Paul's online push smashes record, nets more than $4m

Judith Giuliani, wife of Rudy Giuliani, joined Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of Democrat Dennis Kucinich, at a leadership summit on breast cancer research in Lebanon, N.H., yesterday. (Cheryl Senter/associated press)

Ron Paul ended up smashing the record for money raised in one day by a Republican presidential hopeful.

Through an ambitious online push Monday, his campaign brought in more than $4 million, surpassing the $3.1 million that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney raised on Jan. 8. Paul's supporters piggybacked on Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates the failed plot by English Catholics to blow up Parliament and King James I in 1605.

As of 6 p.m., Paul's website reported that he had collected nearly $7.4 million of the $12 million goal he has set for the last three months of this year to help him compete in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, and South Carolina, the first four nominating contests.

Paul has been an Internet sensation and is now spending money on TV ads and trying to translate that popularity into support in the polls and votes on the ground. "If someone is willing to send you money and invest all this time and energy, you would think they would invest the energy necessary to register and come and vote," Paul told MSNBC. "I think it does depend on the state, it depends on how we spend the money now that we have it in the bank, and how we advertise, and how we motivate the people to come out," he said.

FOON RHEE

Thompson's TV blitz

Fred Thompson, a late entrant into the Republican presidential race, is starting his first major TV ad blitz.

In the ad, the actor and former Tennessee senator declares "I've been a conservative all my life" and brags about his "100 percent pro-life" voting record, an unspoken contrast with rivals Rudy Giuliani, who favors abortion rights, and Mitt Romney, who once did.

In a small-town diner, Thompson speaks into the camera over a montage of photos from his life, including one with Ronald Reagan. "Strength, conviction, honesty," the announcer says at the end.

The 60-second ad, and a 30-second version, will air on local stations in Iowa and nationally on Fox News Channel starting today. According to data compiled by another presidential campaign, the Iowa ads will cost the campaign more than $400,000. Airing the 30-second ad on Fox will cost more than $160,000. Until now, the only ad Thompson ran was when he announced his candidacy in September.

Campaigning in South Carolina yesterday, Thompson mocked Romney for spending millions of his own money on the presidential race. Romney has dipped into his personal wealth for nearly $17.5 million and has spent about $2 million on advertising in South Carolina.

"Governor, you can't buy South Carolina," Thompson told about 200 people in Fort Mill. "You can't even rent South Carolina."

STAFF, ASSOCIATED PRESS

TBill Clinton is targeted

Barack Obama and Chris Dodd have both seized on comments Bill Clinton made at an American Postal Workers Union convention Monday in Las Vegas. Clinton brought up the "Swift Boat" campaign that helped sink John F. Kerry in 2004 in discussing the recent controversy over his wife's position on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

Obama told the Associated Press yesterday that he was "stunned" by the former president's statement. "How you would then draw an analogy to distorting somebody's military record is a reach," he said.

Hillary Clinton's campaign singled out Obama and said he was taking her husband's comments out of context to score cheap points.

Here's what Bill Clinton actually said, as recorded by the AP, on his wife's comments in the debate last week: "I had the feeling that at the end of that last debate we were about to get into cutesy land again. Ya'll raise your hand if you're for illegal immigrants getting a driver's license. So, we then let the Republicans go ahead saying all the Democrats are against the rule of law. I think it's fine to discuss immigration. We should. . . . But not in 30 seconds, yes, no, raise your hand. This is a complicated issue."

SCOTT HELMAN

Michigan faces a test

LANSING, Mich. - Democrats who support a Jan. 15 presidential primary say they have the votes on the party's executive committee to defeat efforts to switch the date or hold a caucus instead.

The test could come tonight, when the committee meets at party headquarters in Lansing to vote on whether national convention delegates should be awarded based on the primary or through some other method.

The meeting's results will be closely monitored in New Hampshire, where the secretary of state has said that his announcement of a New Hampshire primary date depends on what the Michigan Democrats decide. If Michigan sticks with Jan. 15, New Hampshire is expected to pick Jan. 8.

ASSOCIATED PRESS