Help With The Ron-Around

[May 30th, 2007]

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is running for president on a libertarian-tinged platform that criticizes the Iraq war as the type of adventuring that brought on 9/11.

But his longshot White House bid presents a more prosaic puzzle for Portland: Many of Paul's potential supporters confuse the candidate with a prominent Portlander of the same name, so many that the Texan's campaign wanted Portland's Paul to donate his Web domain name, ronpaul.com.

Paul says he gets about a dozen emails daily from very confused supporters of the GOP candidate.

"It started as a trickle, but now there is a steady amount," he said in two separate telephone conversations, each interrupted by calls from backers of the Ron Paul presidential campaign. "But if I gave material support to this reactionary, I would lose sleep at night."

When he suggested "a reasonable monetary offer" somewhere in the five-figure range for his Web domain, Paul says his doppelgänger's supporters responded, "LOL! You must be voting for Hillary!"

"It's not that it's frustrating," he says, laughing. "It's just that some parallel universe has begun to develop."

As for the Paul presidential campaign, an official said Friday it's no longer interested in the website.

But just in case, here's how to sort through the "Ron-around."