Ron Paul raises nearly $20m, and is excluded by Fox News?
Posted on January 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 am by Contributor ArchiveRon Paul completed the 4th quarter having received a whooping $19.5 million in campaign donations. After doubling his 2nd quarter fundraising dollars in the 3rd quarter ($5.3m), the upstart Congressman nearly quadrupled those 3rd quarter numbers to end the year. Surely such a surge of support would warrant media exposure and coverage on par with the likes of Fred Thompson, John McCain, or even the big three, but, apparently, not according to Fox News, who doesn’t think Paul even deserves a seat at the table.
The New Hampshire GOP is sponsoring a forum to be aired on the Fox News Channel just two days before the nation’s first primary. Differing from a debate, the forum will feature candidates seated at a table and answering questions from Chris Wallace. Giuliani, Thompson, McCain, Romney, and Huckabee are scheduled to appear, but Paul is not, as he was not offered an invitation. Uber-active Neo-Paul-itans are outraged and have flooded the NH Republican Party and Fox News (and even Fox affiliates) with demands for inclusion. In response, Fergus Cullen, the NH GOP chairman, issued a press release urging Fox News to include Paul, but the notoriously “Fair and Balanced” network has yet to grant him an invitation.
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FOX news isn’t real news, and Ron Paul isn’t a real candidate… seems like a match made in heaven. I think, at least in this case, Paul’s actual performance in the contests will justify this decision, as Paul’s support is more commited than broad or deep. He’s still not polling much more than five percent anywhere, despite the media attention given to his money bombs.
Apparently, the decision about who will be invited isn’t going to be final until after the Iowa caucuses. Paul will be in NH anyway, so if he has strong results in Iowa then would likely be on. Otherwise, he’ll probably be holding a “town hall” interview nearby.
Fergus Cullen’s mealy-mouthed press release did NOT urge Fox to include Paul. It just urged them to include “all recognized major candidates.” It should have specifically named Paul, or said ‘all FEC-recognized candidates.’
‘Welcome my son, welcome to the machine.’
The force behind Ron Paul is against most mainstream media companies…they know it and will do whatever is necessary to shut Paul down. Both Beck and Russert inserted lies and ridiculous comments when interviewing Paul.
But they still have to deal with the people. The longer the internet allows free speech, the more our government will be held accountable. Frankly, Ron Paul’s run has snapped so many people out of their apathy and has caused so many people to learn about the politics, things will never be the same for a few decades.
And when they try to oppress the internet…well…I won’t comment on that…yet. Just know that there is an extremely important reason that Google backs Paul.
death, taxes and a post about ron paul from ethan
FYI: Per Wiki, there are three upcoming debates.
Jan 5: ABC, WMUR-TV and Facebook are jointly hosting back-to-back Republican and Democratic debates from Saint Anselm College on Saturday evening, 7 p.m. EST, three days before the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday. Candidates will be allowed to participate if they meet one of three criteria, “place first through fourth in Iowa, poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major New Hampshire surveys, or poll 5 percent or higher in one of the last four major national surveys.” Ron Paul has been invited to this one.
Jan 6: The New Hampshire Republican Party had been sponsoring a brunch forum with presidential candidates to be broadcast on Fox News. According to the campaign websites and PD, candidate Ron Paul was not invited for this event. New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen released a statement on the 31st of December regarding the primary weekend debates where he mentions the exclusion; “Limiting the number of candidates who are invited to participate in debates is not consistent with the tradition of the first in the nation primary. The level playing field requires that all candidates be given an equal opportunity to participate – not just a select few determined by the media prior to any votes being cast.”
BTW: Ron Paul won all three New Hampshire straw polls. I’ll let you connect the dots.
Jan 10: Fox News is hosting a debate at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. Currently, all candidates including Ron Paul have been invited to participate, despite Paul’s exclusion from the previous Fox News debate.
BTW: I believe that Ron Paul supporters are the only ones hoping for bad weather on voting days. Only Ron Paul people won’t let a snow storm stop them. We are really, really, really tired of what has been going on…and we really, really, really willing to make the change…right now, through political means.
I think it should be these 6: Huck, Mitt, McCain, Guliani, Thompson, Paul. Nobody else comes close either in votes or money (a reflection of possible votes). That should give plenty of airtime to each guy.
Other GOP debates in the near future:
Jan 16: The two-hour debate will be held by National Public Radio News and South Carolina public broadcasting outlet ETV radio.
Jan 30: The Los Angeles Times and CNN are hosting a Republican debate in Simi Valley, California.
From the homepage of usaelectionpolls.com
Whether you look at the race nationally, in Iowa, or in New Hampshire; Ron Paul is polling about as well as John Kerry and John Edwards did at the same point in time in 2004. And when you consider the massive amount of donations Ron Paul has received and the large number of straw polls that Ron Paul has won; Ron Paul is in far better position for a strong finish in this Republican race than the average voter would have considered would be true for Kerry or Edwards.
If Fox News is so naive that they would ignore Ron Paul despite this historical precedent then they are about as smart as my left nut.
To read the full story and all the poll results from 2004, check out our article posted at PresidentElectionPolls.com.
H&C obviously doesn’t like Dr. Paul as seen in the reaction to each of the debate polls.. even their own. If the GOP and Fox News continues on this course they are going to force Paul to go independent. What are they afraid of? Do they think he really does have a strong chance of winning? Are they scared that a return to the Constitution puts too much power into the hands of all citizens? There was some talk of Conservatives breaking away from the GOP and forming their own party. This type of action will stoke the fires. This type of action will force a convention crisis.
there is no way Paul would go independent. he has a lot of money yes, but not enough support to gain 33.1% of the vote in enough states to get even one electoral vote. he knows this. that is why he keeps saying he is 99.999% sure he won’t run 3rd party.
For him to get on the ballot in all 50 states (good luck in Oklahoma) in the time between SC and the election would eat up all his funds and then some, as well as disillusion a lot of his supporters.
He will be more likely to throw his support and efforts towards getting more Republicans like him elected into congress in ‘08 and in ‘10. This would set him up much better in 2012 or who ever he anoints from his following. If he does not get the nomination or force the convention to make some changes with his delegates. After all they get a say in the party platform. Even if he shows up with just 20% of the delegates they will have a heavy say in the platform.
I dont support Ron Paul, but HEY, he raised a ton of money and wins straw polls and Fox NEws post debate polls, and he is doing better than Thompson, So You could atleast give him a seat. If you were going to cut him out, it should have been done a long time ago.
Fox News, Fair Balanced and Unafraid (Of everyone except Paul)
Boivie -
Everything happens for a reason. Including you voting for Obama instead. Without Paul, he’s the only good candidate Republicans have. Ha ha.
Actually it does not surprise me. Brit Hume doesn’t believe Libertarian is a valid political party because they advocate no government. “No government = anarchary. Thus, not a political party.”
E
Yea, I am a Huck supporter, but I really like Paul a lot and I respect him for his principled stands. What they are doing to him is just wrong and it is not fair and it is not balanced.
Fox is really starting to get on my nerves… especially that Carl Cameron guy.