Paul’s amendment, co-sponsored with Alan Grayson of Florida, will be a comprehensive audit of the activities of the Federal Reserve.  The vote was 43-26.  (I thank several places including the Ron Paul News blog.  I think Glenn Greenwald and the Huffington Post explain it best, so I’ll leave it there.

I will add:  No institution in a free republic is above the law or public accountability.  Of course there are secrets that cannot be disclosed to the public or the timing of the disclosure might be injurious; however, the general rule is all are accountable to the people or their representatives.  Find out if your representative is a sponsor of Audit the Fed and if not, let them know.  I personally spoke to Cong. Cantor (I do not claim he saw the light just because of me!) at the Virginia GOP convention last summer. 

PS:  I can’t believe I cited Greenwald, Huffington and Grayson in ONE post!  I might get kicked out as a conservative!  I agree with Greenwald sometimes, almost never with Huffington or Grayson!

UPDATE:  FireDogLake also wrote about the Paul/Grayson amendment.  I’ll surely be expelled as a right-winger now!  If you want REAL bipartisanship, perhaps Paul’s your candidate…

UPDATE II:  I found Greenwald at Lew Rockwell’s blog.  Thanks to Lew.  I don’t agree with him super often but he’s a great source of Ron Paul and related news.

Ron Paul is only 8% behind Barack Obama. Is anyone else surprised by this number?

Paul is actually more popular with Democrats than either Palin, Huckabee or Romney.   He has the most undecided and has the lowest Obama percentage, according to Politics Daily:

Obama leads Mike Huckabee by 49 percent to 44 percent with 7 percent undecided; Sarah Palin by 51 percent to 43 percent with 5 percent undecided; Ron Paul by 46 percent to 38 percent with 16 percent undecided; and Mitt Romney by 48 percent to 43 percent with 9 percent undecided.

I think that this is good news for Ron Paul.  Very good news.  He is now a mainstream candidate.  Many do not know him.  They can be persuaded to support him.  I am impressed at all the video press Cong. Paul gets.  And every time he speaks, I am sure somebody somewhere says, “I like this guy.  Let me find out more.” 

Perhaps a Paul/Jindal ticket in 2012?

UPDATE:  Cong. Paul’s Audit the Fed act survived a major gutting in committee and may go to the House floor for a vote.  The co-sponsor with Paul is Cong. Alan Grayson of Florida.  See this video.  This is of course a reason why conservatives find Paul troubling.  Thanks to Abraham, Senior Member of the Ron Paul forums for that last insight.