The Ron Paul Code

David Weigel | February 16, 2007

Strange happenings afoot on the interwebs, where Rep. Ron Paul - the most prominent libertarian politician in the country - is popular. So many Paul stories are getting pushed up on Digg that Diggers think there's a conspiracy or rigging behind them all. Like:

"I would love it if someone did an investigative report on all of the Ron Paul stories that have been mysteriously appearing on digg all of a sudden. It seems to me that there are just too many stories for it to be a coincidence. I smell a rat. I would like to believe that this is all a spontaneous grassroots movement in the support of Mr. Paul, but I am suspicious. I'd be greatful if someone showed me some evidence one way or the other."

And:

"I've been arguing this for ages. I have no problem with an OCCASIONAL Libertarian story but relative to their numbers in the electorate its mathematically improbable so many front page posts over a period of months could happen. (especially since most of these posts don't really represent mainstream news.... more like political endorsements)"

Mathmatically improbable... unless you have a small sample set! Only weeks after people (like me) complained that Paul was being kept off the mighty Pajamas Media 2008 straw poll, he's on it and winning it, with a six point lead over runner-up Rudy Giuliani. So maybe there's not a web conspiracy to promote Paul. Maybe (1) the other Republican candidates are gobsmackingly lame and (2)lots of libertarians use this fancy "internet" contraption.