redblueamerica.com

Help me out here. What is the cross-appeal between Ron Paul and John Edwards? Is it the two men's general disdain for multinational corporations? Because I can't see it from any other angle.

Joel said: Yes, but was Ron Paul the biggest fund-raiser from Republicans?

Good question, and since the donor forms don't even ask for party affiliation, one that's unfortunately impossible to answer.

That said, there has certainly been an assumption from both the campaign and the grassroots that a good deal of Paul's support (financial and otherwise) is coming from folks who are not registered Republican. Back in the fall, a good deal of the information flow from the site dealt with identifying which states had open and closed primaries, the deadlines for registering Republican in each state, and the process for doing so. I, myself, had to register Republican when I found out that Arizona's "open" primary law didn't apply to Presidential Preference elections. (Note: Then what good is it?)

It would probably be more accurate to say I "re-registered" Republican, and even more accurate to say I "re-re-registered" Republican. I grew up a "Goldwater Republican" when Barry Goldwater was still representing my state as one of its Senators. When I turned 18, I registered Republican, even though I had strong Libertarian leanings. Then, in my early twenties, a friend ran for the state legislature as a Libertarian, so I registered Libertarian and stayed that way until 2000, when the Arizona Libertarian Party was so screwed up they failed to put the same candidate on the ballot for President as the rest of the nation. In disgust, I ran back to the Republican party like I was running home to mommy. "At least," I thought, "I can vote in the Republican primary and then vote Libertarian during the general election."

Well, a few years ago Arizona passed its open primary law, and I registered Independent, which allows me to choose which party's primary ballot I may vote in each election - except, as I mentioned above, the one to select the party's Presidential candidate. Because Ron Paul actually stood for the principles in which I believe, I returned again to the Republican fold - at least until next Tuesday.

I don't think I'm a "typical" Ron Paul voter, but in another way I think I might be: His supporters are disaffected voters of many stripes: Big-"L" Libertarians, Passionately anti-war Democrats, Goldwater/Taft Republicans, Anarchists, young people who long for someone who doesn't sound like they're lying, etc. A lot of those people gave money to Ron Paul, and many may have failed to register and vote, at least in these early primaries. We shall see. I'm still hoping that "Super-duper Tuesday" has surprising results.

But even if it doesn't, Dr. Paul has already accomplished amazingly more than most of us - and even Ron Paul himself - expected. He has gotten to participate in most of the debates, he's brought people who would not otherwise have voted out of the woodwork, and he's made real freedom a discussion point again. Those things make my donations worth every penny I've given.

Yes, I noticed the local herbalist has a Ron Paul sign in the window, and I don't think it's because of his stance on the Gold Standard, unless you're talking Acapulco Gold.