Campaign

I’d hate to be the guy across the street from this house. He’ll have to see this every day until Paul gets dumped from the campaign trail, or, worse yet, when Paul loses as a third-party candidate in the general election a year from now.

This large, expensive and obnoxious sign is displayed prominently on a house not too far from ours. Damsel took this as we were driving to the supermarket and to the sporting goods store for some ammo and targets. We saw this a few weeks ago and finally decided to drive by for a photo. Click on it for the glorious 640×480 image. Or not.

And then there’s this (FoxNews.com):

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, aided by an extraordinary outpouring of Internet support Monday, hauled in more than $4.2 million in nearly 24 hours.

Paul, the Texas congressman with a libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day.

Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie “V for Vendetta.” Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of the film on the online video site YouTube as well as the Guy Fawkes Day refrain: “Remember, remember the 5th of November.”

Paul’s total deposed Mitt Romney as the single-day fundraising record holder in the Republican presidential field. When it comes to sums amassed in one day, Paul now ranks only behind Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, who raised nearly $6.2 million on June 30, and Barack Obama.

It seems like Paul’s eccentric supporters have a few bucks to spare.

Drop your X-box and grab your sox – uh, no, wait . . . maybe you could grab your favorite fuzzy Ugs instead . . . it’s time to pimp your favorite whacko candidate.

Seen recently in Southern California, this pair of Ron Paul supporters gave up their super-sizers, X-boxes and the comfort of Mom’s basement to venture out among the masses and promote their candidate.

The results of Saturday’s Iowa straw poll would indicate that Paul, along with McCain, Tancredo, Cox and Hunter, ought to follow Tommy Thompson’s lead and remove some more of the ‘noise’ from the Republican campaign.

The Iowa results:

1. Mitt Romney – 4516 votes, 31%
2. Mike Huckabee – 2587 votes, 18.1%
3. Sam Brownback – 2192 votes, 15.3%
4. Tom Tancredo – 1961 votes, 13.7%
5. Ron Paul – 1305 votes, 9.1%
6. Tommy Thompson – 1,009 votes, 7.3%
7. Fred Thompson – 231 votes
8. Rudy Giuliani – 183 votes
9. Duncan Hunter – 174 votes
10. John McCain – 101 votes
11. John Cox – 41 votes

Photo credit Damsel – taken July 26, 2007 in Chula Vista, CA. Also credit Damsel with the ‘Mom’s Basement’ and ‘game-playing nerds’ observation.