The man behind Paul's fundraising curtain

Dan Morain
LA Times
Sunday December 16, 2007

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Trevor Lyman is unshaven, wearing a T-shirt and jeans and sitting at the dining table of his rented home. Scattered around him are a one-pound bag of M&Ms, liter-size bottles of soda and a box of Frosted Flakes -- the cereal accounts for his recommended daily allowance of vitamins.

Lyman doesn't look the part of political fat cat. But as he monitors his laptop, money rolls in. Most comes in small increments. In a testament to the power of the Internet as a political tool, the nickels and dimes amount to hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars.

It is all for his hero, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the libertarian-Republican presidential candidate who has raised more than $10 million in the last few weeks but has yet to hit double digits in the polls.

The 2008 presidential contest is breaking fundraising records. Hedge-fund moguls, Hollywood titans, oil billionaires and the like deliver much of the money.

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But when the final accounting is done, Lyman -- little known outside the Internet world of Paul acolytes -- could be among the biggest fundraisers of them all.

In politics, money gives a campaign legitimacy. And Lyman has used the Internet to reach out to other Paul backers -- disaffected Republicans, independents and some Democrats -- by setting up a website and encouraging them to create what he calls a "money bomb."

"It was very difficult for Ron Paul to get attention. We had to come up with a way for him to get press," Lyman says, occasionally taking a bite of buttered, once-frozen bagel.

The first "bomb" detonated Nov. 5, when Paul backers pledged an estimated $4.2 million. (The actual take won't be known until Jan. 31, when candidates next file campaign finance statements.)

Lyman's next donation date, Nov. 30, was a bit of a disappointment, bringing in pledges for a mere $500,000. He since has helped raise $200,000 to pay for a blimp that will hover above New Hampshire, advertising Paul, through the Jan. 8 primary.

"Having a blimp around here would be some big news," Lyman said.

Full article here.

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