Say what you will about the Ron Paul campaign - and I've had my concerns - they do have some cool ideas for promoting the candidate. I'm not talking about the endless spamming of online discussions with half-literate stammered declarations of love for their 73-year-old guru. That's more annoying than clever.
But someone with a brain came up with the 
logo. It's simple and clever and ever so eyecatching. It actually reminds me of the Ben Shahn dove poster for the McCarthy campaign in '68.
Now, in another coup of creative marketing, supporters have launched the Ron Paul Blimp. Yes, it's a real blimp which seats up to 12 people plus the flight crew, can fly at about 65 mph and is 200 ft long, with big visible sides for displaying messages like "Who is Ron Paul?" and "Google Ron Paul" and the previously mentioned eyecatching logo. The blimp launched on friday from an airfield in North Carolina, after having been delayed for several days because of the weather. Live video of the launch didn't go live, but is now available on justin.tv. The plan is for the blimp to tour South Carolina and then head north to catch some exposure at the Cowboys-Redskins game in DC and then on to New Hampshire for the January 8th primary. Originally the blimp was scheduled to attend the December 16th Boston Tea Party campaign event in Boston but the weather may be making that appearance iffy.
Like so much that goes on in his campaign, Rep. Paul has no direct involvement in the blimp effort, which is being masterminded by Bryce Henderson and Trevor Lyman of Liberty Political Media, the guys behind the one-day $4.2 million fundraising miracle called the 'money bomb' which they pulled off earlier this month. They're raising money independently of the campaign and have a deal with a pro-Paul blimp company for a discounted price of $350,000 for a month of flight time. Right now it looks like they've raised $250,000 from donations which will give them at least 2 weeks of flight time if the weather ever cooperates.
Presumably some additional money will be needed for legal fees, because this sort of entirely private effort originating from a group which is not a registered PAC or 527 non-profit may attract the ire of campaign findance regulators. They're exploiting a loophole in the campaign finance rules by running the blimp as a for-profit advertising venture which is not limited in how much money it can take from any donor. Presumably, sponsors get some sort of advertising value for themselves from their support of Paul, but the details are not entirely clear, except that $5000 will get you a number of rides on the blimp. When the blimp takes off it will be carrying contributors, but also a lot of media, both from the new media and mainstream media outlets, and the plan is to use the blimp for maximum web exposure with live video from the cuppola.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Sam Marsh
The blimp launched yesterday, and flew across North Carolina to Columbia, SC. Not sure if this article was written a couple of days ago, but it's out of date at this point.
2 - Hector
This is definitely an article with outdated information. The blimp is in the air and it is going!
3 - Dave Nalle
As of last night when this article was written there was no video of the launch and the website said the flight was delayed by weather.
I'll gladly update the article if someone can provide a link to verifiable launch info and video.
Dave
4 - Dave Nalle
Ok, the blimp DID launch. It apparently took them a day to get the video online despite the fact that they supposedly have a live feed. You can see the video on the justin.tv link in the article. I'll make a note of it in the article.
Dave
5 - Mike
"Personal attacks are not allowed."
No, only ignorant and dishonest attacks such as "half-literate stammered declarations of love for their 73-year-old guru."
6 - joe
ron paul 08
don't believe the polls from cnn and fox news, ron paul is going to win; hes the front runner
7 - Martin Gradwell
Mostly excellent, but .. "spamming of online discussions with half-literate stammered declarations of love for their 73-year-old guru"? That's a myth put about by other candidates who are miffed that *nobody* outside of the corporate media expresses love for them, stammered, half-literate or otherwise. OK, Dr. Paul is admired, but that would hardly merit notice if there was any public admiration at all for the so-called front runners. And the "spammers" actually spend most of their time courteously responding on-topic to previous remarks, to show that they are actually following the discussion and ar not "bots"; to counter the other prevalent myth about them.
For instance, I will notice that the title of this article is entirely figurative, and that the article itself actually acknowledges that the blimp has flown in a literal sense. Very clever, but maybe too subtle. Still, congratulations on what is overall an excellent article, and I hope you get the gratuitous "self-indulgence" you wished for. You deserve it. And, to answer your question, I'm pretty sure the blimp will fly. How can it appeal to the imagination and not fly?
8 - Eric
Here is the flight plan website from the official website, not justin.tv
I, too, would love a personal blimp as well as America back.
9 - James Tiscione
New RON PAUL 2008 POSTER MUST SEE AND PASS ALONG
10 - Dave Nalle
For the couple of you who object to my characterization of the PaulBots - who are certainly not representative of the entire fanbase of Dr. Paul - I suggest reading some of the Paul discussion threads here on BC with a clear eye. The level of rhetorical skills displayed is not high.
Dave
11 - Randy
Tomorrow,the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, should be one of the biggest RP fund raising events ever. Supporters so far have raised $11.4 million. That is nearly tied with Guliani's $11.6 million. If the goal of $4-$5 million is met RP will have raised more than any other Republican candidate in this race. This is the power of a bunch of dumb illiterates like me who admire Ron Paul.
12 - Brian
Why would I bother reading anything else from this site? You've already demonstrated your inablility to report things correctly. "Will the Blimp fly?" Yes. It already launched. Good work there. "half-literate stammered declarations?" How can someone be half-literate and spend a lot of time on the internet? 1.People on the internet read. 2.They came across Ron Paul while researching candidates. Research = Knowledge. 3. Paul supporters certainly write a lot. This half-literate comment is completely ridiculous. Displaying reading, writing, knowledge and comprehension skills is actually the oppposite of illiterate or even "half-literate." Actually this article is half-literate. You didn't even know the blimp had launched. That was common knowledge. I put a picture of the blimp flying as my computer backgound yesterday at around noon. Illiterate = displaying a marked lack of knowledge in a particular field(dictionary.reference.com).
13 - FZappa
Stammering, half-literate spam? The vast majority of comments from Ron Paul supporters are heartfelt and well thought-out.
I guess we see what we want to see.
14 - Andrew Panken
I'm really sorry, we are not all English majors. Of course, all of the other candidate's supporters write perfect English and are English majors to boot.
15 - FZappa
"For the couple of you who object to my characterization of the PaulBots - who are certainly not representative of the entire fanbase of Dr. Paul - I suggest reading some of the Paul discussion threads here on BC with a clear eye. The level of rhetorical skills displayed is not high."
Funny that you call us half-literate, when you're the one who couldn't YouTube your way to the existence of a 200-ft blimp in the air ("Ron Paul Has a Blimp, But Will It Fly?")
But let's move on, Nalle...
16 - trevor-es
To counter your characterization of Ron Paul supporters here is a link to a blog with a majority of well written comments.
17 - Al
Hello I'm apparently just another fanatical lunatic paleoconservative bot spamming your blog... I wanted to point out that the video feed was live yesterday though other than launch and landing it was all windshield time from a chase vehicle. In case you are curious you should be able to find it here when it's active, try to ignore the anti Ron Paul spam... Also I might be out on a limb here but I'm guessing that the original poster won't be donating tomorrow.
18 - Mike
For the first time in over 15 years I was not going to vote at all in the Presidential race. Until I heard about Ron Paul and decided to check out his stand on issues at his website. I am now a Ron Paul supporter, and an enthusiastic one at that.
Ron Paul will defend the Constitution first. Isn't that the first priority of our president? As in "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
19 - Jet in Columbus
Looks like it's time for me to Kamakazi the BlogCritic's blimp into it? Click on the word "blimp"!
20 - Jim
Personal attacks, not allowed.
I feel personally attacked.
You said:
"I'm not talking about the endless spamming of online discussions with half-literate stammered declarations of love for their 73-year-old guru."
But I forgive you. You're a "little behind".
You didn't even know the blimp had launched.
So, to make amends, to me, and the Winning Team.
Make a Donation to the teaparty.
Go to ronpaul2008.com And make us all feel better.
2300 dollars is the limit, if you haven't made a donation already.
ronpaul2008.com
21 - Alex
Spammer's??? This myth was put to rest long ago, do you get the feeling these so called journalist wanna be's, are disgruntled that their candidates are drawing very little grassroots support, and virtually no money?
I think Paul supporters will turn out in the primaries in surprising numbers, they thought these money bombs were impressive, they have not seen anything yet.
22 - Collin 28
GREAT ARTICLE --
thanks for being right on...
go Ron Paul --
"is there a doctor in the house?"
23 - Jet in Columbus
I don't suppose any of you have really researched what a right-wing nut this guy really is have you?
In real life he makes Bush look like a (shudder) liberal!
You're falling for a PR campaign and not the real man folks!
24 - Irene Wagner
OK, Dave Nalle, this article is more like it. Catchy and fun articles on Ron Paul, in the spirit of the blimp, are needed to garner support for this under-reported candidate. People won't read more scholarly articles discussing his policies if they don't recognize the name "Ron Paul" in the short headlines as a serious presidential candidate.
Of those looking for a political guru: observe that big fat lump in the middle of the Bell Curve. It's filled with people with average to below-average ability to express, in publication-worthy prose, heart-felt desires and simmering rage at injustice. We see an articulate yet plain-spoken advocate in Ron Paul, champion of the common sense with which even folks like us are blessed--it is after all, "common" sense. We're trying to do what we can to get him noticed, through the sheer volume and perhaps outrageousness of our (individualized, not spammed) appeals in a milieu, American politics, we perceive as exclusive and unfair.
We're a lot like that cool blimp, only way less expensive.
25 - Matthew T. Sussman
Does the blimp have a loudspeaker that plays .. wait for it ... Led Zeppelin?