The Liberty Papers

Now here’s a story I never thought I’d see:

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos Reports: Though often regarded as a longshot candidate for president, Republican Ron Paul tells ABC News that he has an impressive $2.4 million in cash on hand after raising an equal amount during the second quarter, putting him ahead of one-time Republican frontrunner John McCain, who reported this week he has only $2 million in the bank.

In an exclusive interview taped Friday and airing Sunday on “This Week,” Paul said his campaign is on a better trajectory than McCain’s.

“I think some of the candidates are on the down-slope, and we’re on the up-slope,” said Paul.

Paul’s cash on hand puts him in third place in the Republican field in that important metric, although he is well behind leader Rudy Giuliani, who has $18 million in the bank, and Mitt Romney, with $12 million.

Paul, who polls show with support in the low single digits, said his surprisingly strong fundraising is the best measure of his support.

“I think people have underestimated the number of people in this country who are interested in a freedom message,” says the Republican congressman from Texas, who has strong libertarian leanings.

This is a reflection of a few things.

First of all, we already knew that McCain’s support was falling and that his second quarter fundraising was abysmal. This confirms it and it would seem to suggest that McCain is in danger of becoming a second tier candidate.

Second, it makes sense that Ron Paul would have alot of cash on hand because he is not running the same kind of high-profile, big money campaign that Giuliani and Romney. He relies alot on volunteers and I don’t get the indication he’s tapping into the high-profile, big money campaign advisors that the others are. Put simply, Paul’s expenses are lower.

Finally, these numbers also suggest that Paul raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $ 1.5 million in the second quarter we now know that Paul raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $ 2.5 million in the second quarter Not bad, but not the $ 5 million some apparently hoped for, and not the kind of money you need to run a real Presidential campaign.