Ron Paul Reels In His Own Donor Whale, Peter Thiel

Ron Paul has his own billionaire now.

True, the Texas congressman built a reputation on his army of small donors, but in this day and age, a presidential candidate needs a mountain of cash to keep on trucking -- especially when he's not on top of the pack.

Now he's got his mountain. He's got billionaire PayPal co-founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel shoring up his underdog GOP campaign. According to campaign finance documents filed with the FEC on Monday, Thiel donated $1.7 million to Ron Paul-supporting super-PAC Endorse Liberty in January, which amounted to more than 70 percent of the $2.4 million it received for the month.

Following donations of $150,000 and $750,000 made in December, the billionaire has given the PAC $2.6 million, accounting for 76 percent of its total fundraising.

That the Paul campaign would be bankrolled by Thiel makes perfect sense. Thiel, who is openly gay and Christian, has spent his considerable wealth on a number of mainstream and unorthodox causes, including the Methuselah Foundation, a research organization that seeks to extend the human lifespan to 1,000 years; the Committee to Protect Journalists; gay-rights groups such as the American Foundation for Equal Rights and GOProud; the Seasteading Institute, an organization set on building small floating countries in the middle of the sea for a "vivid, wilde-eyed dream" of a Libertarian island; and the Thiel Fellowship, which gives grants of $100,000 to people age of 20 who drop out of school to pursue entrepreneurial projects.

When Thiel took PayPal public in 2002, his stake was reportedly worth $55 million. He also happened to be an early Facebook investor. According to CNN Money, his stake in the site is now worth $1.3 billion.

So where does Thiel's money put him in the long scheme of Ron Paul fundraising? Without question, media sources claim, he's the king of Paul's super-PAC fundraising. There are four super-PACs registered to support him and Endorse Liberty is by far the most powerful with more than $3.4 million in independent expenditures. According to Open Secrets, the two closest Ron Paul super-PACs have more than $300,000 and $120,000 by comparison.