A look at 3rd Quarter fund-raising:
The Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign raised $5,080,000 during the third quarter of 2007--an impressive 114% increase from the second quarter. Paul's 114 percent increase is in stark contrast to the decreases suffered by Romney, Giuliani, and McCain. Romney's fundraising was down 29%; Giuliani was down 40%; McCain was down 55 percent.
In absolute terms, Paul's $5 million compares favorably with McCain's $6 million-- and lags behind (but is still in the ballpark with) Guiliani's $11M, Romney's $10M, and Thompson's $9M. Other second-tier candidates apparently raised no more than $1M this quarter.
Paul is also relatively strong in terms of cash-on-hand. His $5.3M is apparently greater than McCain's; he trails Thompson's $7M somewhat and Romney's $9M moreso. He, and everyone else is far behind Guiliani's $16M.
A look at the market odds on the various candidates:
According to the gambling site, InTrade.com, Paul is the fourth most likely Republican to win the nomination. His 6.1% probability is far behind Guiliani (39%) and Romney and Thompson (23% each), but is ahead of McCain (5.5%), Huckabee (3.0%) and all others (.1% each).
Of course, the odds are still slim. But Paul has surprised to this point. And as the only anti-war candidate among the Republicans (and the most credible anti-war candidate in either party), as the only true fiscal conservative, and as the most principled candidate in the field-- he may continue to surprise. At the least, his continued and growing presence will be educational and entertaining!
Paul is a reasonable compromise that would satisfy both the center and religious right.
ReplyDeleteI suspect most Republicans are more concerned about negative voting (keeping Hillary out of the White House) that philosophy.
Please God, not Romney...anyone but Romney.
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