2008 Woodie Awards
Ron Paul embodies alternative political voices, thought
Creel O'Neil
Issue date: 1/15/08 Section: OpEd Page
For eight days during break I was in Salt Lake City, Utah visiting my father for some good father-son bonding time. The sights were definitely more intriguing than they are here-robust mountains, brilliant snowboarding, breathtaking hiking and heart pounding climbing. They also have a ton of Mormons. More than I've ever seen in my entire life to date. In fact, it is such a Mormon epicenter that I sat next to Mitt Romney's first cousin on the flight back to Detroit. Needless to say, there was political talk a plenty between the man sitting in the window seat, Kip Romney (that was his name I believe), and myself. Kip was a good cousin and was staunchly supporting his relative gunning for the White House, so I didn't want to tell him that I wasn't voting for Mitt. Instead, pretending that I was listening after the first 10 minutes of discussion, I started daydreaming of the current political situation and became hinged on one candidate. This individual stood out against all of the "top tier" candidates and has been causing quite a bit of stir on the trail. This man's name is Ron Paul.
Paul has been leading a very unique campaign. It's unique in that no one else on the trail has been able to utilize the Internet the way he and his supporters have. His absolute dominance of the digital world has given him an important edge. Even more impressive is the fact that this edge, this digital movement, has been transpiring into the real world. I lost track of the number of Ron Paul signs on the drive from Ann Arbor to Oxford on or around the number 87. I'd never seen so many signs for a candidate before. Although he did not show so well in the few primaries that we've had, surprisingly, he came in third in many of the exit polls. In earlier debates held by FOX News and CNN he had come out on top. Phone voting had put him well in the lead of all the other debaters. Unfortunately presidential races here in the states are heavily tied to money and most underdog campaigns are eaten up very quickly by well-funded and established political camps. This is another unique aspect of the Paul campaign. He has successfully generated large amounts of cash from grassroots support. This is something the more pronounced candidates haven't trumped. On Nov. 5 alone Paul raised $4.3 million from an average donation of $100.
Paul has been leading a very unique campaign. It's unique in that no one else on the trail has been able to utilize the Internet the way he and his supporters have. His absolute dominance of the digital world has given him an important edge. Even more impressive is the fact that this edge, this digital movement, has been transpiring into the real world. I lost track of the number of Ron Paul signs on the drive from Ann Arbor to Oxford on or around the number 87. I'd never seen so many signs for a candidate before. Although he did not show so well in the few primaries that we've had, surprisingly, he came in third in many of the exit polls. In earlier debates held by FOX News and CNN he had come out on top. Phone voting had put him well in the lead of all the other debaters. Unfortunately presidential races here in the states are heavily tied to money and most underdog campaigns are eaten up very quickly by well-funded and established political camps. This is another unique aspect of the Paul campaign. He has successfully generated large amounts of cash from grassroots support. This is something the more pronounced candidates haven't trumped. On Nov. 5 alone Paul raised $4.3 million from an average donation of $100.
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