Googlers stump in N.H. for Paul

MANCHESTER, N.H.--Vijay Boyapati is perched on a snowy corner of Elm Street here late Sunday night, fielding other activists' phone calls with frost-numbed fingers, and enthusiastically signaling passing motorists with Ron Paul signs.

It's a long way from the famously comfortable, stock-option-granting, lava-lamp-outfitted environment at Google, where Boyapati worked as a software engineer until quitting his job a few weeks ago to support Texas Rep. Ron Paul's campaign for president.

Boyapati, 29, says he drew on lessons learned while building Google products to create the same kind of distributed volunteer network with the goal of drawing hundreds of Paul volunteers to New Hampshire. His effort's name? Operation Live Free or Die, of course, a nod to the Granite State's thoroughly libertarian motto.

"At Google, when you think about a project, the first thing you think about is how it's going to scale. You don't build it if it won't scale," says Boyapati, a six-year veteran of the company. "It's the decentralized server model that's used at Google. It's so familiar to me it's what I used."

The operation, an independent effort not organized by the Paul campaign, has drawn about 500 volunteers to the state in advance of Tuesday's primary, Boyapati estimates.

It works by squeezing as many volunteers as possible into about 12 homes that Boyapati has rented throughout the state, with extra people shuffled off to hotel rooms or to the homes of New Hampshire residents with a little extra room to spare. One host said in an interview Saturday that he had 15 out-of-state volunteers temporarily living in his basement.

"If you get a thousand people in a little state like New Hampshire, you can have a big impact," Boyapati says. "That impact is magnified because it's the first primary."

Googlers for Ron Paul
Boyapati isn't the only Googler who's braving New Hampshire's sub-zero winter to advance Paul's message of lowering taxes and government spending, opposing the Real ID Act, and withdrawing from Iraq immediately. Paul is the only Republican candidate for president who opposes the Iraq war and occupation.

One other former employee and five current Google engineers, who work on projects including an Asian version of Google Answers and the design of data center hardware, are staying with him in a four-bedroom group house close to Hackett Hill Road near Manchester. Boyapati says he doesn't know any Googlers who have come east to volunteer for other candidates. (After campaigning for Paul on Sunday, the crew returned home to watch V for Vendetta.)

After learning that Operation Live Free or Die volunteers were largely surviving on snack food, a local group called Ladies for Liberty volunteered to cook them meals twice a week. The rest of the time, there's a plentiful supply of potato chips, Indian takeout, and, in the refrigerator, Sam Adams beer.

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In addition to having broad support online, Paul is by far the most popular Republican candidate among Google employees. He received $22,650 in contributions from them, according to Opensecrets.org, compared with a mere $2,300 that Googlers gave John McCain. They gave no contributions to Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney.

Google employees, in fact, represent the single photograph is here.)

Boyapati, who was born in Australia and became a U.S. citizen, says he was always libertarian-minded, but didn't figure out what his limited-government views were called until he "met a few libertarians at Google." One pointed him to the book Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek, the Austrian economist and Nobel laureate. And after seeing Paul in the first Republican presidential debate early last year, Boyapati became a fan.

When Paul spoke at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters in July, Boyapati flew down from the Seattle office to attend the talk in person and announce that he had given Paul the legal limit of $2,300. That appearance turned out to be the most popular of all the visits by presidential candidates: the YouTube video of his speech has been watched 486,000 times, compared with 65,000 for Barack Obama, 23,000 for John McCain, and 63,000 for Hillary Clinton.

[RonPaulfor President]

Great article

The Ron Paul movement is fantastic. The American people are smart and know the country is heading in the wrong direction. Ron Paul has the answers and the background to put it right. I added a link to this article to www.WhatTheySayAboutRonPaul.com for all the Ron Paul supporters to see.

[williamQ]

c|net's sloppy kiss for Ron Paul fans...

Declan McCullagh's photos amount to a big sloppy kiss for Ron
Paul fans. I for one am grateful that Ron Paul's time in the sun is
rapidly approaching an end.

[RonPaulRules]

LOL

And you would be wrong.

[tomdesabla]

Too bad...

That's too bad for you, because his message of individual freedom and non-intervention has just been amplified by 100 times by this campaign. There will be more of us in the future for you to hate. But our time in the sun shouldn't bother you, since you apparently live under some slimy rock.

Ron Paul, by contrast, is a smart, principled guy who believes in freedom and I happen to think he would make a great president.

Let's see how many people in New Hampshire agree with me before we stick a fork in the Ron Paul Campaign. He did pull 10 percent in Iowa - winning Jefferson County outright. I'll bet he does much better in New Hampshire.

[TogetherinParis]

Hillary actually won Democratic primary in Iowa

check out MSNBC's most recent poll.
Notice that more republicans than Democrats voted for Barak
Housein Obama in Iowa. Obama wins big among those with the
biggest incomes.

Obviously, the republicans are bogus voting for Obama. There's
young republicans in them thar hordes.

Notice that more Democrats than republicans voted for Hillary
Rodham Clinton in Iowa. If you just count Democrats, Hillary
won Iowa going away.

[JoeF2]

Scared Republican, eh?

Such transparent BS...

[nuckelhedd]

Which is why...

They count VOTES foolish grasshopper child moron. If you just count Dems. indeed. What an idiotic thing to say. Hey heres one for you fool... if you just count your fingers you have your IQ.

[mikeketcher]

Ron Paul: Candidate for the Info Age

Ron Paul stands for individual privacy, freedom of expression, and a decentralized approach. This makes him the perfect candidate for the information age -- and it's easy to see why so many Google employees, as well as other tech-savvy folks, are supporting him.

If you want to see a funny satire on the president, the mainstream media, and the
president, watch this YouTube music video. It features horror movie veteran, Reggie Bannister (Phantasm, Wishmaster, Bubba Ho-tep) as the
President of the U.S. facing a crisis ("zombie terrorist attack"). It's an excerpt from the new international award-winning zombie rock
musical feature film, "Song of the Dead." The filmmaker, Chip Gubera,
is giving a share of his revenue from DVD sales to the Ron Paul campaign. Go to:
Ron Paul is taking over both the real world and the virtual world. That's because he's the only presidential candidate in perhaps the
last 100 years to bring honest, integrity, and authenticity to the
presidential race. Go to:
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=qQmkkoxSKYw" target="_newWindow">http://youtube.com/watch?v=qQmkkoxSKYw</a>

[chris_d]

Best hope for getting out of Iraq

Ron Paul is really the best hope for getting out of Iraq and changing US foreign policy.

Thanks for your hard work Googlers!

[andygriffith]

Thank You

If only the people born here understood freedom as well as half the immigrants to America we wouldn't be facing the problems we face today.

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://ronpaulalaska.com" target="_newWindow">http://ronpaulalaska.com</a>

[andygriffith]

And that T-Shirt will get you elected in Alaska

And you better watch out. That T-Shirt might get you elected in Alaska.

Seriously. We're only 1 out of 2 states where you don't need a permit to carry... anything.

[KING-FISHERand300]

TO: MR.VIJAY BOYAPATI

MR.BOYAPATI WE at GLADIATOR group 300 SALUTE YOU SIR FOR THE EFFORT YOU HAVE MADE IN CONTRIBUTING TO RON PAULs campaign OUTSTANDING WORK,LET THERE BE MORE MEN LIKE YOU IN OUR EFFORT TO RESTORE AMERICAS FREEDOM and CONSTITUTION. WE REMAIN WATCHFUL AND STANDING BY YOU SIR FOR ANY HELP YOU NEED.THIS ALLREADY IS IN PROCESS--GOOD LUCK===KING-FISHER 1/8/08

[Bob Fanning]

21st Century Patriots for Dr. Paul

David Walker , Comptroler General of the United States Government Accounting Office was featured on "Glen Beck" tonight.

He tells us that each man , woman and child in America owes $175,000 to the National Debt on top of all their other debts.

Bloomberg TV interviewed Dr Paul today motivated by ;Chinese Yuan, Canadian Dollar, Eurodollar --- all crushing Americas' currency... $880 pr. oz. gold,$100 pr. barrel crude oil and the housing slide.
Dr. Ron Paul is the only Presidential candidate that has written book on economics.

When you are out on the street, look to your right and the to your left and ask yourself; "Are they reliable to repay their fair share {$175,000} of the national debt or will me and my family have to do it for them ?"

Thank you Mr. Boyapati and Dr. Paul for trying to do something about it before the House of Saud and the Red Chinese forclose on the national debt.

We can't afford Clinton, Obama, Mc Cain or Romney or the upkeep of the American Empire.

[Bob Fanning]

21st Century Patriots for Dr. Paul

David Walker , Comptroler General of the United States Government Accounting Office was featured on "Glen Beck" tonight.

He tells us that each man , woman and child in America owes $175,000 to the National Debt on top of all their other debts.

Bloomberg TV interviewed Dr Paul today motivated by ;Chinese Yuan, Canadian Dollar, Eurodollar --- all crushing Americas' currency... $880 pr. oz. gold,$100 pr. barrel crude oil and the housing slide.
Dr. Ron Paul is the only Presidential candidate that has written book on economics.

When you are out on the street, look to your right and the to your left and ask yourself; "Are they reliable to repay their fair share {$175,000} of the national debt or will me and my family have to do it for them ?"

Thank you Mr. Boyapati and Dr. Paul for trying to do something about it before the House of Saud and the Red Chinese forclose on the national debt.

We can't afford Clinton, Obama, Mc Cain or Romney or the upkeep of the American Empire.

[williamQ]

Ron Paul "revolution" turns out to be a dud

First, the New Republic reports that Ron Paul is a racist
homophobe. Strong language- but that's *not* a flame. It's a
factual description of what The New Republic reported yesterday:

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-" target="_newWindow">http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=e2f15397-a3c7-</a>
4720-ac15-4532a7da84ca

Commentary here:
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/016567.php" target="_newWindow">http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/016567.php</a>

"It's been more than 14 hours since I posted about the TNR
story, and so far ... [no response]. I really expected to find
scores of outraged commentary in the Disqus moderation queue
when I woke up this morning, but so far, it's been as quiet as a
church mouse."

"The results from Iowa and New Hampshire may have finally
broken the spell. Paul's supporters had insisted that the
Revolution would launch from Iowa and New Hampshire, but
Paul only won marginal support. Even in Iowa, where he ran only
against Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson -- and where his
libertarianism should have won significant traction -- his
campaigning left him without a single delegate to the
convention."

"The Revolution turned out to be a dud. Even the writers at
Reason now wonder what kind of crypto policy Paul may have
been hiding, and Andrew Sullivan has (rather bravely) called out
Paul for his association with the vile rhetoric published for over
seventeen years under his own name."

"The green curtain has been pulled back, I think, and rational
minds have taken control. The comment sections will never be
the same."

[scdecade]

What are you talking about?

Turns out to be a dud for whom? For you maybe. For the lazy mainstream media who don't have an easy simple story to write. Certainly not for his supporters. And certainly not for Ron Paul.

So socialism is safe for the weak minded for a little while longer. Enjoy!

[lnardozi]

THIS is what's important

When you're filling your car with $3 gas and buying some $2.65 a dozen eggs, remember who is running on stopping deficit spending. The war for oil is what caused prices for anything that eats grain to skyrocket. When THOSE prices rise, the fresh fruit seller raises his prices again, now you have some nice $5 a pound grapes in the market. Laugh all you want, it's YOUR money being spent. YOU'RE the one going to pay $250 a week for groceries. Still think Ron Paul sounds like a bad idea? He's the ONLY candidate, Republican or Democrat that is running on reducing your cost of living. Maybe you have plenty money. Me, I'm not so rich.