The Ron Paul factor explored

Posted at 6:15 PM on October 8, 2007 by Bob Collins

The weekend featured one of those moments that reminded me of the time -- in the '70s -- that both Time and Newsweek put Bruce Springsteen on the cover.

Three highly-visible news organizations ran stories about the buzz -- especially on the Internet -- surrounding Ron Paul, the Texas Republican running for president.

The Washington Post takes on the claim that he's the "Howard Dean of '08" by noting that the Internet is flexing the philosophy which dominated it in the '90s - libertarianism.

ABC News talks about him as the "Republican dark horse," who is a a bona fide grassroots sensation. " He's a big hit on Facebook, and he's right below Paris Hilton and right above Mario Lopez on blog searches," it says. Of course.

CBS News noted his impressive fundraising, which it says is "not bad for a guy who has generally been treated as a fringe candidate whose only impact on the race would be as a punching bag for more legitimate candidates looking to score political points."

All stories were relatively interesting. The timing -- Thursday for the WashPo story and Saturday for the broadcasters -- was a good example of how few electronic media newsrooms think of stories on their own.

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