Campaign Briefing

By Ana Marie Cox

Campaign Insider. How Ron Paul's eCampaign guru made him a Web sensation

Ron Paul's campaign got the hat cam for free. broadcasting live video from the bill of an otherwise unassuming trucker's cap, it streams rallies, postdebate spin and straw polls from the top of whoever's head it happens to be resting on. That person is often Justine Lam, the Texas Republican's slim, soft-spoken "eCampaign" director. "It's hugely popular," says Lam, 28. "You just have to be careful not to nod your head. It makes the people who are watching dizzy."

Equally dizzying is the speed with which Lam, a campaign neophyte, has quietly spearheaded the Ron Paul Internet juggernaut. The campaign raised $5 million in the third quarter of 2007 (five times as much as Mike Huckabee took in), largely from online donations. Paul's YouTube channel has more than 29,000 subscribers, and he often beats out top-tier candidates in online and text-message polls. Lack of resources forced Lam, a Bay Area native, to turn to existing (and free) social-networking sites to do online outreach--in other words, MySpace, not McCainSpace.

This anything-goes approach has made Ron Paul 2008 the electoral equivalent of open-source software. It's a perfect match for the candidate's libertarian fans. Lam has outsourced the tools of online campaigning, giving supporters access to raw video feeds and schedules that are typically controlled by advisers and consultants. It's a hands-on approach that Lam can relate to. "I really like playing with these new tools," she admits. "I guess I'm kinda geeky."

NUMBER

10,154

The number of television ads run by Mitt Romney as of Sept. 30, according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG. The ads--the most ever aired at this point in a presidential campaign--have appeared mostly in the early-primary states of New Hampshire and Iowa. Romney holds a notable lead in early Iowa polls.

4,343

The number of ads run in the same period by Bill Richardson, who leads the Democrats in number of television-ad buys.

LEXICON

the decider

DEFINITION the de-cid-er n. The person possessing final say.

CONTEXT Attempting to deflect speculation that he would be a hands-on First Husband, former President Bill Clinton told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sept. 30 that Hillary "will be the policymaker, the decider."

USAGE In April 2006, faced with increasing calls for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, President George W. Bush insisted to reporters in the Rose Garden, "I'm the decider, and I decide what is best."

For daily God-o-Meter readings covering all the presidential candidates, visit beliefnet.com

Healing the Breach

Can John McCain ever be forgiven by the religious right? He's trying. The Arizona Senator has told Beliefnet that the "Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation," that he's in talks with his pastor about undergoing a full-immersion baptism to become a real live Evangelical, and that he would prefer a Christian U.S. President to a Muslim one (he wants someone who shares a "solid grounding in my faith"). That checks some big boxes for the Christian right. His new faith talk may not be enough to appeal to religious conservatives in Iowa and South Carolina. But McCain seems willing to try anything--even a dunking. SECULARIST 8

THEOCRAT