Presidential Candidate Ron Paul Gains Popularity on the Internet

Pittsburgh-native Dr. Ron Paul has become an internet sensation, according to his website www.RonPaul2008.com.

The Ron Paul 2008 site states that he is the most requested Republican candidate on Eventful.com, a site which allows users to request that a person (usually an entertainer) visit their area. In addition, the Ron Paul 2008 site reports that Dr. Paul has twice as many You Tube subscribers as all of the other Republican candidates combined.

A visit to the Ron Paul 2008 profile on MySpace shows that Dr. Paul has 22,430 friends on the popular internet networking site. While this is significantly less than Hillary Clinton's My Space friends total of 81,078, it is more than Barack Obama's My Space friends total of over 21,000. (In comparison, an unofficial MySpace for Rudy Giuliani registered almost 5,000 friends while John McCain's MySpace page registered 34,458 friends).

Followers of Dr. Paul have not only shown their support on the Web, but have also written to their local newspapers in order to request additional Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign coverage. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports receiving numerous emails from readers across-the-country demanding to know more about Ron Paul. One email, from David Gould of Redding, CA reads "Ron Paul is our only hope and you people in the media know it. Please give him a chance and report the polls right as he is our only hope, for your children's sake, PLEASE."

What has sparked this widespread public interest in the Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign? Perhaps it is his almost-renegade approach to politics. The Ron Paul 2008 website describes it this way: "In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the "one exception to the Gang of 535" on Capitol Hill." Unlike many of his counterparts, Ron Paul does not take part in the congressional pension program and Dr. Paul does not use all of his yearly congressional office budget, giving the remainder back to the U.S. Treasury.