Ron Paul's Blimp Ruse

"The Ron Paul blimp" will launch Monday from Elizabeth City, North Carolina — on a trek up the east coast — with a destination of New Hampshire — site of the January 8 first-in-the-nation primaries:

The blimp will feature banners asking "Who is Ron Paul?" and urging people to "Google Ron Paul." The other side will feature a logo promoting what's called the "Ron Paul love revolution."

CNN covers the story in this video report:



The Paul campaign is not sponsoring the blimp, a fact which raise interesting legal issues. Supporters have formed a non-profit company in order to avoid many of the restrictive campaign finance rules. Under this scheme people pay for advertising on the blimp — instead of making a contribution to the candidate.

According to Kenneth P. Vogel, the Ron Paul Blimp Ruse, "tests the reach of campaign finance rules by employing an innovative funding structure that could expose a new way to pour largely unregulated money into politics:

If the model is successful, hypothetically it could allow a media consultant to produce slick attack ads and — without ever disclosing how much was raised or spent — solicit millions from “sponsors” to air the ads in key states.