Libertarian-Posing-As Republican Ron Paul Spends $2 Million In New Ads Bashing Republican Rivals As “Not True Conservatives”
Oct 20, 2011 12 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential contender Ron Paul is opening his wallet for $2 million of television ads that criticize rivals Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Herman Cain for supporting federal spending while touting his own proposal for drastically shrinking Washington’s bottom line.
Paul on Thursday unveiled a 60-second ad that cast the White House hopefuls as spend-happy politicians who are not true conservatives. A second ad, also set to run for two weeks in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, promotes Paul’s plan to cut $1 trillion from the budget, eliminate five Cabinet-level agencies and stop spending U.S. tax dollars abroad on wars or aid.
Further seeking to criticize his rivals, Paul’s campaign has been mailing voters saying Romney, Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota are beholden to unions.
“The sad truth is, Dr. Paul’s opponents have records that leave much to be desired,” the campaign said in an anti-labor mailing in South Carolina.
Paul, a physician who previous sought the Libertarian and Republican nominations for the White House, has tapped his fervent supporters’ imaginations and wallets as he attempts to claw his way to the top of the GOP contest. His latest fundraising push brought in more than $2.3 million in recent days. His campaign earlier had announced that he had raised $8 million during the last three months and had banked $3.5 million for the fundraising quarter that started Oct. 1.
