Supporters Pump Ron Paul Full of Hot Air

"It's almost too good to be true to have a client pop up as quickly as they have and just say do it," said George Spyrou, who owns Airship Management Services, the company Paul's supporters have contracted with.

"Frankly we didn't treat it that seriously until very recently," said Spyrou in a phone interview last week. "But it seems to be genuine."

Spyrou did not want to start prepping the airship until he was relatively sure the Paul supporters could come up with all the money. "It's quite an expensive beast to feed and water," he said.

And Lyman and his supporters do not yet have all the money they will need. But they have raised more than $150,000 and hope to be raise more than $400,000 soon. That would keep the blimp airborne through the Iowa caucuses, even if the blimp never makes it there.

After flying to Boston, it will head over to New Hampshire and stay in that early primary state until weather forces it down. "Weather permitting" is a big, unknown variable whenever one is dealing with an airship, according to Spyrou.

"If we have snow or strong winds we would rather not fly. Say anything above 15 or 20 miles an hour, we would rather not fly," he said.

Even if it is forced down in New Hampshire, the blimp will be moved south to warmer weather and the important primaries in Florida and South Carolina until supporters run out of money. At that point, many of the early primaries will be over and it will be evident whether or not Paul and his candidacy have run out of air.