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Opinion: The Sunday shows: A bold prediction

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Just ask the candidate: The Ron Paul juggernaut continues to gather steam.

The Texas congressman told CNN’s ‘Late Edition’ on Sunday that his longshot campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is on track to raise at least $12 million -- and perhaps much more -- this quarter, with $10.4 million alone collected since the beginning of October. That total includes almost $4.3 million raised on Nov. 5, the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day in Britain. (In 1605, Fawkes led a failed plot to blow up Parliament; he was captured just as he was about to light the fuse to the gunpowder placed under the House of Lords.)

Paul’s campaign has a similar goal for Dec. 16, the anniversary of another revolutionary act -- the Boston Tea Party. ‘There is going to be another super day sponsored by our supporters, spontaneously, like they did on 11/5, when they raised $4.3 million,’ Paul told CNN. ‘This one is going to be bigger.’

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The home page of Paul’s Web site has a counter that tracks donations. ‘We run the tab minute by minute,’ he said. ‘Everybody know exactly what we are doing. And, I mean, at this rate, it could be, you know, maybe $14 million or $15 million’ by the end of December.

Fund-raising isn’t the only area where Paul is showing an increase. Back in May, the Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll showed his support at 0%. In the paper’s latest poll of likely GOP caucus-goers, Paul now has 7%, tied with Sen. John McCain of Arizona and only two percentage points behind former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee. (This is the poll that has former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in first place, with 29%.)

‘Something big is going on,’ Paul said. ‘The people are really annoyed with conventional politics and we are spending this money. We are spending it in Iowa. So I think those polls are going to continue to shift. Our numbers are going up.’

-- Leslie Hoffecker

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