Remember remember the fifth of November
by Carlos Menezes on 2007/11/07
The 5th of November marked quite a day for Ron Paul. The US Republican presidential candidate, known for being one of the few members of his party to oppose both the war in Iraq and the Bush administration’s security methods, reportedly pulled in over $4.2 million in under 24 hours due to a inundation of web-based donations. Although Andrew, Smallz and myself have blogged about the US elections before I thought that the sheer magnitude of the figure warranted another post.For two months Ron Paul supporters ran a YouTube campaign centred around Guy Fawkes and Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta. As with the following example users posted submissions showing compilations of scenes from the film coupled with stirring messages designed to motivate online donors to contribute to Paul’s campaign on the 5th of November.
Having raised $5 million in the past three months Paul had risen from relative obscurity to become one of the main Republican candidates. Monday saw that figure increase by 80% and suddenly everyone is talking about the 72 year-old Texan.
Over 30,000 donors responded to what in effect was an independent campaign (not that Paul didn’t back it), and although his overall support base still can’t compare with the likes of Obama and Clinton, he does boast more YouTube views and subscribers than any other candidate. In fact, with over 30,000 subscribers his YouTube channel now ranks among the top 40 of all time.
Although the campaign fell short of attaining its lofty goal of $10 million from 100,000 donors it still illustrates the power that ‘unofficial’ movements can have in this day and age.
