Ron Paul: The $5 Million Man

Representative Ron Paul’s campaign announced today that it raised more than $5 million during the third quarter. The figure more than doubled his second-quarter haul during a period when most candidates’ totals shrank. Jesse Benton, a spokesman, said that all $5,080,000 collected between July and September is for the primary, and the campaign has $5.3 million in the bank. On Tuesday, The Hotline, a political newsletter, speculated, “If Paul outraises Huckabee, won’t we need a new evaluation of ‘dark horse?’ ” With Mike Huckabee expected to report receipts of about $1 million, Mr. Benton thinks a re-evaluation is in order. In terms of money in the bank, Mr. Benton said, “we are going to be amongst the very top. I would argue that we’ve stepped into the first tier.”That argument might be hard to back up, as Mr. Paul continues to perform poorly in state and national polls. Nonetheless, the enthusiasm of Mr. Paul’s supporters is undeniable. Mr. Benton described the Paul base as people on the “old right with a good mixture of tech-minded people” as well as younger adults. The support has allowed the Paul campaign to expand both in reach and size. Mr. Benton said they are working on a second round of television spots (the first hit the Iowa airwaves in August) and that the staff has increased from 10 people to 44 over the past 10 weeks, and “we’re interviewing people right now, as we speak” to grow to around 50 in the next week. Information on the total number of donors is not yet available, but Mr. Benton said he expects that figure to increase “proportionate to or perhaps a little greater than” the increase in dollars.