Thompson Loses Fundraiser, and Plane

That's the most money raised via the Internet in one day by any candidate, online political observers say.

"Damn. Wow. Um, that's pretty awesome," said Jerome Armstrong, a strategist for Howard Dean's cometlike campaign four years ago. Dean embraced the Web to mobilize his supporters, Armstrong added, but never raised more than $700,000 in a single day.

For months the noted libertarian -- Paul supports dismantling the Department of Education and thinks the USA Patriot Act, which allows the government to search personal data, including Internet use, is unconstitutional -- has dominated the Republican field on the social-networking sites, and that online enthusiasm translated to dollars. Last quarter, Paul surprised everyone by raising $5.1 million, which was close to McCain's haul and five times as much as former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

Energized by the grass-roots online support, Paul set an ambitious goal: to raise $12 million for the fourth quarter. And in an innovative move, his official site streams, in real time, the names and home towns of online donors. His aides said last night that more people donated yesterday, more than 37,000, than had contributed to his campaign all of last quarter.

"We think this is just another demonstration of the tremendous support that Ron Paul has across the country," said campaign spokesman Jesse Benton.

The record online money haul is the work of supporters such as Lyman Trevor, who founded ThisNovember5th.com, the hub of activity yesterday. Paul started the day with $2.7 million. By late last night, he had nearly $7 million. Nov. 5 was selected because of Guy Fawkes Day, the day in 1605 when British Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, tried to blow up the Palace of Westminster to start a revolution.

"Now, we're not condoning blowing anything up," said Benton. "This is about blowing up conventional wisdom in Washington."

-- Jose Antonio Vargas

POSITIVELY NEGATIVE

Edwards Says He Hasn't Changed

IOWA CITY -- Four years ago, John Edwards was running as Mr. Positive, barely attacking John Kerry even when it was clear they were the only two candidates who had a chance of winning the Democratic nomination after the Iowa caucuses.