Ron Paul Starts to Spread His Donors List
He won't come close to winning the Republican presidential nomination, but Texas Rep. Ron Paul is using some of the money he raised during his bid to help candidates for other political offices who share his views.
Paul raised $32 million through the end of January, and as CQ Politics points out, he created a massive donors list. He's using that list to help candidates such as Murray Sabrin, a New Jersey Senate candidate, and his fellow representative Walter B. Jones in North Carolina who is also an ardent opponent of the war in Iraq.
Jones said he already has raised about $5,000 from Paul supporters, which is not an insubstantial figure in a relatively inexpensive market. Jones had raised $192,185 through the end of December, and his rival for the GOP nomination, Joe McLaughlin, had collected $78,278.Paul says lending a hand to his friends is old hat but acknowledges it's a bigger hat these days.
"I've been helping people for a long time. Nothing new about it," he said during a brief interview in the Capitol on Tuesday. "The degree might be different but the principle's the same."
Paul's presidential spokesman, Jesse Benton, said the campaign is still working on idea of how to use its donor list to help candidates who run on a constitutionalist platform. "We put together a movement and that movement is going to continue," Benton said.
6:59 AM ET | 03- 4-2008 | permalink
