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Suffrage net city

RON PAUL WEB SITE ronpaul2008.com LOOK FOR You could look for the 1992 edition of the Ron Paul Political Report, which offers some disquieting opinions about African-Americans and the LA riots — but you won’t find it. LAUGH AT His attempt at a Lands’ End catalogue, “Fall & Winter Clothing,” in his online store GRADE B+

In October, Ron Paul’s oft-ignored insurgent campaign announced it had raised a relatively remarkable $5.1 million in the third quarter — five times what fellow candidate Mike Huckabee had pulled in during the same period. Where did it come from? The Internet, of course. From the thousands of young Web surfers who embrace his libertarian message of small government and an end to the war. (If that $5 million was impressive, it’s astonishing that Paul’s supporters, via a site called thisnovember5th.com, were able to raise more than $4 million in a single day earlier this month.) Does this mean he has a shot at winning this thing? Pretty doubtful. But it is another tangible example of the massive discrepancy between Paul’s Internet celebrity and his mainstream-media presence. Paul’s site is a beaut: eye-catching, well-designed, and utilitarian. And its use of social networking has helped make him a Web celeb. He’s consistently among the top search terms on Technorati. He’s dug by the Digg folks. There’s even a “Ron Paul girl” running around metacafe.com doing strip teases in his support. Paul’s supporters are proliferating. This could get interesting.

ALAN KEYES WEB SITE alankeyes.com LOOK FOR A gigantic library of audio clips dating back to 1989, including his 1999 address to the Third Annual Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays Conference LAUGH AT A page expounding on “his profound skill, eloquence, and knowledge,” and explaining how Barack Obama quakes in fear at his debating chops GRADE D

”We will not survive if we don’t address the serious moral crisis that clearly besets this country.” Thus spake Alan Keyes — or, at least a still, two-dimensional photo of him — in a slow-loading video on his Web site. And to this end, Keyes, the self-proclaimed “Renowned Debater” and “Grassroots Voice,” has put out the call for all right-thinking Americans to sign his Pledge for America’s Revival. The pledge itself, at more than 1300 words, is some heavy reading. And if it’s not enough to convince you of his gravitas, there’s ample video, audio, and speech transcripts on the site to attest to the rightness of his right-thinking crusade. There are also downloadable fliers, banners, and graphics with which pledge-takers can proselytize the cause. But, so far, response has been tepid. According to the red-thermometer symbol on his homepage, at press time only 2344 had taken the pledge, out of Keyes’s stated goal to reach 5000. (He does realize he needs more than 5000 votes to win, right?)

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