In the race for the White House, both Democrat and Republican presidential hopefuls have been tirelessly repeating the word 'change' in an attempt to reengage voters fed up with the current government.

While it seems to be working for Barack Obama, the revolution that long-shot Republican candidate Ron Paul is offering may be just a little too much, well, change for the average American.

Still, the 72-year-old congressman from Texas, who ran for president as a Libertarian in 1988, has managed to raise record amounts of money online.

He also has -- arguably -- the most vocal and dedicated supporters.

"He's getting fervent national support from a lot of people who really like his ideas or like the novelty of his ideas," Renan Levine, a professor of U.S. politics at the University of Toronto, told CTV.ca.

"Sometimes it's not just what he's saying but the fact that what he's saying is quite different than what everyone else is saying."

As an advocate for a very strict, limited federal government, Paul has somehow managed to get people excited by talking about the constitution.

Seriously.

On "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno, the night before the New Hampshire primary, Paul drew cheers and applause from the audience not for being funny, not for taking shots at George Bush, but for saying this:

"The American people... want real change... To me that means the only significant change we ought to have is get enough people in Washington that read the constitution, obey the constitution, do only the things that we're allowed to do."

Brian Doherty, a senior editor at Reason magazine, told CTV.ca that there are two main components to Paul's popularity.

The big one is that Paul is the only Republican candidate that's against the war in Iraq, said Doherty -- who recently wrote about Paul's following for the Libertarian monthly magazine.

"There are a lot of people who generally want the government to leave them alone so they're not really comfortable with the Democratic party," he said.

"But (they're) also against the war, so they need an anti-war guy who isn't also a nationalized health care guy, a 'let's raise taxes' guy."

The second thread, says Doherty, is that Paul has consistently promoted the same ideals for more than 30 years.

"One of the main complaints Americans have about politicians is that they're sleazy... they flip-flop, they pander, they'll say anything to get elected," he said.

"Ron Paul is totally the opposite of that, he says things that no one really wants to hear, or that you wouldn't think anyone wants to hear.

"He's been saying them consistently for decades and a lot of his fans are like, 'We believe this guy.'"

Faithful following

His followers, known as Paulites or Paulistas, have been portrayed in the media as being different than supporters of other candidates.

"If you actually are around them at rallies, they are very excited, they're more excited than most of the fans of the current crop of candidates," said Doherty.

"They do shout, they do chant. They really believe in their guy."

Doherty said many of the Paul supporters he encountered were relatively new to politics.

"They can sound overly excited to people who are used to dealing with politics in a more measured way because a lot of them are new to it," he said.

"What I picked up is that they believe the ideas and they never saw any other politician out there... saying what he's saying."

Largely due to meetup.com, which has allowed supporters to network and form groups across the U.S., Paul has generated a huge online buzz without much mainstream media attention.

"This is not the powers-that-be doing this, this is not big corporate interests, this is a grassroots, people-powered movement," said Doherty. "It gets people excited. They're thrilled. They see a chance for something they haven't seen in American politics in their life."

Even in Canada, the 'Toronto Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group' boasts 119 members. Part of the message on their main page says:

"We are expecting Ron Paul to secure the Presidency in 2008, buoyed by the small donations of individuals as op to corporatism seeking gov't contracts and control over the rest of us."

One of the members, named Tony, also runs a site called 'Canadians for Ron Paul' which, in its mandate, says it is meant to "challenge the established media black-out of Presidential candidate Ron Paul here north of the border, and to disseminate his message far and wide."

Paul's strong positions and his fervent support base have drawn criticism from the mainstream.

Doherty said it's because many Paulites believe in things that lots of Americans think are crazy.

"Ron Paul said in the debates early on... the reason we got hit on 9/11 is because we've been intervening in the Middle East for decades and decades," said Doherty. "If you say that in a Republican Party meeting they're going to say you're a nut."

His supporters can also get riled up if they feel Paul is being overlooked or misrepresented.

"If a reporter ever says anything that the Ron Paul fans think is not respectful of their candidate you're going to get hundreds of angry emails and that adds to the whole 'fanatic' thing too," said Doherty.

"And if they think Ron isn't getting the attention they think he deserves they'll start accusing 'Oh, you're blacking him out or there's a conspiracy against him.'"

But Levine said Paul's supporters are probably no different than any of the other candidates' backers.

"If you interviewed Huckabee supporters would you find some strange ideas in the group? Without a doubt," he said.

The Paul effect

Despite his strong online base, the support has not translated into votes.

"An online following, by definition, is spread out across the country and the world," said Doherty.

"Primaries require a certain set of people in one place to not only vote but to cast more votes than all the other people who, of course, have had the advantage of being treated seriously in the mainstream media for months."

Levine said Paul likely doesn't expect to win the Republican nomination, but rather is "successfully raising his profile."

"He's certainly creating an infrastructure, people are giving money, they're signing up for web lists," he said.

"These are the kind of things that he or others may be able to capitalize on in the future."

Doherty agrees, saying he doesn't think Paul will win any primary.

"But what he's done already is that he's engaged this enormous nation-wide group of hundreds of thousands of people who are excited, who are willing to give their time, who are willing to give their money and they're dedicated to this set of small government, anti-war ideas," he said.

"The significance of Ron Paul's fans are probably not going to be manifest in 2008 but we will definitely see it manifest down the line."

Doherty said there's room for Paul's Libertarian ideas within the Republican party and that this may be the beginning of a strong push -- much like the beginnings of the religious right within the party.

"I think what we'll see is lots of people running for congress, lots of people entering the Republican party at the precinct and county level who are Ron Paul Republicans."