To listen to Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul’s speech after placing a strong second in the New Hampshire primary you would have thought that he had just won the contest. Filled with his usual attacks on the Federal Reserve, Military/Industrial Complex, the bloated federal government, and an ever expanding police state, Dr. Paul’s speech was also an inspiring rallying cry for his ever growing base of fervent supporters. In many ways he did win the New Hampshire primary. He tripled his vote total from four years ago. He finished a strong, undisputed second behind a candidate with home field advantage and tons of Wall Street cash. He also proved wrong the naysayers who have been preaching for months that he is unelectable. Most importantly, the New Hampshire primary results have made the race for the GOP nomination for president a two man contest between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.
Look at the facts so far in this race. Ron Paul is the only other candidate besides Mitt Romney to do well with two totally different bodies of voters. In Iowa, both men garnered support from evangelical and socially conservative voters, and in New Hampshire, from more socially moderate and fiscally conservative voters. For his part, Paul got the most support from disaffected Democrats and independents of any Republican running. This trend bodes well for him since as many as 13 states hold open primaries and caucuses where his support outside of his own party will be a distinct advantage in those states. Overall, in the first two contests in Iowa and New Hampshire, Dr. Paul has collected 25,000 more votes than his nearest competitor, Rick Santorum.
In addition to broad support, financial backing also differentiates candidates from one another. The Paul campaign reported that it raised $13 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. The only Republican candidate to raise more was Mitt Romney. The sum Paul has collected in donations has allowed him not only to purchase air time in South Carolina, but to jump ahead and spend money on direct mail in Louisiana, Nevada, Maine, Colorado, Washington, and North Dakota. Additionally, a pro-Paul Super PAC, Revolution PAC, plans to spend millions more on the congressman’s quest for the presidency. And recently the Santa Rita Super PAC, which was just created on January 4, bought over $300,000 worth of ad time promoting Paul’s candidacy in South Carolina .
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Article comments
1 - womanforpaul
Ron Paul, a patriot, who has honorably served his country, defends both the constitution and civil liberties, and is for peace and prosperity. Dr. Paul has the wisdom, foresight, honesty and integrity to be president.
Dr. Paul believes spending and deficits are destroying this country. Dr. Paul's budget plan would save $1 trillion in the first year. Besides the spending cuts, there are other issues of importance to voters. For conservatives, Dr. Paul scores an A+ on all of them: Second Amendment protection, pro-life record, right-to-work, pro-business, anti-tax, states' rights, you name it.
Dr. Paul also believes America should have the strongest national defense on earth â€" which he believes begins with not trying to constantly police the earth. Right now, our government puts our best and bravest in harm's way on a regular basis for questionable reasons and with no discernible notion of victory. This is not supporting the troops. It's abusing them. Dr. Paul wants an end to this absurd, costly policy.
The voters have declared Dr. Paul the alternative to the liberal, flip flopping Mitt Romney. The other candidates are simply irrelevant. In the New Hampshire Primary, Dr. Paul received more votes than all the supposed Anti-Romney (Santorum, Gingrich, and Perry) candidates combined.
The question for Republican voters is not whether they can afford to vote for Dr. Paul - it's whether they can afford not to.
America Needs Ron Paul.
2 - Cannonshop
#1: Fundamental Problem: Ron Paul couldn't beat John McCain in the 2008 primaries, what makes you think, in this nation of ignorance, media "Kulture", and demographic divisiveness based on "Identity Politics" that Dr. Paul has a bleeding chance in the GENERAL ELECTION? The man's been running for the office since '92 (at minimum) and he can't even get the Nomination, much less take the other party out in a General Election!
Nixon/Kennedy in 1960 was the marker, those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon won it, but Kennedy won it on Television. Ron Paul's not pretty enough, confident enough, charismatic enough, or handled and media-massaged enough to take a pretty boy on in the hearts of the Mothers of America.
3 - pablo
CNN Poll: Obama tied with Romney & Paul in November showdowns
Sure Cannonshop, keep up the propaganda buddy.
4 - Glenn Contrarian
I agree with Cannonshop - Paul doesn't have a prayer...and we should all be glad that he doesn't! Unless you really want a racist ideologue (endorsed by the founder of stormfront.org, no less!) as your president, that is!