SAN ANSELMO—Jacob Richardson, a recently deceased 49-year-old homeless man, spent his last few days working with local Ron Paul volunteers in hopes of getting his favorite candidate elected.

“He was the most dedicated volunteer we had,” said Kathy Rayburn, another volunteer for Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign. “He understood that the deficit was more important than his own homelessness or lack of food.”

“Jake was dedicated to the cause to the very end,” said Trey Daney, a campaign volunteer who worked closely with Richardson. “Even when the doctors were treating him in the hospital, he kept trying to refuse their care. ‘No, the taxpayers don’t deserve to pay for this. I deserve to die,’” Daney said with a tear. “He asked me to read to him from The Fountainhead on his death bed.”

After being laid off from his job at a construction firm, which went bankrupt when the housing market dried up, Richardson searched fruitlessly for work for months. In that time, the bank which had issued him a predatory loan upped his interest rate and foreclosed on Richardson, costing him his house and most of his possessions.

“He was the strongest libertarian I know,” said Rayburn. “He knew that it was his own fault he got laid off, and that he was homeless too.

“To the bitter end, he believed that paying off a fictitious number was more important than feeding or housing impoverished Americans like himself.”