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‘Message’ candidate doesn’t plan to drop out

Star Telegram
February 6, 2008

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul speaks during the West Virginia Republican presidential convention Tuesday in Charleston, W.Va.

One month into the 2008 presidential primaries, Texan Ron Paul has outlasted a half-dozen other GOP hopefuls.

The 72-year-old doctor-turned-politician says he has no plans to quit no matter how everything shakes out today after the Super Tuesday votes are counted.

“There were 11 candidates, and now we’re down to four,” he told a Minnesota crowd this week. “We started low and we keep going.

“If I dropped out, my supporters wouldn’t be happy.”

That’s exactly right, said Jeremy Blosser, a 31-year-old Paul supporter from Arlington.

“We have no intention of going anywhere,” he said.

“Ron Paul has been fighting for our rights and for a constitutional government for over 30 years, and this campaign has spread those ideas to an entire generation. We see no reason to not keep going.

“We are Texans — we don’t run away when the chips are down and the stakes are high.”

Paul may have greater staying power on the campaign trail because his fundraising has been fairly healthy, pulling in more than $28 million since his campaign kicked off, new federal election records show.

He has come in third and fourth in several primaries and took second in Nevada’s primary last month.

To many, he is seen as a “message” candidate — trying to get the word out about his desire to end the war, bring home troops, reduce the size of government and get leaders to more literally follow the Constitution.

“His fundraising has been substantial, and he’s trying to get his message out,” said Bruce Buchanan, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in presidential politics.

“There will come a point when it’s truly down to two and he doesn’t have a percentage to make it into the debates anymore, and then he may fold his tent.

“I don’t think he will until he has to.”

Neither Paul nor spokesman Jesse Benton could be reached for comment Tuesday, as they were campaigning in Super Tuesday states.

But few expect him to go quietly into the night.

“He is certainly the un-cola of Republican candidates,” said Tom Marshall, a political science professor at the University of Texas at Arlington.

“Message candidates don’t drop out as easily or as quickly.”

Ron Paul 2nd In Montana
Ron Paul garnered 24.54% in Montana, 21.16% in North Dakota, and gained respectable percentages and delegates elsewhere.

Nolan Chart
February 6, 2008

While Paul supporters may be tempted to despair as they look over the results of Super Tuesday, there are some gems among the general rubble indicating that not all Americans are asleep in front of their TV sets.

Here are the Montana results:

• Romney 38.34%
• Paul 24.54%
• McCain 21.96%
• Huckabee 15.03%

Here are the North Dakota results:

• Romney 35.47%
• McCain 22.61%
• Paul 21.16%
• Huckabee 19.79%

Dr. Paul also achieved respectable percentages in Alaska and Minnesota with 16.41% and 15.25% respectively. In other states he has received or has the prospect of gaining delegates, if not high percentages.

Maybe the folks in some of these states aren’t big TV addicts? My guess would be that Dr. Paul’s results are probably inversely proportional to television addiction on a state by state basis. Anyone have viewership statistics by state?

Ron Paul is in this for the long haul, and as his supporters, we need to stand behind him and fight for our liberty!

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