Ron Paul Builds Campaign on the Web

by jips | May 19, 2007 at 09:41 am

290 views | 0 Recommendations | 0 comments

If unscientific online polls were a determining factor, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas would easily be a top tier candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. But they aren't -- and he isn't.

Despite coming in first place in a post-debate poll on MSNBC and in other online surveys, Paul hovers around two percent or less in surveys conducted by Gallup, Harris, Zogby and other leading polling firms.

At the same time, however, he has a large network of "meet up" groups across the country, heavy traffic on his campaign website and new-found media attention since comments during a Fox News Channel GOP debate this week that appeared to blame U.S. foreign policy for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The statement, which drew a strong response from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, might have torpedoed the chances of a top-tier candidate, but Paul still came in a close second in an online poll immediately after the debate.

This indicates a large body of supporters, Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said Thursday.

"Ron Paul has more passionate supporters who are more likely to send in text messages and emails into the polls," Benton told Cybercast News Service. "That may skew it, but we're not going to apologize that our supporters are more passionate than Rudy Giuliani's supporters."

Benton said the Paul campaign has not engaged in an organized effort to encourage people to vote in online polls. He also scoffed at accusations from bloggers that Paul supporter were spamming Web sites. "This is not a handful of people. This is a grassfire movement," he said.

Paul, 71, is a 10-term Republican House member and was the 1988 Libertarian Party presidential nominee. He stands apart from the rest of the GOP field, having opposed the war in Iraq from the beginning. He also has called for the immediate abolition of the Internal Revenue Services and other federal programs, declaring himself the "true conservative" in the race because he wants to return the GOP to its non-interventionist roots...........