Guy Fawkes Day Helps Raise Millions for Paul

November 5, 2007, 4:56 pm

By David D. Kirkpatrick

Historians and British school children remember Guy Fawkes as the Catholic, anti-Protestant rebel who on Nov. 5, 1605 unsuccessfully tried to assassinate King James I by blowing up the parliament.

Supporters of the long-shot Republican primary campaign of libertarian Representative Ron Paul may remember Guy Fawkes as a wildly successful fund-raising gimmick.

On Monday, a group of Paul supporters helped raised more than $2.8 million in one day — more than half its total for last quarter — through a Web site called ThisNovember5th.com, a reference to the day the British commemorate the thwarted bombing. Paul fans may know of the day primarily through a movie based on the futuristic graphic novel “V for Vendetta,” by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, in which a terrorist modeled after Mr. Fawkes battles a fascist government that has taken over Britain. Read more here.