Schiff would be disrupting the plans of Rob Simmons, a Republican congressman from 2001 to 2007 who is already running against Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), but he’d be the latest candidate from the sprawling movement of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Dozens of 2008 Republican candidates (and at least one Democrat) ran on Paul’s banner and ideas, and just this month Paul-endorsed candidate Steve Lonegan lost a heated Republican primary for governor of New Jersey, scoring 41 percent of the vote. When lightning strikes, Paul-backed candidates can raise a lot of money, get media coverage, and shift their GOP rivals to the right.

I bring this up because last night I ran into an old friend from Paul’s network who told me that the ex-candidate has raised $300,000 in February, so far, for the Campaign for Liberty. The economic crisis has been fantastic for Paul’s causes.

While Republicans have jumped from message to message and attack to attack, Paul has relentlessly pounded the Federal Reserve and both parties for causing the crisis and triggering inflation by debasing the currency. Whenever Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appears before the House Financial Services Committee, Paul grills him on Austrian economics, creating YouTube clips at least as popular as the GOP’s official videos.

It’s sort of amazing that after raising $35 million for his presidential race, Paul could still be an “underground” phenomenon. But he is. I’m told more than 100 Paul volunteers are in town for CPAC, with more coming, united in the goal of filling the room for Paul’s Friday, 4 p.m. speech and leaving to make sure that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has a smaller audience.