PHOENIX — Maverick presidential candidate Ron Paul rode a national wave of Internet fundraising to collect more money in Arizona last quarter than any candidate except John McCain, according to Federal Election Commission data. The 10-term U.S. representative from Texas raised $307,000 in Arizona from October through December, up from $68,000 the previous quarter. McCain, Arizona's senior senator, collected $407,000. Paul took in almost twice as much in the quarter as the next Republican candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Fred Solop, director of the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University, said Paul's jump in Arizona was connected to a national Internet campaign that catapulted the candidate into the media spotlight. That effort netted $4.2 million in just 24 hours in November, shattering records for online political donations.
"He has a message that's independent from the Republican Party," Solop said. "He's not beholden to those traditional interests." Solop said Paul's message of smaller government and fiscal restraint resonate with younger and independent voters. Still, that support hasn't been reflected among prospective voters in Arizona. A Cronkite/Eight Poll released Jan. 21 showed Paul with support from just 2 percent of registered Republicans. "He has a committed group of supporters, but activists are a relatively small portion of the population," said Barbara Norrander, a political science professor at the University of Arizona. Almost half of the $443,000 Paul raised in Arizona during 2007 came from East Valley ZIP codes.
David Schollmeyer, a Chandler party and event planner who gave the maximum of $2,300 to Paul, said he likes the candidate's support for smaller government. "He's the only one who actually speaks for it when it actually comes up in Congress," Schollmeyer said. "He's continually viewed as one of the biggest supporters of decreasing taxes and decreasing government spending and waste." In 1988, Paul ran for president as a Libertarian and came in a distant third. For all of 2007, McCain led Republicans in Arizona, raising almost $2.8 million. Romney took in $1.3 million and Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, collected $456,000. Among Democrats, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton led in 2007 with $708,000, while Illinois Sen. Barack Obama raised $397,000.