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Posted: September 18, 2007 6:42 PM
Paul Wraps Up West Coast Tour
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Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, recently returned from a five-day, four-city West coast trip where his campaign raked in more than $400,000 in donations from supporters in a Paul-friendly, pro-technology environment.

Wired magazine reported that Paul wooed Silicon Valley donors at a $2,000 per person dinner and had breakfast with approximately 40 supporters in San Francisco’s Palace Hotel.

The San Francisco event sparked an impromptu Paul rally. Wired reported that a large group chanted in support of Paul from outside the hotel as cars honked in unison. Most of the supporters appeared to be young, caucasian, white-collar workers, the magazine said.

Paul campaign communications director Jesse Benton said the crowd numbered 400 and said it was “really, really cool” that they showed up.

“One reason tech guys are attracted to Ron is because he believes in the freedom of the Internet. He is opposed to any taxation or regulation of the Internet,” Benton said.

He offered more insight into why white men who work at places like Google or Microsoft, which hosted a Paul event during the trip, go gaga for the libertarian gynecologist: “The tech corridor strongly supplements their news diet with new media are more likely or able to hear Dr. Paul’s message of freedom,” Benton said.

“I strongly think that the message of freedom is so powerful and unifying that when people hear it they are drawn to it,” he added.

Paul also visited Los Angeles, Seattle and Salt Lake City during his trip.

One Paul supporter from Sacramento told the Wired reporter that Paul isn’t getting his fair share of attention from the media, citing that Paul’s lack of mainstream buzz doesn’t square with the fact that only Paris Hilton gets more search requests than Paul on blog search engine technorati.com.

Meanwhile, National Journal’s presidential campaign rankings recently put Paul at seven in its 10-candidate field (including Alan Keyes).

“Up until the last debate, Paul was the charming, though ideologically odd, gadfly candidate. But he turned very angry in that last debate and we’re starting to wonder if his shtick is wearing thin,” one of the National Journal’s comments read.

Despite his continued low showing in scientific polls, Benton said that Paul is focused on building a 50-state grassroots campaign, with a special emphasis on important primary states Michigan and New Hampshire.