Ron Paul's campaign pulled in less money from members of the military last month than President Obama's did, according to campaign finance numbers. Paul's anti-war stances still draw more military donations than Mitt Romney, but the decline is another indicator of his campaign's increasing status as more of a traveling libertarian speaking series than a traditional effort to win the presidency.
On the Open Secrets blog:
Overall, Paul retains the lead. Analysis of OpenSecrets.org data shows that so far in this election cycle, members of the military who donated more than $200 have given Paul's campaign about $333,134, versus $184,505 to Obama and just $45,738 to Romney.
But in March, Obama and Paul switched places. Members of the military sent $36,448 to Obama and just $17,733 to Paul. Even though Romney solidified his position as the presumptive Republican nominee, military donations to his campaign remained anemic -- only $8,630.
Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton downplayed the numbers in an email to BuzzFeed.
"That is a rather silly assertion," Benton wrote. "We out-raised Obama in 2012 almost 2-1 from the military and Romney about 8-1. Whoever is trying to push this to you need to look at all the numbers, because they show the opposite of what thay [sic] claim."
Paul is set to be the last non-Romney candidate left in the Republican race next week when Newt Gingrich drops out, and he has said that he'll likely stay in the race even when Romney reaches the required 1,144 candidates for the nomination.