The story of Ron Paul’s candidacy as told by supporters in our comments section

Most people have hobbies: golf, model trains, restoring old cars, whatever. A year after Ron Paul announced his Republican presidential bid, I have concluded that his supporters must not do these things. They can’t possibly have the time. While others are at rest or at play, Paul’s supporters are on the Internet, googling his name and diving into the comments sections of news articles to register their opinions. Maybe it’s a measure of their dedication or their web savvy, or both. I don’t know. But they always show up, sometimes 500 or 600 in force or more. And since they often complain about the media giving their guy short shrift, I thought I’d give them a chance to tell Paul’s story, now that it’s in its last chapter. (There, the media just did it again.) What follows is a collection of comments, culled from TIME’s archive, that span the epoch of Ron Paul 2012.