Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

Independent student content

BG Falcon Media

The BG News
BG24 Newscast
November 30, 2023

Follow us on social
  • Books I’ve Loved Recently
    By Jay Grummel In the fall my TBR (to be read) shifts from Fantasy to Literary Fiction. I’ve become a mood reader in my college years. Something about the coldness of the fall and winter influences the sadness of the books I’m reading. Recently, a few novels I deem to best of my 2023 reads. […]
  • Repairing the Family
    By Jay Grummel Earlier this month I wrote about fond families, however the holidays are made up of many different types of families. Some will be hostile and dysfunctional or some will be loving and understanding. Whatever your family looks like this season, it’s always nice to read about ones other than your own. So, […]

Politics’ dot-com dollars

Thirty-thousand people gave $4.3 million, an online fundraising record and largest fundraising day for a GOP candidate, to Ron Paul on Nov. 5. What was a landmark day in grassroots-powered fundraising is now called a “Money Bomb.” Now the Paul-powered grassroots have two more “bombs” in order to continue the momentum: RudysReadingList.com, an effort to hit the campaign’s $12 million goal on Nov. 30; and TeaParty07.com, a push to raise $10 million on Dec. 16 in celebration of the Boston Tea Party. Both sites are filled with relevant videos and graphs and visual appeal.

So what has this “revolution” in fundraising meant for other campaigns who have typically relied on funding from the special interests and campaign-matching dollars – both from which Ron Paul refuses funding? They try to replicate it. Barack Obama, Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee supporters have all attempted efforts like these already.

Obama, who is supposed to have the largest online support next to Paul, only managed to raise around $5,000 dollars from his grassroots fundraiser. This to me was quite shocking, that a supposed “first-tier” candidate raised so little compared to GQ’s “Dark Horse of the Year.” Also, “first-tier” Fred Thompson had “Fred’s Giving Day,” which failed to even get 100 people signed up, and many of those signed up supposedly from other campaigns as a “joke.” Mike Huckabee had his “A Buck for Huck” effort, which raised a respectable $200,000 yet that is what the Paul campaign pull typically on a daily basis from supporter-only donations.

Dennis Kucinich supporters are planning an effort on Dec. 15, Bill of Rights Day, which is a day before Paul’s Teaparty07.com. This effort copies exactly the route of Paul’s fundraisers with a goal of 100,000 pledges of $100. It will be seen if Kucinich can prove the trend wrong, and be the only other candidate than Paul to have successful go at an effort like this. Paul and Kucinich are probably the most vocal candidates about ending the war and bringing troops home, and have many times said they are good friends.

Why has Paul been able to raise money faster and stronger than any other candidate without special interests, yet stay only at 8 percent in the polls? There are many possibilities. It could be the way the polls are taken, it could be a political anomaly, or maybe it could be the possibility of demand for a conservative who is against foreign intervention and actually for small government. Either way, fundraising has proven that Paul’s campaign isn’t quite as “third tier” as Giuliani or Romney would have you believe, yet the question of whether donations mean votes still rack the brain.

Alex Merced is a senior majoring in popular culture. Send responses to his column to [email protected].

Leave a Comment
Donate to BG Falcon Media

Your donation will support the student journalists of Bowling Green State University. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

More to Discover
Donate to BG Falcon Media

Comments (0)

All BG Falcon Media Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *