Suddenly, Ron Paul Feels the Love

Ron Paul is suddenly the belle of the ball on Capitol Hill, with legislators from around the political spectrum backing his decades-old crusade against the Federal Reserve. Paul’s been pushing an amendment to audit the Fed since the early '80s, but this time it attracted a whopping 313 co-sponsors. Democrats who might normally have voted for a compromise backed by Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank sided with Paul instead.

“On financial regulation matters, most Americans sympathize with Ron Paul’s outrage,” one analyst tells Politico. Paul’s fierce opposition to America’s interventionist foreign policy is also earning him fans. Two Democrats joined him on Nov. 18 to make floor speeches against spending more in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Eventually we’ll win,” says Paul. “Not because they’re going to listen to us and have another foreign policy but… because we don’t have any money, we’re broke, and the troops will come home.” (More Ron Paul stories.)