Saying “my campaign is never over” Ron Paul told CNN “If you’re in a campaign for only gaining power, that’s one thing. If you’re in a campaign to influence ideas and future of the country, the campaign is never over.” Paul also shared that it is likely he will not support Republican nominee John McCain.

From Wired Magazine a story that will undoubtedly rile Paul supporters but offers a glimpse into where we are with “online campaigning.”

Pick any Web 2.0 phenomenon and you’ll find Paul’s supporters exploiting it. Digg? In just two months, a user-generated campaign video picked up more than 16,000 diggs, making it the sixth-most popular video of 2007. Flickr? A group photo pool offers a profusion of grassroots agitprop. (My favorite: a Star Wars-inspired logo declaring Paul “A New Hope.”) Facebook? 5,589 fans and counting, baby. For 24/7 Ron Paul, junkies can sign up for his Twitter feed or check out the campaign lifecast on Justin.tv. There are 10 Ron Paul Meetup groups within 20 miles of San Francisco alone; the biggest hosts near-daily events for its 432 members. (Sorry I missed the Irving Street Starbucks gathering, dudes.) The candidate has proven such a draw that pageview-starved webmasters publish lolRons — Paul-themed lolcats — as a cheap and easy way to boost their traffic. Paul’s people are so Web-savvy they’ve even achieved the impossible: a MySpace page that doesn’t induce seizures.

All that buzz might be easy to dismiss but for the fact that Paul — unlike most other Web 2.0 phenoms — has managed to convert eyeballs into dollars. On Guy Fawkes Day, he set a record for one-day fundraising by a Republican, pulling in $4.2 million in online contributions. He outdid himself just six weeks later, tapping the Internet for more than $6 million in a single day. Hey, if the presidential run doesn’t work out, maybe Paul could join Al Gore with the VCs on Sand Hill Road.

So the guy is wired. There’s just one problem with the Ron Paul story: Ron Paul. Sure, he seems like a decent guy, forthright and honest. Unfortunately, his paleo-libertarian policies make Ayn Rand look like Mother Teresa. I like the gold standard as much as the next guy, but I’m not sure we’re ready to overturn three decades of reasonably successful economic policy in order to reinstate it. I don’t agree that the minimum wage should be abolished. (Ever work in retail, Ron?) And while I like Paul’s stance on Iraq (let’s get the hell out), I’m not thrilled with his position on the United Nations (let’s get the hell out).

Ron Paul won’t run as a third party candidate but he also won’t support the candidacy of John McCain if he is the party nominee. Paul told the Chicago Tribune “I can not support anybody with the foreign policy he advocates — you know, perpetual war…I think it’s un-American, unconstitutional, immoral, and not Republican.”

I don’t entirely know that this is fair but if you consider that Romney dropped out of the race and that McCain is not only the symbolic frontrunner but statistically looks like he has the nomination you can probably consider that those who voted for either Romney, Paul or Uncommitted are in fact votes against John McCain. Considering Hukabee won three out of the four contests and then looking at those who cast their votes against McCain you can see that the anti-McCain vote was pretty high.

Kansas
Huckabee won (11,627) with McCain (4,587) in second. The total for Romney, Paul & Uncommitted was 2,919. Not only did Huckabee win big but you can add 2,919 to his commanding lead if you are counting the anti-McCain vote.

Louisiana

Huckabee won (69,665) with McCain (67,609) in second. The total for Romney who came in third and Paul was 18,827.
The anti-McCain vote was 88,492 to McCain’s 67,609.

Washington
Only 87% reporting but McCain is ahead with 3,468 to Huckabee’s 3,226. Paul is in third with 2,799, Romney in fourth with 2,253 and uncommitted ended with 1,729. So the anti-McCain vote was 10,007 to McCain’s 3,468.

Politico writes that organizers at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) have been instructed to urge attendees not to boo Senator John McCain when he makes his appearance there today.

During registration last night at the Omni Shoreham a registrant was asking to upgrade his CPAC package and then proceeded to ask what time GOP front-runner John McCain was going to speak today. “Oh good,” he said to the response — answer: 3 p.m. today — “I hope they boo him out of the room.”

“No, no no no no” came the reply from the person registering him. “We’ve been instructed to tell participants not to boo McCain.”

“Are you kidding me?” the shocked CPAC-goer asked.

“Well, we want to seem above Democrats and we don’t want the booing to be the story,” the CPAC person declared. When asked for a response, CPAC’s Ian Walters told us: “We would hope that our folks would be polite and give him a fair opportunity to be heard.”

CPAC is an annual event that often generates lots of news. Speakers will include the remaining Republican presidential candidates, President Bush, Vice President Cheney and other conservative luminaries.

Today, Romney for President Campaign Manager Beth Myers issued the following statement regarding the outcome of West Virginia’s Republican Party convention:

“Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain’s inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney’s campaign of conservative change.

“Governor Romney had enough respect for the Republican voters of West Virginia to make an appeal to them about the future of the party based on issues. This is why he led on today’s first ballot. Sadly, Senator McCain cut a Washington backroom deal in a way that once again underscores his legacy of working against Republicans who are interested in championing conservative policies and rebuilding the party.”

FOX News and Rush Limbaugh were reporting on a deal earlier that McCain supporters were told to go toward Huckabee. My understanding is that this is how these caucus and convention systems work. If you don’t reach viability or don’t look like you are going to win, your supporters go somewhere else and you can make your preference known.

From Vauhini Vara in the The Wall Street Journal it appears that the Internets favorite Republican candidate Ron Paul is finding interest and support with voters in Alaska.

Within weeks of his announcement in March that he would run for the presidential nomination, Mr. Paul’s supporters in Alaska began informally campaigning. They clustered on cold, dark afternoons to wave Ron Paul signs at intersections. When Fox News left Mr. Paul out of a televised forum in New Hampshire with the other Republican candidates last month, they stood in front of a Fox News affiliate in Anchorage to protest.

Mr. Paul’s national campaign is now trying to harness the local support. A few weeks ago, Craig Bergman, a consultant for Mr. Paul’s campaign, phoned volunteers across the country to find pockets of local enthusiasm that he could tap. He was impressed with the “natural support” for Mr. Paul here — so just more than a week ago, he opened offices in Anchorage and Fairbanks. Mr. Paul now has eight full-time staffers in the state, more than he had in Michigan, Florida or South Carolina. Friday, Mr. Paul hosted a live phone call with Alaskan voters.

Will it turn into more than interest? We will see.

The fourth quarter reports from 2007 are in and everyone is pouring over the numbers. One thing is very clear, Democrats are out-raising Republicans by an astonishing amount.

In the final quarter Hillary Clinton raised $26.8 Million while Barack Obama brought in $22.8 Million compared to Mitt Romney who raised $9 Million (but loaned himself twice that amount from his own personal fortune), John McCain raised $6.8 Million and Huckabee who brought in $6.6 Million. The only bright spot for Republicans was Ron Paul who registers almost nowhere in polling but who raised $19.7 Million.

Politico reports that the two leading Dems have raised a total of $209 Million while the four remaining Republicans have raised a total of $128 million.

84% REPUBLICANS: SOUTH CAROLINA…

MCCAIN… 33%
HUCKABEE… 29%
THOMPSON… 16%
ROMNEY… 15%
PAUL… 4%
GIULIANI… 2%

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Perhaps the most surprising news out of Nevada is the fact that with 97% reporting Congressman Ron Paul appears to have won second place in the caucus. In addition Paul was already well on his way to dominating Republican fundraising and the win will no doubt help him continue the streak.

This is bad news for big names like Thompson and Giuliani who did terrible in the state despite a great deal of media attention and name recognition.

Paul has continued to defy expectations and it will be fun to see where he goes from here.

TechTags Plugin [ Ron Paul | Nevada Caucus | Ron Paul Second Place Nevada ]