June 16, 2008

Farewell Revolution

Posted by Sarah Burris at 12:00AM

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The Washington Post chronicled the end of the Ron Paul presidential campaign in their Sunday edition, declaring Viva Revolution! for its supporters.

Like some before him, Paul will broaden his campaign into a larger movement that will hopefully harness his active youth following. The Campaign for Liberty aims to:

"promote and defend the great American principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a noninterventionist foreign policy, by means of educational and political activity."

While this year was overwhelmed with youth turnout, that turnout has not been able to sustain the Paul campaign. According to the Post, Paul's history doesn't lend itself to the kind of youth-based mobilization campaign officials envisioned. The Post writes:

"Aside from a strict adherence to libertarian principles -- an adherence that earned Paul the nickname "Dr. No" for his tendency to vote against any legislation that extended the government's role beyond that specifically enumerated in the Constitution -- Paul was regarded as something of an oddball in the House."

It's the kind of mystery that has left even the Washington Post questioning the reasons for the phenomenon. They ask voters in a poll what they attribute Paul's right wing popularity to, listing: "the opposition to the war," "disaffected voters looking to send a message," and "The appeal of a straight talker."

Personally, I ignore the "What Ron Paul revolution?," choice. Amid all these questions, many pundits ignore an obvious sentiment: the right wing desire to see change in the White House.

We've seen it with Barack Obama, who has based his entire campaign on change. Wouldn't it stand to reason that the need for something different would also be carried over to the GOP? It could be that Ron Paul speaks a different language than both rank and file partisans. Another noteworthy commentary about Paul is that once it became apparent that his base was with young voters, his campaign made great strides to continue to do outreach with those voters. Ron Paul's moderate stance on conservative issues may have made his campaign more accessible to young voters than his GOP counterparts. Or, as one campaign manager I know pointed out, it could have just been the drugs. (Ron Paul once said that we should decriminalize drugs including marijuana.)

The recent Mother Jones article has this interesting graphic also explaining the crossover communities that followed Ron Paul

"Indeed, Paul's literature is dominated by the word "revolution," though with the middle letters inverted to make "love"—a hippie touch that would be countenanced by few Republicans other than the congressman, who has been elected 10 times on the GOP ticket (and who also ran as a Libertarian in the 1988 presidential election). The truth is, Paul's revolution is a conservative one, by his own account—and thus all the more noteworthy for Democrats, who until now comfortably assumed that progressive bloggers, YouTubers, and ex-Deaniacs would give them, and only them, an edge online. As it turns out, nobody has more Internet buzz than a pro-gun, pro-life, antitax, and antiwar Republican."

What do you think was the Ron Paul draw? Vote at The Washington Post, or weigh in here!