At first, I assumed, and had even written, that Ron Pauls financial support was coming from the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party. Then I was corrected by former Ron Paul aide and founder of the Libertarian Republican Caucus, Eric Dondero, who also founded MainstreamLibertarian.com and hosts blogtalk radio show Libertarian Politics Live.
In an interview with Dondero, he emphatically complained; Please refrain in the future from using the label Libertarian Republican in describing Ron Paul. Call him what he is: Some sort of populist leftwinger.
Dondero continued, Since 9/11 Paul has become a complete nutcase conspiratorialist quasi-Anti-Semitic leftwing American-hating nutball.
These were strong words from a former aide to Mr. Paul (from 1997 2003) and words worthy of investigation in my mind. So I decided to investigate, which in politics always means, follow the money.
Where is all that money coming from?
Upon investigation, it appears that Mr. Dondero is exactly right. Much of Ron Pauls money is not coming from mainstream Libertarians or Republicans.
Although he is running as a Republican, he actually has very little support from rank and file Republicans, as every national Republican poll confirms. But it turns out that he has very little support from mainstream Libertarians either. As Dondero pointed out, Ron Paul is only attracting support from the leftwing side of the libertarian spectrum,