It appears as if the Ron Paul Blimp Project may end up crash-landing before it ever gets off the ground. In a ‘first’ of sorts for the grassroots supporters of Ron Paul, rounding up financial support for the project, which initially had nearly $500,000 in pledges, has been more difficult than initially anticipated. Although many of the original supporters who pledged to support the blimp project have doubled or even tripled their donations (I doubled up myself), the program remains nearly $85,000 short of the total needed to get the blimp off the ground by it’s scheduled launch date, and nearly $235,000 short of paying for a full month of operation, after some questions about the potential effectiveness of the blimp were raised. The organizers of the project have also expressed some concern about not being able to reach those who have previously pledged via email, but will continue to try and raise the necessary funds through Friday, Dec. 7th when the initial payment to the Airship company is due.
Personally, I hope they can still pull this thing together - I was really hoping to see that blimp floating over Boston Harbor on Tea Party day! If you’d like to help out by donating, please head over to the Ron Paul Blimp Website.
