Bob King on 2007-07-28
Other indicators: check out the number of hits you get for "ron paul" on t-shirt sites. It's like a statistically significant hamburger poll.
Bob King's personal annotations on this page
Graphictruth bookmarked
on 2007-07-28
-
3rd
>
in total receipts for the quarter
>
4th
>
in total receipts to date
>
3rd
>
in total current assets (ahead of former front-runner John McCain,
>
and just $800,000 behind Mitt Romney)
>
On July 15th,
>
the Federal Election Commission announced the 2nd-quarter fundraising
>
totals for each presidential candidate. In the Republican field,
>
Ron Paul's $2.4 million placed him:
>
Thus far,
>
47%
>
of the contributions
>
made to Ron Paul's campaign are donations
>
of under $200 from individuals (John McCain's 17% is the second-highest
>
percentage). This is a telling statistic, as it highlights the fact
>
that most other candidates rely heavily upon donations from corporate
>
interests and political action committees (PACs) (i.e. moneyed, influence-seeking
>
sources who can readily afford to contribute large sums). Since Congressman
>
Paul has always voted against special favors and privileges for
>
anyone
>
,
>
special interests know they have nothing to gain by stuffing Ron Paul's
>
campaign coffers. As one member of my local Meetup group put it on
>
a home-made sign, "Ron Paul is thin because he won't let special interests
>
buy him lunch."
>
Among
>
all
>
candidates, Dr. Paul is now
>
first
>
in total donations from military personnel and veterans. While this
>
may come as a surprise to some, Tom Engelhardt identified the primary
>
reason when he asked rhetorically, "why should (military personnel)
>
want to be endlessly redeployed to a lost war in a lost land?" (see
>
Why
>
the US Military Loves Ron Paul
>
).
>-
Graphictruth on 2007-07-28Other indicators: check out the number of hits you get for "ron paul" on t-shirt sites. It's like a statistically significant hamburger poll.
-
3rd
>
>
in total receipts for the quarter
>
4th
>
in total receipts to date
>- 3rd
in total current assets (ahead of former front-runner John McCain,
>
and just $800,000 behind Mitt Romney)
>
On July 15th,
>
the Federal Election Commission announced the 2nd-quarter fundraising
>
totals for each presidential candidate. In the Republican field,
>
Ron Paul's $2.4 million placed him:
>
Thus far,
>
47%
>
of the contributions
>
made to Ron Paul's campaign are donations
>
of under $200 from individuals (John McCain's 17% is the second-highest
>
percentage
).
> This is a telling statistic, as it highlights the fact
>
that most other candidates rely heavily upon donations from corporate
>
interests and political action committees (PACs) (i.e. moneyed, influence-seeking
>
sources who can readily afford to contribute large sums). Since Congressman
>
Paul has always voted against special favors and privileges for
>
anyone
>,
special interests know they have nothing to gain by stuffing Ron Paul's
>
campaign coffers. As one member of my local Meetup group put it on
>
a home-made sign, "Ron Paul is thin because he won't let special interests
>
buy him lunch."
>
Among
>
all
>
candidates, Dr. Paul is now
> first
in total donations from military personnel and veterans. While this
>
may come as a surprise to some, Tom Engelhardt identified the primary
>
reason when he asked rhetorically, "
why
> should (military personnel)
>
want to be endlessly redeployed to a lost war in a lost land?" (see
>
Why
the US Military Loves Ron Paul
>). -
- "Ron Paul"
recently topped Technorati's
search-term rankings for an unprecedented stretch – current
rank #2 (Technorati is
the leading authority on Internet media usage). - RonPaul2008.com
draws more traffic than any other candidate's Web site. - On YouTube.com,
the Internet's most popular video site, the Ron Paul channel has
over 22,000
subscribers, which is 13,000
more than the second most popular candidate (Obama). - And on Meetup.com,
more than 25,000 people comprise 560 Ron Paul Meetup groups, which
makes the Good Doctor the most popular
Meetup source in the political category. The next candidate,
Obama, is a distant second with 5300 members in 68 groups.
Notes:
All statistics reflect current numbers as of July 23, 2007.
Also, for those who don't know, Meetup.com is the most popular
Internet site for people with common interests who want to organize
events and activities with one another – consequently,
it's the most commonly used online resource for coordinating
political activities.
No candidacy
has generated more buzz than Ron Paul's, and the following statistics
prove the point:
Some commentators
say this interest and support is illusory, perhaps even the product
of a centralized Internet effort led by the Ron Paul campaign. Yet,
the Paul campaign has only spent $600,000 to date, while other candidates
have already burned through tens
of millions. Although Paul's campaign staff is growing, it doesn't
even have the resources to provide timely responses to the flood of
incoming e-mails (I speak from personal experience here), much less
oversee such a sustained, widespread, technologically-sophisticated
endeavor.
The skeptics
also ignore an obvious question – if it's so easy to jerry-rig
Internet statistics, why haven't other, better-financed campaigns
done the same? (Answer:
It's not easy and, in many cases, it's simply impossible.)
While I personally don't know of anyone who spends their time spamming
online polls or repeatedly Googling their favorite candidate's name,
I have no doubt such people exist in the ranks of most political
movements. And given the evident enthusiasm of Ron Paul supporters,
it's quite likely that a greater percentage of his backers might
attempt to do such things.
That said,
I believe there are more plausible reasons for Ron Paul's "online
success" – most importantly, the Internet is the primary source
of information about Dr. Paul. As early as last fall – two
full years before the election – the conventional media
and major-party establishments had already anointed the top six
Republican and Democratic candidates (Giuliani, McCain, Romney,
Clinton, Obama, & Edwards).
Since then, countless opinion makers
>
have informed Americans that these six politicians complete the
>
list of "viable" Presidential options. In other words,
>
no need to look further – we've done your thinking for you.
>
How and why
this happened exactly is a topic for another day. (Hint – Follow
the
money.) The important
point here is that each of the Anointed Candidates has received
regular, daily coverage since that time (and, in some cases, for
several years now). Although Dr. Paul has benefited from a smattering
of media attention since his "blowback" exchange with
Giuliani in May, people who are curious about Paul's track record
and platform must turn to the Internet. The conventional
media is most unlikely to begin covering Dr. Paul on a regular basis,
no matter how much traction he gains.
Consequently,
Ron Paul's supporters must assume the task of spreading the word.
Fortunately, many of us are happy to do so, and when people first
learn of Dr. Paul's track record, they typically want to know more.
As regular readers of my
blog know, Ron Paul challenges US foreign policy on a refreshingly
honest and fundamental level – a level of inquiry wholly absent
from most political forums. And Dr. Paul's forthrightness doesn't
stop with foreign policy, as he applies the same intellectual rigor
to issues involving civil
liberties, health
care, immigration,
education,
our fiat-money
system, and so on. - "Ron Paul"
This link has been bookmarked by 2 people . It was first bookmarked on 27 Jul 2007, by Adam Skinner.
-
-
3rd
>
in total receipts for the quarter
>
4th
>
in total receipts to date
>
3rd
>
in total current assets (ahead of former front-runner John McCain,
>
and just $800,000 behind Mitt Romney)
>
On July 15th,
>
the Federal Election Commission announced the 2nd-quarter fundraising
>
totals for each presidential candidate. In the Republican field,
>
Ron Paul's $2.4 million placed him:
>
Thus far,
>
47%
>
of the contributions
>
made to Ron Paul's campaign are donations
>
of under $200 from individuals (John McCain's 17% is the second-highest
>
percentage). This is a telling statistic, as it highlights the fact
>
that most other candidates rely heavily upon donations from corporate
>
interests and political action committees (PACs) (i.e. moneyed, influence-seeking
>
sources who can readily afford to contribute large sums). Since Congressman
>
Paul has always voted against special favors and privileges for
>
anyone
>
,
>
special interests know they have nothing to gain by stuffing Ron Paul's
>
campaign coffers. As one member of my local Meetup group put it on
>
a home-made sign, "Ron Paul is thin because he won't let special interests
>
buy him lunch."
>
Among
>
all
>
candidates, Dr. Paul is now
>
first
>
in total donations from military personnel and veterans. While this
>
may come as a surprise to some, Tom Engelhardt identified the primary
>
reason when he asked rhetorically, "why should (military personnel)
>
want to be endlessly redeployed to a lost war in a lost land?" (see
>
Why
>
the US Military Loves Ron Paul
>
).
> -
3rd
>
>
in total receipts for the quarter
>
4th
>
in total receipts to date
>- 3rd
in total current assets (ahead of former front-runner John McCain,
>
and just $800,000 behind Mitt Romney)
>
On July 15th,
>
the Federal Election Commission announced the 2nd-quarter fundraising
>
totals for each presidential candidate. In the Republican field,
>
Ron Paul's $2.4 million placed him:
>
Thus far,
>
47%
>
of the contributions
>
made to Ron Paul's campaign are donations
>
of under $200 from individuals (John McCain's 17% is the second-highest
>
percentage
).
> This is a telling statistic, as it highlights the fact
>
that most other candidates rely heavily upon donations from corporate
>
interests and political action committees (PACs) (i.e. moneyed, influence-seeking
>
sources who can readily afford to contribute large sums). Since Congressman
>
Paul has always voted against special favors and privileges for
>
anyone
>,
special interests know they have nothing to gain by stuffing Ron Paul's
>
campaign coffers. As one member of my local Meetup group put it on
>
a home-made sign, "Ron Paul is thin because he won't let special interests
>
buy him lunch."
>
Among
>
all
>
candidates, Dr. Paul is now
> first
in total donations from military personnel and veterans. While this
>
may come as a surprise to some, Tom Engelhardt identified the primary
>
reason when he asked rhetorically, "
why
> should (military personnel)
>
want to be endlessly redeployed to a lost war in a lost land?" (see
>
Why
the US Military Loves Ron Paul
>). - 1 more annotations...
-
-
-
The skeptics
also ignore an obvious question – if it's so easy to jerry-rig
Internet statistics, why haven't other, better-financed campaigns
done the same? (Answer:
It's not easy and, in many cases, it's simply impossible.) -
Since then, countless opinion makers
have informed Americans that these six politicians complete the
list of "viable" Presidential options. In other words,
no need to look further – we've done your thinking for you.-
Adam Skinner on 2007-07-27
cf "No Future Democracy" in http://www.skilluminati.com/Research/entry/the_rosetta_stone_of_us_history_quigleys_tragedy_and_hope
-
- 3 more annotations...
-
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