Ron Paul wins text poll 10-21-07

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935), is a 10th-term Republican United States Congressman from Lake Jackson, Texas, a physician, and a Republican candidate for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. He has represented Texas's 14th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997, and its 22nd district, from 1976 to 1977 and from 1979 to 1985. Paul placed third in the 1988 presidential election with 0.5% of the vote, running as the Libertarian Party nominee while remaining a registered Republican. After his 1961 graduation from Duke University School of Medicine and a residency in obstetrics and gynecology (ob/gyn), he became an Air Force flight surgeon, serving outside the Vietnam War zone.

Paul has been called a conservative, Constitutionalist, and libertarian. He advocates non-interventionist foreign policy, having voted against the Iraq War Resolution. He favors withdrawal from NATO and the United Nations, supports free trade but not NAFTA or the World Trade Organization, and opposes amnesty and birthright citizenship for illegal aliens. Paul supports reducing government spending and states that he has never voted in Congress to raise taxes or to approve an unbalanced budget.[2] Paul opposes the federal income tax[3] and wants to abolish most federal agencies.[4] He opposes the Patriot Act, the federal War on Drugs, and gun control. Paul is strongly pro-life, advocating the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and affirms states' rights to determine the legality of abortion.[5]

During his 2008 presidential campaign, Paul has placed above most of the candidates in Republican straw polls and in raising funds,[6] but has polled only as high as 4% in national phone surveys of Republican-leaning voters.[7][8] He has generated strong online support and is the top presidential candidate Internet search term as measured by Hitwise, Alexa, and Technorati; he has several times more YouTube subscribers than any other presidential candidate. Supporters "guard [his] image against what they see as a purposeful marginalization by the media",[9][10] and cite his victories in 2008 GOP debate sponsors' online and phone text polls to argue he deserves more mainstream recognition