John Clifton, a fellow member of the Queens and Manhattan Libertarian Party’s has sent around a breakdown of the Ron Paul for President 2008 campaign’s expenditures for the 4th quarter of 2007. I’ve not confirmed the data with the FEC but as he points out there are some questionable expenditures and I can only hope that the campaign will respond to these statements.

A very detailed breakdown of Paul’s 4th quarter
campaign spending, from a post on ronpaul forums:

Where $17M went in the 4th Qtr

These are the major category expenses from the 4th
Quarter FEC report for the RPPCC (taken from the raw
FEC data files and then sucked into a DB and totaled.)

Bulk Mail Printing/Processing/Postage ……..
4,329,007.44
Radio Spot Expense ………………………
3,092,519.89
Television Spot Expense/Production ………..
2,192,292.56
Telecommunications ………………………
1,514,587.03
Television Spot Expense ……………………
906,702.32
Salaries …………………………………
532,929.25
Credit Card Contributions Processing Fee …….
483,249.47
Signs/Sign Supplies ……………………….
451,796.19
Payroll Tax Expense ……………………….
394,600.75
Airline Travel ……………………………
380,840.50
Reimbursement Expenses …………………….
328,504.73
Consulting-Political Field Work …………….
320,851.92
Campaign Shirts …………………………..
247,442.55
Freight/Shipping Expenses ………………….
220,911.91
List Rental/Purchase ………………………
220,046.04
Freight ………………………………….
206,369.07
Bulk Printing-Slim Jims ……………………
202,890.00
Bulk Mail Postage\Processing ……………….
200,020.99
Bulk Printing …………………………….
160,250.28
Campaign Buttons/Stickers/Etc ………………
125,910.00
———————————————————–
TOTAL …………………………………
16,511,722.89
That’s it for the main expense data folks.

Everthing else below is my “educated guesses” based on
some further (more detailed) analysis of the numbers
BEHIND the data above.

DO NOT READ ANY FARTHER if you do not want to know.

Read More…

http://www.ballot-access.org/…

http://www.wcax.com/…

A (New Hampshire) judge has struck down a new law that allowed the state to sell detailed voter information only to major political parties.

Judge Carol Ann Conboy wrote that the law put small parties at a distinct disadvantage.

Before the law went into effect in July, most voter data, such as name and party registration history, had been available only on a town-by-town basis. Under the law, the information was available statewide, but only to parties that have received 4% of the vote in a statewide contest. In New Hampshire, that meant only the Democrats and Republicans.

I got into a discussion at Thanksgiving dinner about ‘wasted votes’ and how a vote for Ron Paul or the Libertarian candidate would be one. The arguments went that a vote for either would siphon votes from the person you dislike least of those who ‘have a chance.’ That reasoning makes no sense to me. Who defines who has a chance? The media? If everyone followed that reasoning it would only take a single individual to claim who could win and everyone else would need to vote for that person. When do you determine who to vote for? Do I support Ron Paul and attempt to get his name an platform out to the voters until the very second I vote for Rudy? Why would anyone invest the time into supporting a candidate they feel more closely matches their beliefs just to vote otherwise? They won’t… and that will create the self fulfilling situation of the ‘one who can win’ winning. Let us not forget that rarely is the propagation of information linear. If I’d never bothered to look into Ron Paul my family would have unlikely had shown any interest in him (not that necessarily support him now.) As support increases so does the acceleration and that will give credibility to the campaign… which unfortunately many people use as a major component in deciding who they will vote for. But even if you ignore all that, which is a major component IMO, there are black and white reasons why third party votes are not wasted. Statutes like this one in NH and the one in NJ and in so many other jurisdictions create completely biased environments for the other partys and independents. You can’t have the government provided tools to help you raise awareness of your party or it’s candidates until you raise awareness of your party. But for those who already have the awareness and means… we’ll subsidize them. Doesn’t seem fair and it’s surely not equal. If any vote is wasted it is when it comes to the popular vote for POTUS where most states’ electors vote with the majority. If 50% of NJ goes D than all those R votes above 5% are a waste… but with laws like the one in the article in effect a vote for Libertarian or Green or Constitution or Socialist wouldn’t be. You’d be helping to level the playing field.

http://www.fee.org/…

http://www.libertyconspiracy.com/

In the middle of December 1620 the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, leaving behind the sinfulness of the “old world” to make a “new Jerusalem” in America. Three years later, in November 1623, they had a great feast thanking God for getting them through an earlier famine, and now for a bountiful crop.

 

What had created the earlier famine and then the bountiful crops? The story is told in the diary of Governor Bradford, who was one of the elders of that early Puritan colony.

Maybe I should replace saying grace with this tonight.

http://news.com.com/…

For a while there, the fate of the Republican counterpart to last month’s CNN-YouTube debates among Democratic presidential contenders was looking pretty bleak. But it appears that the event in St. Petersburg, Fla., will, indeed take place–albeit a few months later than planned.

CNN and YouTube on Monday issued a brief press release announcing that the candidates will be invited to take the Mahaffey Theatre’s stage on November 28. As of Sunday night, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani had agreed to show up for the post-Thanksgiving event, but there was no immediate word on the others, a CNN spokeswoman said.

I wonder SaveTheDebate.com had anything to do with this? I’m glad it’s still going on. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad for Ron Paul. If more drop out then he can only be given more time in front of the camera. However, if his message isn’t spread far enough by then people may continue to write him off and unelectable because he is still generally unknown and not actually listen to what he has to say.