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While Congressmen Ron Paul and Duncan Hunter rank below the other Republican presidential candidates in national polls, they nonetheless hit on key issues for particular blocs and occasionally force the top tier to take notice.

The super-early, front-loaded primary calendar, combined with a mildly enthusiastic Republican base, has enabled these two boutique candidates to energize the field, said Mark Wrighton, politics professor at Millikin University in Illinois.

“We’re really sort of in uncharted territory here and we’re seeing some interesting things occur,” Wrighton said.

One of the unexpected, big moves in the race so far has been the catapult of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, from what was generally considered a darkhorse, second-tier position to frontrunner status in Iowa; he has become the most talked about Republican candidate in the field.

Paul has surprised everyone by attracting what many are saying is the largest grassroots movement since independent Ross Perot in 1992. The limited government, anti-war libertarian raised more than $19 million in the fourth quarter of 2007 and he has a legion of avid volunteers knocking door to door and blogging all over the country on his behalf.

While his chances for winning the nomination appear slim, Paul earned 9 percent of the vote in a Des Moines Register survey of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers released Tuesday. An average of national polling puts him at 4.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Hunter may not have the the broad appeal of the current GOP frontrunners, but is certainly generating — and riding — the wave of Republican energy on issues like illegal immigration and border security.

Hunter, a California congressman, has forged his campaign on Republican anger at what he perceives is federal immobility on curbing illegal immigration, incentives that attract undocumented workers and their families here and so-called “sanctuary cities” that do not penalize or pursue illegal immigrants within their jurisdictions.

Hunter, who was chairman of the Armed Services Committee before Democrats took over the majority in the House of Representatives in 2007, is known primarily for successfully pushing through legislation for erecting a security fence along the U.S.-Mexican border. He’s been tough on the outsourcing of American business to foreigners and has been steadfast in this support of the war policy in Iraq.

But his star has been dimmed by the brighter, though in some ways, less purely conservative lights of the so-called “top tier.”

“I’ve known Duncan Hunter since 1980,” said John Gizzi, political editor of Human Events. “He’s one of the most decent people I know. He places ethics above everything else. He’s honorable to a fault.”

But with Hunter polling around 1 percent, Gizzi said the candidate might be looking toward other things.

“If there is a Republican president, (Hunter) would make an outstanding secretary of defense.”

Paul has not been so overshadowed. The 10-term congressman from Texas who was the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate in 1988, has never enjoyed so much national notoriety and support as he does now, mostly because he is the only Republican candidate who has articulated opposition to the war, independence from the GOP machine and a strict constructionist view of the Constitution.

“He’s surprising a lot of people with the buzz he’s getting,” said Sean Evans, a professor of politics at Union University in Tennessee. “There’s a strong libertarian streak in the Republican Party and he’s speaking to that. He’s speaking to a certain demographic that no one has been able to.”

During the GOP debates Paul, 72, offered push-back against the other candidates, particularly on Iraq. Rudy Giuliani, the frontrunner in national polls, was able to make headlines off Paul when he scolded him for suggesting that it was U.S. policy that led to the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. But Paul didn’t back down and therein lies his appeal, said conservative political consultant Chuck Muth, also head of Citizen Outreach.

“He’s never worried about the Republican establishment, that’s for sure,” he said. “He means what he says. I think his personality has attracted so many people who may hadn’t heard of Ron Paul before this presidential campaign.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 9:38 am and is filed under Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul, Top Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.