The Draft Ron Paul movement is a grassroots effort to convince United States Congressman Ron Paul of Texas to run for president in the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
Since his run for president in 2008, Paul has become the subject of a large[citation needed] political following among voters who had become disenfranchised by the current political system. During the course of the primary season, his campaign attracted many forms of grassroots political efforts, including a Ron Paul blimp, as well as several moneybombs, including a one-day celebration of the Boston Tea Party, which raised over $6 million in a 24-hour period.
In addition, Paul won the 2010 CPAC straw poll with the largest percentage ever by any candidate, placing well ahead of other speculated candidates, including Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty, among others. Despite this, Paul has continued to note in several interviews that he has not officially ruled out a possible run for president, only saying that it was too far off to predict whether or not he would run again.
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Paul officially declared his candidacy on March 12, 2007, after much convincing by a congressional campaign aide, the late Kent Snyder, as well as a small grassroots effort, despite receiving minimal name recognition in a poll conducted by CNN in February 2007.[1]
Participating in almost every one of the Republican debates, beginning in May 2007, Paul quickly became an "internet darling"[2] among young people and college students, winning several internet and text messaging polls held after multiple MSNBC and Fox News debates, receiving criticism from political commentators, including Sean Hannity, who quickly attempted to discredit Paul, after he had won the text messaging polls, in addition to Republican Party chairman Michael Steele, who declared his campaign was "over [with]."[3][4]
Despite this, his performance in scientific polls continually ranged in the single digits, with others like Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee attracting the most media attention throughout 2007, and up to the first elections in Iowa and New Hampshire. This resulted in several grassroots efforts by campaign supporters who felt that Paul was being treated unfairly in the debates, with limited time to speak, and the lack of coverage by the mainstream media throughout the entire presidential campaign.
Independent of the campaign itself, a large group of supporters, dubbed as the Ron Paul Revolution, formed several extremely successful moneybombs, the first of which occurred on November 5, 2007 in recognition of Guy Fawkes Day. The one-day event raised over $4.3 million, the then-largest amount collected on a single day by any Republican presidential candidate.[5] A second moneybomb, taking place on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party raised an additional $6 million in 24 hours, eclipsing the old record previously set by Paul, and becoming the largest amount of money ever raised in a single day by any candidate in the history of American politics.[6] Other moneybombs included the celebration and recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the 50th wedding anniversary of Paul and his wife, Carol, on February 1, 2008, raising upwards of $1 million each.[7]
Other efforts, including a blimp promoting the campaign, launched in December 2007, were spontaneously organized by campaign supporters, in the continual effort to attract the mainstream media's attention. The blimp was financed by a for-profit company, Liberty Political Advertising, rather than the campaign itself, and was based solely on contributions.[8][9] The blimp flew for six weeks, flying over Walt Disney World for several days,[10] as well as the January 10, 2007 presidential debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[11]
Going on to win only 35 delegates during the course of the Republican primaries, Paul was unable to win a single state, only placing second in Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon and Montana. Refusing to drop out until the last primaries had occurred, Paul did not officially withdraw or suspend his candidacy until June 12, 2008,[12] and continually refused to endorse the candidacy of the then-presumptive nominee, John McCain, while fighting off rumors of a possible run as an independent or as a Libertarian. Paul eventually went on to endorse several third party candidates in the general election, including Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution Party, Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party, Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party, and Ralph Nader, who ran as an independent.[13]
Shortly after the suspension of his presidential bid, Paul formed the Campaign for Liberty, an organization focused on the support of liberty-oriented candidates who are running for elected office in both national and state elections, and transferred the remaining funds from the presidential campaign to the organization.[14]
In September 2008, Paul also hosted and participated in an event in Minneapolis—St. Paul, Minnesota that coincided with the nearby 2008 Republican National Convention, titled the Rally for the Republic, to protest the Republican convention's refusal to let Paul speak. The rally drew over 10,000 supporters of his presidential campaign supporters, and hosted several speakers, including former Governors Jesse Ventura and Gary Johnson, political commentator Tucker Carlson, Barry Goldwater, Jr., and music artist Aimee Allen.[15]
Utilizing his newly formed organization, Paul continues to endorse the candidacies of several Senate and congressional candidates in 2010 midterm elections. This has included endorsements of his son, Rand Paul in Kentucky,[16] as well as Peter Schiff in Connecticut, Adam Kokesh in New Mexico, B.J. Lawson in North Carolina, and many others.[17][18][19]
Heavily speculated as a possible Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election, Paul was again nominated to appear on the 2010 CPAC Straw Poll. With his organization, the Campaign for Liberty, forming a grassroots effort to "take over" the conference by sending as many supporters as possible to Conservative Political Action Conference, Paul easily won the straw poll.[20] Placing well ahead of any of the other possible challengers, Paul achieved the largest margin ever won by any candidate at the conference's annual summit, defeating Mitt Romney, after he had won the straw poll the previous three years.[20]
In several interviews after the conference, with Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and many other news organizations, Paul continued to reiterate that he currently has no plans to run for president again, but did not completely rule out the possibility.[21]
In a nationwide opinion poll conducted by Zogby shortly before the CPAC straw poll, Paul placed seventh among a field of eleven Republican possible hopefuls.[22] Another poll by Public Policy Polling showed Paul only eight points behind in a possible election between himself and President Barack Obama.[23]
Several people have expressed their support for Paul in a possible run for the presidency.
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