Today's Washington Post has an interesting graphic in its dead-tree edition that, among other things, lists the top five ZIP Codes in terms of total Q4 donations to each of the presidential candidates. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, washingtonpost.com and the WaPo itself don't seem to coordinate on content, and the graphic doesn't appear to be accessible electronically. The raw data on Q4 donations is available on the Post site, but without the top five ZIP Code listings.
In any event, the graphic tells us that most of the candidates' top two ZIP Codes are in very big or very rich cities -- Dallas for Huckabee, Greenwich for McCain, Beverly Hills for Rudy -- but Ron Paul's number 2 ZIP was 52556 -- tiny Fairfield, IA. Paul also won the caucus in Fairfield. There's just one notable thing about Fairfield, a town of around 9,000 souls -- it's the home of the American operations of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, best known as the one-time spiritual guru of the Beatles. Rural Fairfield has become a New Age company town over the past couple decades, and now boasts the Maharishi University of Management, a suburb called Maharishi Vedic City, and was the former HQ of His Holiness's now-defunct Natural Law Party. Although it never attracted the vote totals of the Libertarians or Greens, Natural Law's Presidential candidate did appear on most state ballots in 1996 and 2000.
Given that Fairfield only has 9,000 or so residents, and that it's Paul's number 2 ZIP Code, it stands to reason that the fabulously wealthy Maharishi -- who has exhibited interest in politics in the past, having sponsored Natural Law Parties in a number of Western nations -- is more likely than not involved in directing contributions to the good Doctor. If this is the case, does it mean that Paul is more likely to run as a third party candidate? After all, the Maharishi disbanded the US Natural Law Party in 2004, and the Paul campaign might serve as a re-entry vehicle into gadfly third party politics. On the other hand, the Paul-Maharishi connection might just be a weird affection between two fringe characters. If nothing else, it's amusing.