Texas Rep. Ron Paul's campaign is pushing back against charges of nepotism leveled by a new study published by a political watchdog group.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) published a report report, titled “Family Affair,” outlining instances in which 248 members of Congress allegedly used their positions to benefit their families during the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.

The report highlighted the Paul family as one such example.

“There are, of course, members who stand out. Rep. Ron Paul’s campaign (R-TX) paid six relatives salaries or fees, the most of any member," the report read.

The report details payments made to Paul’s family members as well as reimbursements made to relatives. Paul is listed in the report’s key findings as the number four congressman who paid “the most money in salaries and fees to family members” ($304,599) and number two on the list of representatives “reimbursing family members the most money” ($47,421).

Ron Paul’s 2012 campaign chairman and grandson-in-law Jesse Benton, who is listed in the report (Page 306), responded to NBC News in a written statement that “this so-called report is a sad attempt by a group of beltway insiders trying to grab cheap headlines.”

“Dr. Paul's campaigns and organizations have raised over $100 million dollars during the last five years, and employed many hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Family members have received a tiny fraction of one percent of jobs and salaries. Everything that Dr. Paul has done in Politics is 100 percent above board and any insinuation otherwise is completely off base," he said.

CREW notes at the end of the report that “many of the financial arrangements uncovered during this project are legal.” The group’s executive director, Melanie Sloan, responded that Paul has not violated any laws or House rules but said campaign contributors have “no idea” their donations will be given to family members.

“It’s a nice way to transfer wealth,” Ms. Sloan said while pointing out Mr. Benton’s relationship with the Paul family. "The American people don’t expect [politics] to be a family business."

PUYALLUP, Wash. -- Ron Paul visited a caucus site about 45 minutes south of Seattle that had lines wrapped outside and across the parking lot here on the day of Washington state's caucus. Organizers said this year there were four times as many people attending the caucus.

When Paul arrived he was asked by a local reporter what he would tell the people who came out to caucus, Paul wryly responded, “Vote for Ron Paul.”

Paul went inside and greeted caucus goers who were waiting in line and walked into the caucus room where Republicans were seated by precinct. The Texas congressman posed for pictures, shook hands and discussed his foreign policy with two different men in the audience, one of them a veteran, who seemed receptive to his ideas. Some caucusgoers could be heard saying, even though they weren’t voting for Paul, it was nice that he visited their community.

When he asked an event organizer how long he had to speak, the man replied, typically it’s 3 minutes for surrogates, but they would give him 5 minutes, since he was a presidential candidate. Paul responded that his staff would let him know when to wrap up and that his speech was, “more or less to say hello.”

“I understand the crowd is very large today compared to before,” Paul opened his speech by saying. “I hope that is good news for our campaign!”

He emphasized the importance of the caucuses and what he believed the ultimate results should be.

“This is an important day," Paul said. "It’s an important day for our country; it’s an important day for your community; it’s an important day for next year’s election; it’s an important day to start the process to make sure that we no longer have Obama [as] president next year.”

Paul went on to say Republican candidates have some disagreements, but could all agree that “it’s a good idea to get rid of our current president and put in a Republican.”

Describing how the Republican Party strayed from its stated goals of limited government and deficit reduction, Paul told the crowd that has caused voters to be “frustrated.”

The Air Force veteran said the country is failing in it’s responsibility of national defense and of taking care of veterans. He also detailed his support from active duty military personnel and stated the reasons he believes they support his candidacy.

“The military knows exactly the fruitlessness of some of these wars that are going on," he said.

Paul closed his speech by acknowledging how the Republican Party is looking for a candidate that can beat President Obama and told them about a recent poll showing him beating Obama in a hypothetical race (though he didn't specify which that is. Most polling has him losing to President Obama and handily).

“I hope you remember that and I’d like to have your support. Thank you very much.”

As he walked to his vehicle in the parking lot, Paul responded to a question by NBC News on how he felt about the reception he received.

“I felt very good about it," he said. "A lot of enthusiasm there, delighted to have a large crowd, delighted they had a lot of Ron Paul stickers, too.”

Paul will hold a caucus results party at 7:00 pm ET at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center at Pier 66 in downtown Seattle, where he hopes to celebrate his first victory of the GOP nominating process.

In addition to the Paul campaign's latest TV ad, here's more evidence in the emerging Mitt Romney/Ron Paul bro-mance: The Paul camp is now passing around oppo on Rick Santorum.

With Santorum potentially on the brink of upsetting Romney in Michigan next week, the Paul campaign is targeting the former Pennsylvania senator for what it says is hypocrisy -- after Santorum criticized Romney on the 2002 Winter Olympics.

“He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake games,” Santorum told a crowd in Ohio on Saturday. “In an earmark for the Salt Lake Olympic games."

The Romney campaign claims the money was for post-9/11 security at the Olympics.

And in an email to NBC News, a senior Ron Paul campaign source points out that in 2001 Santorum voted for legislation that -- you guessed it -- provided millions for security at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Here's a link to the vote, as well as the summary of the legislation.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Ron Paul says this is now a "two-man race" for the GOP nomination between him and Mitt Romney. 

Paul said recent South Carolina endorsements show "it is a two-man race.” He acknowledged Romney’s lead, but added, “That doesn’t mean things can’t change."

Ron Paul was flanked at the event here inside the state capitol by Republican State Sen. Tom Davis, who endorsed Paul on Sunday; and three other state Sens. Kevin Bryant, Lee Bright and Danny Verdin, endorsed him today. They said Paul reflects their values and belief in the constitution.

“I am very pleased," Paul said, "and I thank them for coming forward. It represents another shot in the arm for the campaign. The campaign has been doing very, very well. We did very well in Iowa. We did well in New Hampshire, and it looks like with the momentum that’s building now.”

The Texas Congressman was asked if Romney wins the primary, would he continue to challenge the former Massachusetts governor or be pressured to coalesce behind him.

“Of course, he’s not going to win the nomination on Saturday,” Paul said with a laugh. “Why should everybody walk away if he wins this primary? You have to wait and see where all the delegates are. An election is to get the maximum number of delegates, so I will continue to do it. To think a debate is non-productive? To me, capitulation and going along and being pressured by the establishment leadership and just say, 'Hey, we don’t want any debate. We don’t want to be rocking the boat and cutting a trillion dollars out of the budget.' We don’t want to hear that. Well, I might just continue to talk about cutting a trillion dollars out of the budget. I think that’s legitimate, I think I have a responsibility.

Paul will hold two more events today, in Spartanburg and Rock Hill.

MANCHESTER, NH -- For the second time since Saturday, Ron Paul this morning planned to have breakfast at a local restaurant -- but the establishment was packed with camera crews, photogs and reporters.

Paul made his way around the Moe Joe's restaurant, where they had a table reserved, but his campaign decided to leave.

"I'm overwhelmed," Paul said outside his vehicle. It's "a little but chaotic" he continued.

"I'm a little more calm."

Asked about the possibility of skipping the Florida primary, Paul explained: If "this keeps up I may need to reconsider."

On influencing the Republican Party, Paul said the "best way to influence is win... The young people are looking for something" different.

Paul called front-runner Mitt Romney "part if the status quo" and said Romney's "been all all over the place politically."

Some patrons were disappointed Paul had to leave. One woman even squeezed her way through the media to ask his security detail if Paul would come back in to meet her elderly mother. Paul's campaign manager, Jesse Benton, explained to her that because of the media presence, that couldn't happen.

She later told the media, "they all blame the press. But that's part if it. Make your way through it ... All the other candidates do."

Later in the day, Benton issued this statement: “Dr. Paul has been committed to meeting one on one with New Hampshire voters, and has aggressively campaigned at town halls, house parties, and meet and greets since early last spring. This morning, he attempted to hold an event at Moe Joe’s Diner in Manchester, to speak with patrons and supporters in the last push before the New Hampshire primary. Unfortunately, Dr. Paul and his family were forced to leave early after over 120 members of the press created a mob-like atmosphere that was deemed to be unsafe for the candidate, Moe Joe’s customers, and reporters themselves."
 
More Benton: “While we are very welcoming of media coverage and grateful for the interest in Dr. Paul and his campaign, basic safety simply must come first. On behalf of Dr. Paul and his campaign team, I would like to apologize to customers at Moe Joe’s who may have been distressed by this incident, and extend our gratitude and apologies to the owners, who were kind enough to have us."

CONCORD, N.H. -- The heir to liberty may be ready to bear the torch.

On a solo outing as his father’s chief surrogate here Saturday, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., left the door wide open to a presidential run in 2016 were his father, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, not to win the Republican nomination.

“First things first is that I’m here trying to help my dad,” Paul said, when asked about a possible bid. “I can’t answer any questions beyond that -- other than to say that I am interested in national debate.”

The careful remarks came during a forum held at a local restaurant Saturday morning, sponsored by the Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank. They seemed to mark a new step in the national political career of a second generation of the Paul family -- a widely expected development. 

The elder Paul, at 76 years old, is in the midst of his third run for the GOP nomination. Rand Paul, who turned 49 on Saturday, was elected to a Senate seat in Kentucky in 2010 -- and seems poised to inherit the movement his father generated inside the libertarian corner of the Republican Party.

“I am interested in long-range goals of changing the country," Rand Paul said, "having a more limited federal government, having more local control of our government. You do that by appearing in the media, speaking to groups around the country, sometimes running for national office -- or maybe, in the Senate.”

Paul’s visit here to The Draft restaurant, a regular stump spot in New Hampshire, was the first of two appearances he made on behalf of his father Saturday, three days before the New Hampshire primary. His appearances included vigorous arguments on Ron Paul’s behalf, especially in the area of foreign policy -- where other GOP candidates have sought to portray the Texas congressman as weak, or naïve.

Addressing a crowd of about 200 people at Windham High School, south of Concord, Paul fielded several questions about his father’s position on Iran.

“Others have said, ‘Well, Ron Paul doesn’t care about Iran getting a nuclear weapon.’  I think that’s an inaccurate representation of my father’s position,” Paul said.

“The question really then becomes,” he added, “if they do get a nuclear weapon, is there only one alternative? Is the only alternative war?"

Despite Paul’s effort to direct attention toward his father, audiences seemed unmistakably interested in him. Among the handful of people who showed up to the low-key forum here in Concord, few still were Ron Paul supporters -- though they were drawn in by the chance to see his son.

Spec Bowers -- a state representative from Sunapee who is supporting Texas Gov. Rick Perry -- approached Paul after the event to discuss local politics.

Asked why he came to the forum, Bowers told NBC News, "I came here to shake the hand of a future president."

LE MARS, Iowa -- Texas Rep. Ron Paul defended his foreign policy views on Friday amid signs that those views, and how they jibe with the Republican base, could be a vulnerability in his bid for the GOP's presidential nomination.

Paul held steadfastly to his anti-war message before a crowd of 200 people, despite being attacked by other presidential hopefuls, who have assailed Paul's views as dangerous to national security.

Addressing this criticism Paul asked the crowd, "Guess where I get the strongest support? Active duty people."

"They don't want these kind of wars. They're not anxious to get involved in wars that are not in our national defense," the libertarian-minded congressman continued.

Paul said in response to a question about Republicans who viewed his foreign policy as radical that it was the same belief system he'd held for three decades.

Paul went on to explain that he felt the same way when he was drafted in 1962 during the Vietnam War, saying the nation wasn't threatened by the Vietnamese.

Paul said he felt as though his opponents had seized because he doesn't "have any flip-flops" and they had to do something. He said that it was unfair to characterize him as an isolationist, and defended it from assertions that he was weak, asserting, it's "not weak to talk," before dropping bombs.

For the second day, while warning about the encroachment of civil liberties, Paul spoke about a bill in Congress that would regulate the Internet. He said the Internet is a good "unlicensed" way for people to talk to each other and told the crowd the issue of civil liberties is important because "it eventually attacks all our liberties," and that means "religious liberties can be attacked."

Paul said his "message won't be on evening news," but a small group of people can change the world -- even quoting Samuel Adams -- saying there are "so many brushfires" burning across the country and that they are being spread in "a viral manner through the internet."

A Super PAC supporting Ron Paul -- Revolution PAC -- has produced an online web ad in an effort to push back on racism charges stemming from newsletters published under Paul's name.

In the ad, an African-American man describes in his own words how, in 1972, his white wife had complications with her pregnancy. And in Texas, he says, no doctor would care for her or deliver their bi-racial child.

The man, James Williams, claims one hospital nurse even called the police on them after his continued inquiry. Williams then says Dr. Paul took care of his wife and delivered their baby, which was a stillborn. He says Paul didn't charge them for the service, saying he would take care of everything, and they never received a bill from the hospital.

Yesterday on WHO Radio, Jan Mickelson played a portion of the ad for Paul and C-Span cameras were in the studio. The Texas congressman appeared very touched by this man's words, afterwards saying he didn't remember that specific situation. Paul said it was just the way he practiced medicine.

"That is what I thought my responsibility were, but I never had the knowledge how grateful he was and to me that is magnificent."

Updated at 10:12 p.m.

One of the most prominent Iowa supporters of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign jumped ship late Wednesday, announcing just days before the state's Jan. 3 caucus that he would instead back Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson, one of three Iowa co-chairmen for Bachmann's campaign, made an appearance at a Veterans for Ron Paul event this evening where he endorsed the Texas congressman in Tuesday's caucuses.

Sorenson, in a statement distributed by Paul's campaign, said he had "an immense amount of respect" for Bachmann, but had essentially judged her to have fallen out of contention in the caucuses.

"I believe we have a clear choice here in Iowa and, I believe, across the country," he told NBC News in an interview after the event.
"All the recent polling is showing that Ron is in a neck and neck race with Mitt Romney.  I believe that we have a real opportunity to elect a constitutional conservative."

Sorenson further characterized his decision as a "spur-of-the-moment" one.

Bachmann accused Sorenson of being a sell-out in a statement released Wednesday evening.

"Kent Sorenson personally told me he was offered a large sum of money to go to work for the Paul campaign," she said, accusing Paul of trying to stymie her campaign's momentum. "Kent said to me yesterday that 'everyone sells out in Iowa, why shouldn't I,' then he told me he would stay with our campaign. The Ron Paul campaign has to answer for its actions."

In a follow-up interview, Sorenson categorically denied having received any offer of compensation by Paul's campaign.

"Listen, that's absurd. Like I said before, people on this campaign supported me in my race. They worked tirelessly for me. They stuffed envelopes, they door knocked for me," he said. "I feel like I'm coming home to them."

While he hasn't been particularly busy on the campaign trail for the Minnesota congresswoman, Sorenson was missing from a Bachmann campaign stop this afternoon in Osceola, Iowa; he told NBC News at a subsequent event in Indianola that he hadn't been on the Bachmann trail earlier today because he was having a root canal. Both events preceded his appearance this evening with Paul.

The defection carries a degree of symbolic importance, however. Sorenson was one of the first people to join the Bachmann campaign outside of her DC and Minnesota staff. In fact, even before Bachmann made the final decision to get in the race, he was urging her to run. Sorenson was also involved when Bachmann's closest political advisers from Minnesota and D.C. bolted the campaign, saying they disagreed on Iowa strategy.

The news came after a new CNN/TIME poll released Wednesday showed Bachmann in last place, at nine percent among Republican likely caucus-goers, among Republicans actively competing in the Jan. 3 contest. Paul, by contrast, trailed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by just three points -- good enough for second place, and within the poll's margin of error.

NEWTON, Iowa -- Ron Paul's appearance at the Iowa Speedway here drew the most media attention of the campaign season -- television and print journalists, as well as photographers, made the room tough to navigate.

Paul told the audience he wants to be the first president in history where the federal government shrunk -- instead of expanded -- "by thousands of pages and regulations."

On foreign policy, Paul asked, "How long do we have to stay in Korea?" He went on to explain how the U.S. military has had a presence in that country "since I was in high school." He also said Americans have been subsidizing Japan since World War II.

On Iraq, Paul said it is "so sad what's happening," telling the audience that before the war there, Iraqis were "arch enemies" of Iran; now they are "buddying up."

He said that in order to solve the nation's financial problems, Americans need to ask, "What should the role of government be?"

"Police the world, run your personal lives, and run economy? If that's what you want, this can't work."

The Texas congressman reminded the audience about the upcoming caucuses and said a message will be sent, telling voters that it's a choice between him or the status quo.

One audience member said he was a veteran and wanted Paul as the commander-in-chief. Paul responded by telling the man he served five years in the military, voted against the wars, and receives more donations from members of the military than all other candidates combined.

Asked about going back to the gold standard, Paul said he'd "like to go forward with a gold standard" and let the markets help decide.

Asked about federal funding of the Peace Corps, Paul said the organization is "not authorized under the constitution," and those responsibilities "should be done through voluntary groups."

And on eliminating the Energy Department, Paul was asked who would control nuclear waste. He said the Defense Department would take care of those responsibilities.

The Ron Paul campaign released another ad this morning, a flashy 30-second spot titled, “Washington Machine." It begins airing today on Iowa and New Hampshire TV, according to the Paul campaign.

An announcer says, “Serial hypocrites" (over an image of Newt Gingrich) "and flip-floppers" (over an image of Mitt Romney) "can’t clean up the mess” in Washington.

And over pictures of Ron Paul: "One man stands alone," pointing out that Paul will cut $1 trillion in his first year and balance the budget in three years. “Consistent, incorruptible, guided by faith and principle," the announcer says.

It ends with "Ron Paul: the one we’ve been looking for.”

On the last day of campaigning in Iowa before spending Christmas in Texas, Congressman Ron Paul seemed delighted to share with supporters the 2012 Ron Paul Family Cookbook, which was given to everyone in attendance.

“There’s a little pamphlet on your seats, I believe, and it comes from my wife; it’s called a cookbook,” Paul told the crowd at the beginning of his speech in Cedar Rapids on Thursday. “Now what in the world would you need a cookbook for? It’s just tradition, I’ve been using it in campaigns before. … We guarantee that the recipes are good. But we don’t count calories that carefully when we send out the cookbooks. It’s to enjoy.”

Dr. Paul also gave this warning to those watching their waistlines at an earlier event in Dubuque.

“As a physician and also as a member of the family, I don’t vouch for all the perfect nutrition of every recipe in that book," Paul said, "but a lot of stuff is very good.”

Here are a couple of samples of recipes from the book:

King Ranch Chicken

1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 large bag, Nacho Cheese Doritos
1 chicken (boiled and deboned)
2 cups grated Cheddar cheese
1 can mushroom soup
1 can chicken stock (save from the boiled chicken)
1 can Rotel tomatoes & green chilies
½ tsp. garlic salt

Crush the chips and put in the bottom of large greased casserole dish. Put some chicken mix on top of chips and layer chicken mix, chips and cheese. Finish with a layer of grated cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.

Original Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cream
1 cup Crisco
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (It is important to put the vanilla in now.)

Dissolve: 1 tsp. baking soda in 1 tbsp. hot water and mix alternately with:

2 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped nuts
1 large bag chocolate chips

Drop by teaspoon on cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes