Ron Paul raises $13 million in fourth quarter

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Campaign 2012

Texas Rep. Ron Paul raised $13 million in final three months of last year, his campaign tells CBS News - a healthy number that reflects his ability to raise enough money to continue to be a long-term player in the Republican primary process.

Paul, the Libertarian-leaning Texas lawmaker who finished third in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday, may well be the strongest fundraiser in the GOP field, other than Mitt Romney. The only other candidate who has shown the ability to raise comparable sums is Rick Perry, though Perry's fundraising fell off in the wake of his struggles in the GOP debates and slide in the polls.

Romney's campaign said it raised more than $20 million for the quarter, and Rick Santorum's campaign said it raised $1 million in one day in the wake of Santorum's near-victory in the caucuses. (Most of the campaigns have yet to release their fourth quarter numbers.) The Obama campaign has set a goal of raising $60 million in the fourth quarter.

The Paul campaign, mirroring then-Senator Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, is focusing on maximizing its delegate count in part by focusing on low-profile contests, such as the Louisiana and Nevada caucuses. The campaign says it is sending out mailers touting the candidate in those to states along with Maine, Colorado, Washington and North Dakota.

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Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by Ronalduss January 8, 2012 4:57 PM EST: Ron Paul shut down warmonger Gingrich, ahaha ACTIONS speak louder than spiffy rhetoric Gingrich! Owned.; Reply to this comment


by typrice January 8, 2012 12:14 PM EST: What???? Hare you kidding me?? Thats over 4 million a month...Just wait until the other freedom candidates drop and their donors add on to that!!! Paul is gonna win!!; Reply to this comment

by tsigili January 6, 2012 12:32 PM EST

It is always strange, how weirdness attracts funding.

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by typrice January 8, 2012 11:54 AM EST: No, weirdness attracts weirdos like you haha! Good Ideas attract money!


by harrybrowne January 6, 2012 12:15 PM EST: Fantastic (I contributed too)! The more money he gets the better I like it! And he gets his money from small donors - not billionaires like Romney and Obama. More money to spread the message of Liberty, the Constitution, and ending our illegal wars. Go Ron! all the way to the White House!; Reply to this comment


by OpiateoftheOne January 6, 2012 8:45 AM EST: CBS should have the courage to present who are making these contributions. That would truly tell the story of where the support comes from. Obviously those supporting a campaign feel that either their or the country's overall best interest are being supported by that candidate.

It would be good to see who "the people" support with their hard earned dollars.

As an aside, it might also give just a tad of support to the idea that CBS could occasionally be honest in their reporting.; Reply to this comment

by myth1958 January 5, 2012 11:13 PM EST

Montopoli gives us the facts, but no comments, in this brief on the Ron Paul money machine. Whether the racist Congressman from Texas picks up $13 million or $13 billion, he can't evade the hypocritical conduct he has demonstrated since God was a baby. In his 30-some years in Congress, Ron Paul may have set a new record for ineffectiveness: out of 600 or so bills he's introduced he's managed to get only a single one passed. He holds the record for most audaciously racist votes as well - voting against the Congressional Medal of Honor for American icon Rosa Parks and a bill commemorating the 1964 Civil Rights Act - the sole person to vote against both items. Even a broken watch tells the correct time twice a day they say, but Ron Paul is wrong 24/7. Perhaps it is good that he raised $13 million because it means that money won't be going to allies in White supremacist movements elsewhere. Good.

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by maplekat January 8, 2012 3:33 AM EST: Good points myth1958 ... (not!). Over the last 30 years, while everyone was "working together" in congress to pass hundreds of bills that has left us stranded with debt, tripled sized government, and multiple wars and "operations" undeclared by the American people ... Ron Paul warned us of the risks and stood his ground, ensuring that he represented his campaign promises to his district and not the promises of lobbyists and special interests of the Washington machine that everyone else pledged allegiance to. I guess you, too, think he should have just found a way to agree with them. But fortunately that record of standing alone for the right thing and not just the "any" thing is what mobilizes thousands around his cause right now. As for Rosa Parks Medal of Honor - I have some bad news for ya. He didn't feel it was appropriate for tax payer money to be spent on such a thing any more so than he feels unconstitutional social programs have no business in the federal government. But he was the ONLY person in the congress who offered to pitch in with his own money to help pay for it. Of course, no one else wanted to help out. So instead they dumped into some spending bill and put it on the charge card. So Ron Paul was willing to pay with his own money for a Rosa Parks medal when no one else would. I call that audaciously "Anti-Racist" as is his own conviction and political quest to end the War on Drugs which unfairly targets minorities.


by kazukazuchan January 8, 2012 4:35 AM EST: Congress currently has a 5% approval rating, dumbf--- LOL.

by ProgressNow January 5, 2012 6:31 PM EST

Fools and their money are soon parted...

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by typrice January 8, 2012 12:06 PM EST: Hey!!! Romney, hahahahaha!!!!!!!!

by mattrick78 January 5, 2012 6:13 PM EST

$13 million dollars is a lot of money for a dead end campaign.

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by johneverymann20 January 6, 2012 7:25 PM EST: 1,245 delegates and the nomination is his. Hopefully Mitts campaign is doing the math. Hilary Clinton`s campaign made that mistake in 2008. She still ended up with a nice cabinet position. If Mitt changes his positions, He might get to be Paul`s secretary of state.


by typrice January 8, 2012 12:09 PM EST: Ya, then it's great it's not, santorum's, gingriche's or perry's hahaaha!

by reckoningx January 5, 2012 1:55 PM EST

The people donate to Ron Paul, Big corporations endorse the rest, including Obama.

Take ur pick.

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by typrice January 8, 2012 12:27 PM EST: Good thing his ideas are finally catching on this time and now has a very large group of devoted followers and growing every day! He is consistently over 20% and that is growing too...he is on track with his plan to win! Just watch, and vote for him too, any other would be a wasted vote!