!

[Joseph Kelly]

The war in Iraq has lasted as long as World War 2, has cost more than World War 2 and ten times its original estimate. Billion of Dollars have gone missing without any idea where. And there is decades of this in sight under the current administration including any alternative to Ron Paul. Voting Ron Paul would put an end to this craziness.

Furthermore with the second amendment under attack and the fast sinking Dollar in comparison to its former value and in comparison to foreign currencies, it is yet again worth voting for Ron Paul, since he has a proper understanding of economics.

[John]

I did not know who Ron Paul was 6 weeks ago, now I am an advocate and feeling optimistic about America with him around. Is this our Reagan?

[Jeugenen]

DAWN OF THE AMERICAN REFORMATION, AND END OF THE ERA OF THE UGLY AMERICAN
This Ron Paul Libertarian rebellion is an escalation and re-orientation of the American Cultural War, by the American People, against the rising governmental tyranny by Neoconservative Republicans and Leftist Democrats.
It is sweeping across America like a wildfire - ignited by the illegal and unnecessary invasion of Iraq. It raises many crucial questions, such as:
Where does the American Constitution give my government the right to sacrifice precious American wealth and blood, in interests of domestic and foreign lobbies?
Where does the American Constitution give my government the right to allow my nation to be invaded and permanently occupied by illegal aliens?
Where does the American Constitution give my government the right to support the sacrificial killing of children, by their own mothers?
Where does the American Constitution give my government the right to discriminate against traditional religious practices in public schools, universities, marriage institutions, armed forces, and governmental offices?
This creeping governmental tyranny, driven by perverse special interests, has now been going on for so many decades, like the illegal alien invasion, that the impending American Reformation is regarded with fear and loathing, by those who are to lose their illicit gains.
Like Gandhi, Ron Paul is drawing his intrepid volunteers from the full spectrum of humanity; and World is cheering him on to victory.

[Gerudomar]

Sure. There is not the slightest doubt that being against the FED, critizising the value of the USDollar, being against income tax funding the FED, being against foreign policy protecting Israel as our most important ally in the world, is anti-semitic. If you want to be anti-semitic, its OK. Just know that this will be harmful for you and your family. Jesus was a Semite. And he is the son of God. To hell with Anti-Semites.

[Gerudomar]

To Mike | November 21, 2007 at 08:08 AM

Maybe being against cheeseburgers would not necessarily be considered to be anti-semitic, but if you don't like bagels and if you hate the Dollar's depreciation against all major world currencies, that certainly could be considered to be anti-semitic, at least in my opinion. Make sure you don't get that stigma.

[Manny]

I will be switching my registration to GOP to vote for Ron Paul next year (I always considered myself a Democrat, but this is not about the party, it is about voting for the only honest candidate out there)

[joe kronz]

I love this man, just to have a honest politician in the oval office would be wonderful! But he is honest and right on in so many areas. DOWN with the empire, UP with the republic. DOWN with federal govenment, UP with liberty!!!!

Get the government out of my house, work and church

ron paul, ron Paul, Ron Paul, RON PAUL!!!

[Lark]

It's wonderful to see Paul get positive, but balanced, press coverage in a mainstream publication - sure would be nice to see a lot more of it.

Like you, maybe, I'd like to believe enlightened journalists... less beholden to their paymasters... and more attuned to their readers' interests, just might be patriots too.

An interesting line of inquiry... regarding the insidious robbing... of our precious Individualist's right... to breathe the free air in America... can be found by googling "Anti-Communitarian League".

Eye-opening... is what it is. To say nothing of the fact... that the clever language of communitarian law... has been hiding in plain sight... for far too long. It's the ultimate vehicle for supplanting constitutional republican law for a perverted democracy that never was, nor was ever intended to be.

And we've seen how authoritarian statists can manipulate the message... by controlling the media... before getting down to the more serious business... of manipulating the vote count... in a democratically-held election or two, haven't we?

By twisting the language for the "common good" - as opposed to being "for" the lone individual standing courageously against state-sanctioned tyranny - the Hegelian dialectic is being used nowadays to enslave us to elitist agendas... supported by unyielding, extra-legal communitarian laws - which are as alien to American soil as totalitarianism itself.

All the more reason to work harder getting Dr. Paul elected to the bully pulpit in Washington!

This once-proud nation-state called America is still a Constitutional Republic... but it's in need of a clarion call to action... by its citizenry. We desperately need a serious reawakening of what it means... that "we, the people" own our own liberty... in this land again - enough to last us... for another 200 years.

The big media interests, for the most part, are not going to willfully give up their power... to control the message... of whomever pays the piper... either. It's up to EACH one of us... as real patriots... to spread the word of freedom... before time runs out.

So we've got our work cut out for us if we want to control the damage from this train wreck... straight up ahead.

Because it's really coming. Real change in America is finally in the offing - though we live in perilous times.

Film star John Wayne, who, after his death was awarded a congressional gold medal, once famously said: "It rankles me when somebody tries to tell somebody to do something."

With all his perceived faults, I do believe he understood, at least, what it meant to be possessed of a uniquely American spirit, don't you?

Wayne was reared in Iowa... but made his reputation... in the Los Angeles... of days gone by. As the plaque made plain - "John Wayne - American" - his example then... should fuel all Angelenos now... to keep this Ron Paul Express rolling.

[Mike Stamper]

Response to Gerudomar: I can't figure out whether you are serious or joking. Abolishing the Fed and repealing the income tax are anti-semitic? Ha-ha! You most be joking. Sorry I misunderstood. No one could make such statements seriously.

[Stan]

Thank You Don at LA Times! It's refreshing to know a limited number of Media are waking up to all the facts that have been omitted far too long! We the people of these United States will remember those who lied to us and omitted Ron Paul every chance they got! We will also remember the name calling, the personal attacks of this Honorable man of the United States! We will also remember people like you Don that will step up to the plate and play the facts as they are!

Ron Paul has schooled every Neo-Con to date they are all afraid to challenge him now because it would end in total defeat and the controlled MSM knows this!

Ron Paul will be President Paul in 2008'
God Bless Us All!

[DR]

Bush drove me to be a Democrat, but Ron Paul changed me.
When you see that the US dollar WILL collapse, and the US
acting like Rome in it's final days you see Mr. Paul already working on solutions.
Why wouldn't everyone see this? Do you want the US to fall?
It would probably take a miracle for most ignorant US
voters to get him in office. I hope for a miracle.
Wise up America. Ron Paul has my vote.

[Mike]

It's not enough for us to support Ron Paul. We must do *EVERYTHING* we can to get him across the line. Get involved, or it won't happen!!

Why not become a delegate? Be part of HISTORY! Tell your grandkids you helped get the greatest President America has ever seen elected!

[plasticonobrisco]

The only candidate that can win for America, is Ron Paul.

[Remodeling]

His views are too conservative, I don't think he represents America's attitude, can you imagine if he was there when the Constitution was being written.