Ron’s the Bomb, the Others Are Just Duds.

Posted by thinkrink on November 18, 2007

It’s been two weeks since the historic “Money Bomb” on November 5th enthroned Ron Paul as the undisputed King of Online Fund-raising. His $4.3 million haul eclipsed all previous single day online efforts by more than a cool million. The event also earned Dr. Paul much deserved, and long overdue, positive mainstream media coverage. Of course, it was accompanied by the predictable slew of smear articles as well. Some poked fun at Ron Paul’s November 5th total because it fell so short of the ambitious $10 million goal. Others inferred that the 37,000+ donors simply represented all the Ron Paul supporters in America giving a hundred-or-so dollars. After all, even internet geeks living on Hot Pockets in their mom’s basement can scrape together a hundred bucks. Therefore, the success must have been a one-time fluke and a novel publicity stunt, nothing more. Or was it?

To set aside any doubts, another bomb is set to go off on December 16th, in remembrance of the Boston Tea Party. Currently, there are as many people signed up to donate for it at teaparty07.com as were signed up on November 5th, and there’s still a whole month to go. I’ll go out on a limb and predict that his November 5th record will soon be eclipsed.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so it was only a matter of time before someone else decided to try and outdo him. The thought process goes like this: “If a second-tier kook like Ron Paul can raise $4.3 million in 24 hours, just imagine what we can do! The American people love us. Just ask Zogby and Rasmussen.” So far, four other candidates have “money bombs” set to explode before the end of 2007. Or perhaps, blow up in their faces. Let’s take a look.

Obama’s money bomb went off last Friday, November 16th. Perhaps you missed it? Don’t feel bad. Apparently his grassroots supporters missed it too. With a goal of $5 million in 24 hours, they raised just $4,650.

Mike Huckabee is shooting for 10,000 pledges to give a hundred dollars each on November 20th. Since Huckabee is “the one candidate who can truly better our children’s future,” the website is nov20forthechildren.com. As of the 17th, there are 176 people pledging to give a total of $31,951.

Then, on November 21st, we have “Fredsgiving Day.” According to one blog, since they’ve “now seen what the Paul Bots have been able to accomplish for a candidate who lacks the considerable support that our man Fred now has” they should easily be able to “one-up the Paul campaign.” So, while many of us are busy gorging ourselves on turkey and stuffing, Fred Thompson supporters will be donating a c-note each in hopes that the campaign will be “flush with lots of cash” at the end of the day. As of this writing, a whopping sixty-six “Fred Heads” have pledged their support.

Mitt Romney’s day is December 7th. With no specific total dollar goal, donors are encouraged to give a minimum of thirty dollars to the effort. Why thirty bucks? That’s ten dollars for each leg of the “Regan and Romney’s Three-Legged Republican Stool.” So far, the official website has signed up 115 people. They claim another 900 or so have signed up on Facebook, Myspace, and Shoutlife combined. Even with 1,000 people signed up so far, it’s safe to say that Mitt is on track to make himself another seven-figure loan at the end of the quarter.

Of the four, Obama’s results are the most surprising. He seems to have considerable support on both the grassroots and college campus level, with a large percentage that would qualify as “web-savvy.” Perhaps his fizzled “bomb” testifies that the depth of his support is far smaller than the breadth? By contrast, Ron Paul’s base of support is undeniably deep, but what remains to be seen is just how wide it is.

I predict that come December 16th, Ron Paul will prove that he is “the Bomb,” and that the others are simply duds. So far no other candidate has inspired the passion evident in the Ron Paul rEVOLution. No other candidate has motivated an army of grassroots activists. No other candidate has produced as many votes in the online polls. No other candidate has achieved as many victories in straw polls. And no other candidate has received an exponential increase in donations from individual voters. Perhaps it’s time to stop asking if Ron Paul’s online support is going to materialize into primary votes, and begin questioning the support of the other candidates.

Will they be able to translate their phone support from traditional polls into, well…anything other than phone support in traditional polls?

Gillian Gibbons, 54, from Liverpool, was jailed for 15 days on Thursday after allowing children in her class to name a teddy bear Muhammad.

Some news agencies reported protesters had called for her to be shot.