(baiduhai photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo / January 2, 2008)
by Jason George
DES MOINES — Followers of Rep. Ron Paul’s presidential bid take pride in telling you that he hasn’t changed his message in 30 years. But there’s actually one word Paul has recently incorporated into his lexicon: revolution.
The ‘Ron Paul Revolution’ was not a phrase of Paul’s creation, but one that supporters started using months ago. It’s first appearance – the story goes, at least – was when some guys in Arizona began stenciling the phrase to look like this:
As anyone who travels on American highways can tell you, supporters have spread that slogan on signs all across the country. Like dandelions, the logo seems able to sprout up almost anywhere and everywhere – on overpasses, on onramps, on street poles. Last month, in New Hampshire, I met a woman at a Paul get-together who had driven from her home in Tulsa, Okla., to volunteer in the Granite State for Ron Paul, but not before she had a friend tattoo the ‘revolution’ logo just above her left breast.
Before deciding to run, Paul didn’t see his trust in the Constitution as anything revolutionary; in fact, both he and his staffers say it took some convincing to transform him from a congressman into a presidential candidate. And only recently did he adopt the revolutionary lingo.”I wasn’t sure they were ready,” he said of voters at a speech last night in Des Moines.
“When I started I didn’t think there’d be much money available for the campaign. Who’s going to donate for someone who believes in the Constitution?”
A lot of people obviously, as Paul just closed the books on $19 million of fundraising the past 3 months – believed to be the largest haul this quarter by any of the Republican candidates.
It’s a good sign of a revolution of some sort, but exactly what outcomes it’ll have – at tonight’s caucuses and beyond – is a result even Paul struggles to predict.
“When do we think this is going to happen: this week or next week? We don’t exactly know when the revolution will take place completely.
“I know one thing: something significant in the last year has happened. I cannot describe it totally and completely but I think you know it, you understand it, and you feel it in your bones.”
Paul can too – it’s just that for 30 years he didn’t know what to call it.
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