Ron Paul and that money

-- by Dave

We've all noticed Ron Paul's fundraising prowess, but has anyone noticed that in spite of this, there haven't been any indications that he's actually spending it?

DrSteveB at DailyKos has, and so he has some questions:

There has been no serious public campaign expenditures such as major TV ad buys to match the level of his fund raising. He is not actually getting serious levels of votes beyond what he would be getting anyway. I would suggest the appropriate comparison would be to the low-funded, free publicity, paleoconservative movement outside of the officially approved of Republican mainstream, would be to Pat Buchanan (like Buchanan, Lew Rockwell himself is from a post-Father Coughlin hard right wing Catholic politicial culture background).

Paul has minimal paid staff, and regardless of his enthusiasts, no real statwide comprehensive, yet down to the precinct level, campaign organization. In other words, no real campaign.

Now, one answer has been that he is going to run as an indepdent. Maybe. But still: Where is the money really actually going? What remains after election day November 4, 2008?

Actually, my guess is that Paul has conceded the GOP nomination and is laying the groundwork for a third-party run. That's where this warchest will be directed.

You can say you read it here first.