Rep. Paul – the Reluctant Leader of a Still-Energized Grassroots Movement

by Reid Wilson

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Soon after he returned to the House after his presidential bid ended last year, lawmakers approached Ron Paul (R-Texas) with the same question.

“How in the world did you raise all that money?”

Paul laughed while recounting the story during an interview with The Hill. He said members told him, “You raised $7 million and you didn’t even ask for it.”

“They wanted me to teach them how,” the 73-year-old lawmaker said.

A year and a half after his White House bid sparked fevered devotion, Paul doesn’t know what the next step is for the movement he helped build.

In fact, Paul, who ran for president in 1988 as a Libertarian, seems almost unwilling to take a leadership position among those who turned out to his rallies and who helped him raise more than $34 million seemingly out of nowhere.

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“I play a role in it. I sort of give some guidelines to it,” Paul said of the movement. “But it is so energetic and spontaneous and so popular that it just goes.”

Paul, who is in his 11th term, uses his hands to demonstrate his points. On his desk, there is a sign that reads, “Don’t Steal. The government hates competition.”

Though he gained notoriety for being the only Republican presidential candidate to oppose the war in Iraq, Paul said his followers were responsive to his more general calls for government to get out of people’s personal lives.

Asked what it’s like to be something of a household name, Paul responds, “Very tiring. I’ll get tired if I go on a trip.” He explains that much is expected of him when he gives speeches to his followers, but emphasizes, “As soon as I see a bunch of young people cheering, I get energized.”

And though he does not seem fired up to lead the hordes who came out to see him during the campaign, he has mobilized them with his very wonky idea to subject the Federal Reserve to regular audits.

Stunningly, the bill has 271 co-sponsors in the House, including every Republican.

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July 24, 2009

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