The Ron Paul Code
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."
"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.