Paul supporters plan more big fund-raisers

The fund-raising "bomb," detonated by Ron Paul's supporters this week, was such a huge success that his backers are already planning others, including one with a Boston connection.

The one on Tuesday raised $4.2 million in online contributions from nearly 37,000 people -- an one-day record for a Republican presidential candidate -- and resulted in the biggest explosion of publicity yet for Paul, a Texas congressman. It was timed with Guy Fawkes Day, marked in England with fireworks and bonfires to the anniversary of a failed plot to blow up Parliament in 1605.

A donation day in the works will apparently be tied to another historical event -- the Boston Tea Party on Dec. 16, 1773, when patriots dumped tea into Boston Harbor to protest taxation without representation. Paul campaign spokeswoman Kerri Price said she had no official confirmation of the event because it is being organized entirely by volunteers.

So was the one on Tuesday. "This historic event was created, organized, and run by volunteers," Paul said in a message posted on his website. "This is the spirt that has protected American freedom in our past; this is the spirit that is doing so again."

Paul is trying to raise $12 million this quarter so he can buy TV time and compete in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. As of 1:30 p.m., he had brought in nearly $7.7 million of that goal.