Ron Paul's maverick stand enlivens election

By Jason Szep

DIXVILLE NOTCH, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Voters in Dixville Notch, a remote pass in New Hampshire's White Mountains, have rubbed shoulders with White House contenders for years, but even for their seasoned eyes Ron Paul is something different.

The Texas congressman, an outside hope in the race to represent Republicans in the 2008 presidential election, wants to abolish federal income taxes, blames U.S. foreign policy for global terrorism and calls for an end to foreign aid.

New Hampshire, one of the first states to choose a party nominee, has seen a colorful array of mavericks over the years, but Paul's embrace by the Internet generation has added life to a campaign that might have withered on the fringe before the era of blogs and e-mail.

He is still a long shot for the Republican nomination, registering less than 5 percent on most polls. But a 24-hour Internet fund-raising blitz last week that raised $4.3 million, a one-day Republican online record, has energized the 72-year-old former obstetrician and his supporters.

"It gives us credibility," Paul said of the money during an interview in Dixville Notch, a town of less than 30 inhabitants which by a quirk of state law is one of the first places to declare the results in presidential elections.

His fierce anti-war stance, agenda for a smaller government and literal view of the Constitution have attracted many Internet activists, whose grass-roots muscle is lifting him to within reach of a $12 million fund-raising target this year.

"There's only one thing that we have to do and that's obey the Constitution," the 10-term U.S. congressman told voters in the mountain pass near Canada's border.

"You wouldn't have a welfare state. You wouldn't be the policeman of the world," he said. "The government would be there to protect our privacy, not steal our privacy."