http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071220/ap_po/anti_war_asterisk
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent Thu Dec 20, 5:56 PM ET
It wasn't long ago that Rep. Ron Paul was an anti-war asterisk in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Then his campaign raised a record $6 million in a single day.
Now the libertarian-leaning Texas congressman is looking like a possible spoiler, with an eclectic, tech-savvy following and an astounding $18 million in donations raised in less than three months.
"It's sort of gotten out of control. I don't know what to do about it," he told one audience recently in mock frustration.
[...]
While Paul says his critics sometimes accuse him of being a good candidate for the 19th century, his campaign appears to be aided to an unusual degree by the energy and enthusiasm of supporters skilled at using the Internet to their own advantage.
He is the only candidate whose name is emblazoned on a blimp. It was last reported over Maryland en route to New Hampshire, and has its own Web site, which in turn contains a daily tracker, flight plan, live video feed and blimp blog.
Because the effort says it is independent of the campaign, donations to keep the blimp aloft are not limited by federal election law. But the publicity it produces draws attention to Paul.
[....]
Current polls in New Hampshire show Paul in single digits. But Cullen said, "I believe there is more support than public opinion polls are picking up. I believe that he is appealing to anti-establishment Republicans and independents, and there are a lot of them."
Independents account for about 42 percent of the electorate in the state, and outnumber both Republicans and Democrats.
Cullen predicted the Texan would poll more than 10 percent — a significant threshold because it would guarantee him at least one delegate to the GOP nominating convention next summer.
He said he doubts Paul will hurt any candidate more than another. "I believe most of Ron Paul's supporters would probably not participate in the primary" without him in the race, he said.
Officials in other campaigns are not so sure.
[...]
Jesse Benton, a campaign spokesman, said the blimp and the letter-writing campaign were examples of spontaneous support. "We couldn't control it if we wanted to, and we don't want to control it," he said.