Ron Paul's Phenominal Presidential Run

The Ron Paul Freedom and Liberty Movement:

"Pleasantly surprised" by his exploratory committee's findings, Paul formally declared his candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination on March 12th, 2007, on C-SPAN. His campaign has very strong grassroots support, as reflected in dozens of wins in GOP straw polls, his lead in web searches and YouTube subscriptions, and "surprisingly strong" fundraising with several record-breaking events. Military contributions surpassed all Republican candidates, and donations came heavily from individuals, due significantly to a robust online presence and supporters' creative use of viral marketing. Supporter-organized moneybomb fundraisers netted $4.3 million on November 5th, 2007 and $6.0 million on December 16th, 2007; the latter was widely regarded as the single largest one-day fundraiser in political history. Paul raised more than any other Republican candidate in fourth-quarter 2007. Paul's name was a number-one web search term as ranked by Technorati, beginning around May 2007, and he has led other candidates in YouTube subscriptions since May 20, 2007.

Though projections of 2008 Republican delegate counts have varied widely, Paul's count has consistently been third among the three candidates remaining after Super Tuesday. According to CNN and the New York Times, through Super Tuesday, Paul had received 5 delegates in North Dakota, and was projected to receive 2 in Iowa, 4 in Nevada, and 5 in Alaska based on caucus results, totaling 16. However, Paul's campaign projected 42 delegates based on the same results, including delegates from Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota.

In the January Louisiana caucus, Paul placed second behind John McCain, but uncommitted delegates outnumbered both candidates' pledged delegates, since a registration deadline had been extended to January 12th. Paul said he had the greatest number of pledged Louisiana delegates who had registered by the original January 10th deadline, and formally challenged the deadline extension and the Louisiana GOP's exclusion of voters due to an outdated list; he projected 3 Louisiana delegates. The Super Tuesday West Virginia caucus was won by Mike Huckabee, whose state campaign coordinators reportedly arranged to give 3 Huckabee delegates to Paul in exchange for votes from Paul's supporters. Huckabee has not confirmed this delegate pledge.

Paul's preference votes in primaries and caucuses began at 10% in Iowa (winning Jefferson County) and 8% in New Hampshire; on Super Tuesday they ranged from 25% in Montana and 21% in North Dakota, where he won several counties outright, to 3% in several states. After sweeping four states on March 4th, McCain was widely projected to have a majority of delegates pledged to vote for him in the September party convention. Paul obliquely acknowledged McCain on March 6th: "Though victory in the political sense [is] not available, many victories have been achieved due to hard work and enthusiasm." He continued to contest the remaining primaries, having added, "McCain has the nominal number ... but if you're in a campaign for only gaining power, that is one thing; if you're in a campaign to influence ideas and the future of the country, it's never over." His book about his presidential run, The Revolution: A Manifesto, became a New York Times and Amazon.com bestseller immediately upon release.

~Above information taken from Wikipedia Article~