Are Ron Paul Supporters Destroying the Internet?

Are Appscout's Ron Paul-related headlines becoming far too sensationalistic?

Wired has a fascinating (and some will almost certainly claim biased) story up today about how the Texas congressman's supporters are--according to those interviewed--are wreaking havoc on Internet polls. The story contrasts Paul's finishing with less than one-half of 1-percent as the 1988 Libertarian candidate with the current outpouring of support for the candidate across the Internet, with numerous unscientific Web polls ranking Paul as the most popular candidate for the 2008 elections. We noted the results of a Slashdot poll late last month, which had Paul racking up 200% the votes of the next closest candidate (incidentally, a fictional demon from an H.P. Lovecraft story--take that, Giuliani).

You see, we've been taking special notice of Paul's name since Jen did a fairly light-hearted post about Barrack Obama's Myspace page, back in March. For better or worse, in the last paragraph, she wrote, "The candidate with the least amount of friends? That goes to Ron Paul. Poor guy." And with that, the flood gates had opened, with a deluge of supporters crying foul in the Appscout comments section.

Their methods may have some site administrators prematurely graying, but Ron Paul's Web-based supporters are certainly getting their candidate noticed--no question there. The candidate is getting the sort of coverage he's largely denied by what his supporters refer to as the "MSM." The question ultimately is: is all coverage good coverage?