It doesn't seem that Ron Paul is running radio or television ads for his presidential campaign -- which is surprising, since he's raised $19 million in the last quarter.
Strangely though, he IS running ads for his run for re-election to the House of Representatives:
But Paul has a vast stockpile of campaign cash at his disposal, thanks to his fundraising success in this year’s presidential bid. He raised about $19 million in the last quarter, and, if he chooses to, he can transfer that money into his congressional treasury.
Paul campaign spokesman Mark Elam indicated that Paul was planning on spending money from his presidential campaign on his House reelection bid. He went up on the airwaves Tuesday with his first advertisement, a radio spot touting his biography and legislative accomplishments.
How about it Ronulans? Did you donate to Ron Paul so he can get re-elected to the House of Representatives? Seems like a big waste of money.
I wonder what he'll do with the other $15 million, once his Congressional race is over...
Note: I wrote about Paul's Congressional race at the Weekly Standard a few days ago.
Update: Soren Dayton points out that Ron Paul did indeed, run ads in New Hampshire -- if I receive word that he's running ads in any other states, I'll add that.
Nevertheless, it's clear that Ron Paul is not running a presidential campaign. The presidential candidates are spending all that they raise -- and more, in some cases. Ron Paul is different. He's still raising money -- nominally for the presidential campaign. But it won't be spent on his presidential run; it will be spent either on his current House race, or some other cause yet to be determined.
But since he's not using the donations to pay for a presidential campaign, he ought to be up front about it.
Update II: I hope I don't have to retract this completely. A commenter reports:
He did a huge media buy with Clear Channel here in Central Florida. His ads are being played 3-5 times an hour on all 7 CC station in Orlando. It started a couple of weeks ago.
That led me to this:
Beginning this week, Republican Texas Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign will begin running a series of radio ads in Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Maine and North Dakota in anticipation of the states' upcoming primaries and caucuses.
This demonstrates that Paul is indeed, spending his receipts on ads. It's also true however, that you have to buy A LOT of radio ads to spend $19 million. I suspect campaign filings will ultimately show a lot more spent on his Congressional campaign than his presidential bid.
6 comments:
I live in the heart of Ron Paul's district. All of a sudden we're getting bombarded with commercials, and signs for his Congressional campaign are up everywheres.
He's scared of Peden.
He did a huge media buy with Clear Channel here in Central Florida. His ads are being played 3-5 times an hour on all 7 CC station in Orlando. It started a couple of weeks ago.
It was pretty much impossible to listen to the radio for an hour without hearing a Ron Paul ad here in West Michigan for the entire month leading up to the primary we just had.
Ron Paul has spent vast amounts of money in his presidential campaign on advertising in TV and radio ads in multiple states.
Ron Paul has not spent a penny of the money donated to his presidential campaign for his congressional campaign. He doesn't need to, he has and will continue to raise millions of dollars as needed to run his congressional race.
Ron Paul is running radio and TV ads in his congressional reelection campaign...as he always does.
Ron Paul is not running scared of Peden. Peden is virtually unknown to voters in CD14 with only about 5 weeks left in the election according to two recent polls.
Just last year Mr. Peden swore in public that he would never run against Ron Paul for Congress so long as Dr. Paul was still seeking reelection. He has clearly broken his word in this regard. All of which is strange considering that Peden described Ron Paul in these glowing terms not long ago:
“I have an immense amount of respect for Ron Paul,” said Chris Peden, a Friendswood city councilman. “Politics has a way of forcing people to go against their core principles for political gain. That has never been the case for Ron Paul.” -- Jan. 12, 2007 Galveston Daily News
Paul radio ads are running regularly on KFBK in Sacramento, CA, the local Clear Channel affiliate (and home station for national talk hosts Rush Limbaugh and Tom Sullivan).
"Paul campaign spokesman Mark Elam indicated that Paul was planning on spending money from his presidential campaign on his House reelection bid."
Do you have a cite for this quote? Not just another blog saying the same thing, but an actual quote from Elam?
I ask because, not only are you accusing Ron Paul of "deceiving his donors," but you're also accusing him of illegally transferring funds.
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