On Guy Fawkes Day, a day dedicated to a man who attempted to kill a tyrannical king, presidential hopeful Ron Paul raised $4.2 million dollars online – setting a record as the most online contributions in a single day. Until now Paul has gone largely unnoticed.

Until I was ranting about my undying support of the Republican congressman, many of my friends and classmates had to ask me the same question asked about John Galt from Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged: “Who is Ron Paul?”

Paul, whose campaign slogan is “Hope for America,” is a congressman from Texas’14th District. Although he shares many opinions his party holds, such as lowering taxes, he still supports a smaller government – which is an issue the Republican Party seems to have forgotten in recent years. Also going against the grain of the stereotypical Republican, he voted against the Patriot Act, saying it took away some civil liberties. He has always been adamantly against the war in Iraq, something the majority of the Democratic candidates cannot pretend to have done.

Although he voted against the war, some news outlets have stated that every Republican candidate has supported it from the beginning. This rampant anti-Paul bias in the news has been going on since he declared his candidacy. During the Republican debates, co-sponsored by the “fair and balanced” Fox News, Presidential candidates Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani were asked 18 questions while Paul was given only five. For that reason, perhaps, when The “illustrious” New York Times ran an article on the Sept. 5 debates, Paul was not mentioned until the last paragraph.

During the Mackinac Republican Conference, a television correspondent for Fox 2 out of Detroit, a local news channel, the correspondent, Tim Skubick, was video taped saying: “I don’t want these Ron Paul people, but I need shots of the audience.” Search his name on YouTube if you don’t believe me. Why does he not want shots of Paul’s supporters at an event where Paul is a speaker?

This is odd because the congressman has been the highest polling Republican among black voters, according to the electronic publishing firm Rasmussen Reports. Paul is ahead of GOP candidates in the 40 to 49 demographic, and holds 47 percent against Hillary’s 44 percent in the same demographic. Some ABC polls about Republican candidates, however, do not even list Paul as a choice.

How do the media get away with such bias toward candidates?

Of course, if I were a liberal I would have been angered a long time ago. The media have chosen the Democratic nomination for the party. Sure, every once in awhile a news organization will mention how Dennis Kucinich has seen a UFO or make a slight mention of Joe Biden. The majority of the newspapers’ attention, however, has been given to Barack Obama and Hill-dog. The Democrats never even got a chance to have a primary; instead the mainstream media have chosen the candidates for them. For them it is simply easier to report on three or four candidates they support instead of being honest and giving information on all of the candidates running.

Ted Hamilton is a senior magazine journalism major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. You can contact him at [email protected].