Ron Paul: $20 million shows 'starvation' for his message
Cash coming from Americans 'not looking for government to take care of them'

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Posted: December 28, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

EDITOR'S NOTE: WND staff reporter Jerome Corsi is in Des Moines, Iowa, to report on the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and to participate in the Federation for American Immigration Reform talk-radio row.
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Rep. Ron Paul says the surprising $20 million he is projected to raise this quarter in his bid for the White House shows "there's a lot of starvation out there for a different message."
"Our focus on the Constitution, defending our borders and the whole idea of assuming responsibility for themselves appeals to millions of Americans who are not looking for government to take care of them," the Republican presidential candidate told WND in an interview in Iowa.

Paul contended his campaign – a grassroots movement that comes, he argued, from his message, not from mainstream media focus or campaign hype – enjoyed the most dedicated support in either party.

"We have real loyalty from our supporters," he said. "Once a voter commits to our campaign, they don't go back and forth.

"With the other candidates, voters are for this candidate this week and somebody else next week," Paul emphasized. "Our numbers have been steady and growing. Our voters are not going to switch at the last moment."

Paul told WND that he hopes to do better in the Iowa caucuses than his poll numbers would indicate.

"The pollsters haven't realized that my campaign has a lot of independent voters," Paul said. "We have Democratic voters who have crossed over to support my campaign, and those people usually are not measured by pollsters who focus on party identification."

Paul also expects to get a boost from young voters in Iowa.

"The key is to make sure that young people who be voting for the first time know where to go to participate in the caucus meetings and what to do once they get there," he said.

Paul made campaign history Dec. 16 by raising $6 million over the Internet in a 24-hour period.

His feat was considered all the more remarkable because of the relative difficulty Iowa caucus frontrunner Mike Huckabee has had raising campaign contributions.

Paul was in Des Moines at the talk-radio row hosted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, while Huckabee appeared at a much-needed fundraising dinner in Florida followed by fund-raising receptions this morning.

"In the next two days, we are going to continue to concentrate on getting our vote out," Paul said.

"We know where the votes are, and we going to have a lot of young people in town to bring out the vote," he said. "We will have a lot of TV in the final days of the Iowa caucus, but we know where our voters are, and we are planning to do the phone calling and leg work needed to get the vote out."

In a press conference yesterday, Paul announced the endorsement of Craig Halverson, the director of the Iowa Minutemen, the state branch of the volunteer border-watch group.

Halverson expressed confidence Paul was the candidate most aware of the threat to U.S. sovereignty caused by open borders.

Paul commented at the news conference: "We can place border guards in Iraq, but somehow we can't manage to secure our border with Mexico. It doesn't make any sense."

The endorsement by the Iowa Minuteman leader was timed to make an impact in the remaining days of the Iowa caucus race, countering Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist's backing of Huckabee and the endorsement last week of Mitt Romney by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.


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