Ron Paul supporters: Do NOT read this. Please!

READERS' WARNING: Supporters of Ron Paul should not read this item. Perusing the following paragraphs may cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, disappointment and renewed anger at political polls, the mainstream media, all institutions holding financial power and anyone not terribly concerned about that mysterious planned highway across Texas that somehow threatens national security.

O.K., now that they're gone to their chatrooms or one of their impressive 1,200 meet-up groups, for the rest of you some background: The Ron Paul Conspiracy has received more news coverage and made quite an impression online in recent months for its followers' persistence, pervasiveness and, to put it politely, outspokenness in favor of their Republican candidate, the 72-year-old, 10-term Texas congressman with the libertarian ideals and the numerous books. He's even been on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and this Sunday is scheduled for an hour-long grilling by Tim Russert on "Meet the Press."

With fundraising persistence, dedication to "Dr. Paul" and admirable political energy in recent days their growing numbers made a huge name for themselves by raising more than $6 million online (more than $18 million for the quarter, they say), a new one-day political record.

Yet these Paulites have always dismissed polls, hated them, even despised them. They have many reasons besides the fact that no polls have given Paul much chance of winning anything. Polls, some suggest, are fictitious summaries of the mainstream media designed to suppress the Ron Paul Revolution. Polls are fake because no Paulite can remember ever being phoned for a survey. Many Paul supporters are new to the political process, so not on voter rolls to be polled. And they mostly use cellphones, not landlines. So they'd be somehow under-represented.

They maintained this stand even when Ron Paul's polling numbers in New Hampshire, for instance, increased geometrically from 2% to 4% to 8%, twice the support of better-known Fred Thompson.

Now, here's the news that would drive Paul supporters berserk if any had kept reading down to here, which they haven't: Ron Paul's polling numbers are now plummeting. Yup, going down, down. Once, he got the money to afford TV advertising in the Granite State, his support as measured by these no-doubt fraudulent polls began crumbling.

The new CNN/WMUR New Hampshire Primary Poll out today shows Paul's support falling from its high of 8% in early November to 7% at the start of December and 5% last weekend, when he had his big fundraising success. (The phone survey of 411 random, likely Republican primary voters was between Dec. 13 and 17.)

Of course, if Paul supporters believed in polls, they would point out that....

with a margin of error of +/- 5%, Paul could theoretically be at 10%. That also means, naturally, he could be at 0% too.

Belief in Paul's ability to handle terrorism held steady at 3%, to handle the economy fell from 7% to 3% and to handle taxes from 9% to 5%. His support for handling illegal immigration was steady at 4%, to handle abortion up from 4% to 5% and his ability to address the Iraq war (he's the only GOP candidate who favors withdrawal) was steady at 5%.

Now, in case anyone cares about the non-Paul candidates who have a chance of winning, Mitt Romney's percentage jumped from 32% to 34% from the beginning to middle of December, with the endorsement of the Manchester Union-Leader and Boston Globe John McCain increased from 19% to 22%, Rudy Giuliani fell from 19% to 16% and Mike Huckabee went from 9% to 10%.

Thompson and Tom Tancredo, who will announce the end of his candidacy Thursday, according to an Associated Press report tonight, held steady at 1% support while California's Congressman Duncan Hunter went from 0% to 1%.

On the poll's Democratic side, 469 likely primary voters produced a margin of error of 5%. After some troubled weeks when her support faded from a high of 43% in September to 31% at the start of December, Hillary Clinton's numbers surged back to 38%, while Barack Obama's slipped somewhat from 30% to 26% and John Edwards from 16% to 14%.

Bill Richardson went from 7% to 8%, Dennis Kucinich from 3% to 2%, Joe Biden from 1% to 2% and Chris Dodd from 1% to 0%.

If they were still reading down to here which, of course, they're not because they don't believe in polls, Paul supporters would say that none of this matters because only real votes count come Jan. 8. And, you know what, on that they would be 100% right.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[tsos2]

What these polls don't take into account is the fact that Paul supports come from a variety of political background, so the " phone survey of 411 random, likely Republican primary voters" just won't hack it as far as accuracy is concerned. Why don't they do a survey of "likely primary voters" from all sides of the spectrum. Then we'd get a better idea of where he stands.

[Eric C]

I'll vote for Ron Paul

[Bill Moore]

"Likely Republican voters" refers to a short list of people who voted for George Bush in the primaries in 2004. Who would vote in the primaries for a president who has the clear victory sewn up? A bunch of rabid George Bush fans.

Ron Paul clearly goes against George Bush's current policies, as do about 75% of this country right now. For RP to get any votes among these die hard Bush fans is a miracle.

Check out a more relevant poll...How many people would donate to RP's campaign: Survey results for the 4th quarter so far: 122,000 people.

[Brian]

I am a 50 year old republican, who has always felt like I was voting for the lesser of two weevils (pests, destroying plants and grain). I have seen this great country of ours be taken down little by little. It’s no longer the country that I was taught about in school or have read about in history books, or grew up loving and proud of. Dr. Ron Paul has the cure for what ails us ( pretty simple really, just honor the oath that they all take to uphold and defend the constitution), honesty, integrity a 10 term congressional voting record that backs up what he says, the courage to be the lone voice standing up for what is right. I want my country back. I want it back, not even so much for myself as for my children and their children. Yeah, I’m voting for him ( republican or otherwise, he could be from Mars for all I care ). I have never donated to a campaign before, I am now. I have never campaigned for a candidate before, I am now. It looks like a few others may be voting for him also. We'll see.

[John B.]

The best part of your entire article was the last line...

"If they were still reading down to here which, of course, they're not because they don't believe in polls, Paul supporters would say that none of this matters because only real votes count come Jan. 8. And, you know what, on that they would be 100% right."

Ding Ding

[John Yuma]

I think we should pick the candidate who promises the most goodies back for our investment.. I want FREE electric, FREE housing (waterfront..) FREE cosmetic surgery..
FREE transportation (Escalade) FREE money...( 800k yearly, for life..) FREE freebies..
ummm...

Weeee this is fun..

[Cino]

SMART
Tech savvy
Determined
Patriotic
Lover's of the US CONSTITUITON
Anti Corporate Control of America
HIGH VOTER TURN OUT
HIGH FUNDRAISING ability

Yeah...I would call that a serious threat. I would also do every thing I could to make them look crazy, I believe your fav. term is "FRINGE"

We'll see...when the real polls roll in, who gets the last laugh. I would be careful that you don't finally lose ALL faith of the American people in this controlled MEDIA farce.

[Stephen L]

At first, I wanted to do what everyone else here did, and retort in favor of Ron Paul, and write about what a total piece of trash article this is (if it were printed out on paper it would be a bigger piece of toilet paper than what they've made of The Constitution these days...), but the more I read, the more I became inclined to say something totally different.

Now I can say I'm glad I read this P.O.S., and not for the article at all, but for the comments. Every SINGLE one of them is proof that this article speaks for itself, with no one even stepping to the plate and trying to back it up. Reading this article was like watching the kid on the playground that's usually the bully getting picked on getting all red-faced and finally blowing his top, resorting to throwing a temper tantrum, stomping his feet, and going, "But the polls ARE right, you jerks!!! You Ron Paul suppoerters will all see, I'm tellnig my mommy!!!".... Well, usually after that is when that kid gets pummeled into the pavement for misuse of his mouth, so I'm going to make some popcorn.

See you on election day, and this time bring your mommy.

As for everyone who commented, let's keep on picking on the mainstream. Time for the underdog to go bully for once, and take BACK his lunch money.
GOD KNOWS, this country needs it.

[Richard]

The polls dont mean diddly. Both Kerry and Clinton were low in the polls before IA and NH and both won nomination. What happenned to Howard Dean who was winning a landslide going into IA? MSM is at it again. Power to the People. God Bless Dr Paul and the USA.

[Joe Zenk]

Wow, look at LA times views soar.....

"First the ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Mohandas Gandhi

[Anthony Flood]

More wishful thinking from MSM an employee. Apparently they've forgotten that six months ago, none of them thought they'd be writing about RP in December. In a mere six weeks or so, i.e., after Super-Duper Tuesday, we'll see in what dressing they soak their crow salad.

[Matt]

I support Dr. Paul and I don't doubt the polls; I doubt that he will win the nomination. I don't like how the media anoints candidates as front runners and pushes polls in one direction or another with the type of coverage that they give different candidates. I support Dr. Paul for his ideas and his integrity. I don't care about polls; I vote my conscience. If we all did that, and the media did its job by presenting the facts without the spin, we could really change Washington for the better.

[Les F]

Again, another "journalist" who believes that their wisdom is dominant over the collective wisdom of thousands of American's involved in a "tipping-point" moment in American politics. Believe you me, when the fat lady sings she will be singing praises for DR. Ron Paul. If you were an employee in my company I'd fire you for incompetance - I guess the job as Brittney Spear's holiday card writer was taken.

[Matt]

I support Dr. Paul and I don't doubt the polls; I doubt that he will win the nomination. I don't like how the media anoints candidates as front runners and pushes polls in one direction or another with the type of coverage that they give different candidates. I support Dr. Paul for his ideas and his integrity. I don't care about polls; I vote my conscience. If we all did that, and the media did its job by presenting the facts without the spin, we could really change Washington for the better.

[Wayne Herrod]

My guess is that the best way to get someone to read their sophomoronic articles is to offend a large group of people so that they will read it. Modern journalism at it

[Chris Mcdonell]

Hey Andrew, You are a zionist pig. Of course your going to say that. (; CNN is Zionist TV with good ole AIPAC lobbyist Wolf Blitzer and Andrea Mitchell(Alan Greenspan's wife) at the helm. How does it feel to know that you are not a valid journalist? Everyone knows it. Who cares what you say. lol Your'e a worthless little Momma's boy.

[Jim Denbow]

If you are under 13 years of age you may read this message board, but you may not participate. You may however, write the article.

[Mike Sword]

I am not a Paul Supporter ....I am more worried about my Priminister being in Bush's back pocket to care...But man I have never seen such a mass media blitz or an attack from corperate owned media like I have seen recently...I meen wow everyone is entitled to their own opinion but answer this...Why in the USA does the mass mainstream media like the LA Times etc...get to pick the front runners in your elections??? Why does the media tell everyone who to vote for instead of letting the people decide?? Sounds like corperate facism to me. No wonder its so hard for from what I have seen honest guys like Ron Paul to break through the US mainstream media's iron curtain. And don't think for a second that polls haven't been bought...Or tweeked to favour a media favourite. I saw dam near a media blackout on Paul raising over 6 million in one day...Very impressive it shows he has a lot of support...If Billary Clinton did that you would never hear the end of it...Or Osama Obama. Sad that the media tells everyone who to ignore...And decide who is an underdog...Why not let the people decide the front runners and then report that?? Sounds like the media is bought and paid for as well.

[pauldorn]

Mr. Malcolm,

It's not difficult to incite the passion of Ron Paul supporters, because they actually have passion to incite.
We're admittedly an easy target and I'm glad of it.

Introducing banal poll numbers with a gimmicky headline is hackneyed and droll.

Reporting ubiquitous polling results more closely resembles regurgitation than investigation.

You would do better to simply ignore us.

[Jessica Borgnis]

Isn't it fun to see the mainstream media rummaging around to find something on Ron Paul? I see it - the fear in their eyes, the butterflies in their stomach - as they begin to realize that something's going on out there - something big, and they just can't stop it. Try as they may to speak an evil word about the man, they just can't seem to find anything. Meanwhile, top tier candidates are smearing one another left and right, perfecting their images, being special-interested to death, as this movement rises up under the radar. Let the media have their hayday - all the better for us. They won't see it coming. Let the caucuses and primaries speak for themselves. And for the rest of us, let's remember what we are fighting for here and not get caught up in the toddler-esque bickering going on underneath us.

[Mike Sword]

I am not a Paul Supporter ....I am more worried about my Priminister being in Bush's back pocket to care...But man I have never seen such a mass media blitz or an attack from corperate owned media like I have seen recently...I meen wow everyone is entitled to their own opinion but answer this...Why in the USA does the mass mainstream media like the LA Times etc...get to pick the front runners in your elections??? Why does the media tell everyone who to vote for instead of letting the people decide?? Sounds like corperate facism to me. No wonder its so hard for from what I have seen honest guys like Ron Paul to break through the US mainstream media's iron curtain. And don't think for a second that polls haven't been bought...Or tweeked to favour a media favourite. I saw dam near a media blackout on Paul raising over 6 million in one day...Very impressive it shows he has a lot of support...If Hillary Clinton did that you would never hear the end of it...Or Obama. Sad that the media tells everyone who to ignore...And decide who is an underdog...Why not let the people decide the front runners and then report that?? Sounds like the media is bought and paid for as well.

[S Jackson]

Conspiracy Hell....Its all there...The highway has been planed! There are maps and everything. They have been fighting it in Texas for years...YOU FOOL!!

Ron Paul for the most part are the cream of the Crop in this nation...They are willing to stand up against the lies and corruption of the beurocrats! They are willing to Give 6 mil in one day with no corporate interest. They are the same people who give to the salvation army, toys for tots, Habit for humanity, and other Great organizations...They are the people willing to go to the street corners with signs on a snowy day in Colorado...They simply are the BEST!!

[Sara]

Even if Dr. Ron does not win Republican Party Nomination, He could run as an Independent with all the money he is raising. Either way HE WILL BE A PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE with support from Both Republican and Democratic side. He could play a big role in who becomes the Leader of the free world plus giving people in this country a third and an interesting option.

[tenthousandwaves]

Disregarding the quality of the data or how it was collected, it strikes me as extremely unprofessional to present the results as simply an attempt to taunt Ron Paul supporters.

***

Ron Paul Tied With Rudy Giuliani in Iowa
By Terence Jeffrey
CNSNews.com Editor in Chief
December 20, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - In the latest poll of Republicans likely to vote in the January 3 Iowa caucuses, Rep. Ron Paul is tied with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- for fourth place.

Paul and Giuliani each polled the support of 8 percent of likely caucus voters, just behind former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, who received 9 percent support.

Paul, Giuliani and Thompson all trailed the leading candidates, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, by double-digit margins.

The surging Huckabee leads the poll with the support of 35 percent of likely Republican caucus voters. Romney placed second with 27 percent support.

The poll was conducted December 13-17 by The Washington Post and ABC News. The survey of 501 likely Republican caucus voters carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points.

The results mark a significant shift from last month's edition of the same poll. In November, Romney led the field at 28 percent with Huckabee in second place at 24 percent. Last month, Thompson was in third place with 15 percent, Giuliani was fourth with 13 percent, and Paul was tied for fifth place with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, each with 6 percent.

[RuthieM]

I strongly think all Ron Paul supporters should support Barack Obama, including Ron Paul himself.

[Matt]

Wow, It seems as if you have opened up a hornets nest. Thanks for the publicity. Ron Paul supporters are proud!!!!! Your statistics are very impressive. What was the date of the crackerjack box that you got them from?

Anyway, keep up the good work. It's funny the only thing that you can come up with the paulites is we don't believe the polls. Well thats news!!!! Can't wait till you dig up some real dirt on him, however, that looks to be quite a problem for you folks, as you just want to pass him of as the "constitutionalist nut-job". He's the cleanest candidate of them all. Good luck and keep up the good work.

[Kyle]

Great to see so many Americans still have a fire in their belly for the Constitution and their civil rights. Go go go third party; needs a real Veep this time; this is a key; hopefully Rudy versus Hillary and Mike Bloomberg as the fourth party; then Ron would have a real possible victory. He just cannot win the rep nom; 80% of the people still do not really know who he is. This could change by Nov. The Constitution hangs by a thread.i

[Lolly]

...who did what?

...my goodness..

...so much evil

[Arkham_Angel]

whenever you think of a poll from Faux news, think of Frank Luntz. Fair and balanced?

[Darwin]

Cute. Terribly ingenious of you to get hits from people hungry for news of Ron Paul while still insulting them.
But, your read of the poll is distorted. The only significant number is 22% ... those who have decided on a specific candidate. Polling companies wouldn't make a dime reporting "we have NO idea how 78% of the people will vote."
There are a dozen reasons (well known to all the scientific practitioners) why polls are wrong. It doesn't matter, because they will be reporting an
unprecidented Ron Paul "surge" within the next three weeks, totally unexpected and ... totally consistent with their trendlines from prior polls.

BTW: ABC reported, only hours after the CNN poll, that Ron Paul has moved up to 11% support in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

[Toddd]

One factor completely ignored by the polls is the enthusiasm each candidate inspires among their supporters. A traditional poll assumes enthusiasm and thus the likelihood of showing up to vote is equal among all candidates. Given the straw poll results, donations to each respective campaign and attendance at rallies and meetups, enthusiasm seems to be very unevenly distributed. I for one have never encountered a more enthusiastic and determined group of supporters than Dr Paul's.

And for the record I do think that those polled are not the most accurate representation of those who will be casting votes on election day. You poke fun at the reasons given for Dr Paul's poor poll numbers but they seem perfectly valid to me. The number of disillusioned is probably greater in total than those still firmly entrenched in the Democratic and Republican base.

[david]

Do not read this.Please!

You sure have tuned your Paul frequencies to activate the resonance of this group.

The more I read the contents of your transmissions, the more I detect an agenda. Consistently prodding and playing everyone beautifully, as instruments in a concert to benefit your organization. It started soft and faint and has been building to a shattering crescendo......... Such a maestro you are!
If you play it , they will come, I can't wait to see what you choose to compose next........

One thing that is interesting though, it's the fact that this much activity even exists for you to conduct. It occurs to me that someone like yourself who steadfastly relies on past experience to forecast their projection of support for a candidate, may be putting far too much emphasis on an antiquated method of collecting information. Judging from the success of your own blog ,it would appear that the internets dynamics completely changes EVERYTHING, this should be noted by you especially since your column is so well attended. One thing is certain, only time will tell how a grass roots movement like this one can be gauged.

[D. S.]

It is a true shame when A Journalist is out performed on his own web log by random people on the internet.
I am not an American, I am just interested in Ron Paul because he is the only candidate who has any stance (at all) concerning the failing US currency ( I was born on a small island called Bermuda whose currency is pegged to the US).
As an intelligent human being why would you ever sight a poll that has such a small sample size? My high school (Bermuda has a population of roughly 60,000 people) had more people in it.
There are rules that need to be followed in order to call a poll scientific. Generally the sample size has to be at least 500-1000 people.
And there are some basic questions one should be asking when interpreting a survey http://www.publicagenda.org/polling/polling_20q.cfm (sorry about the links but this stuff has been covered before).
If these "Dr. Ron Paul people" are right (as I interpret it) and only 6 percent of the people who should have been eligible were actually eligible (you know all those people that voted Bush through the GOP nearly 8 years ago) then the base sample resource (the group you randomly choose participants from) is too small by about 94%.
Making the +/-5% statement completely untruthful (the math is a bit beyond my ability but when I try to calculate how inaccurate this poll could potentially be based on the possible flaw concerning the base sample resource... the numbers I keep getting are ridiculous...). But you, a professional journalist use this as a credible source of information?
This is as bad as the Gallup.com poll that asks what chances do you THINK each candidate has of winning the election (clearly I am not interested in the clairvoyant abilities of the American population, only whom they are voting for) They somehow used this survey to draw the conclusion that "Giuliani Has Best Chance of Defeating Clinton".
This is what you call journalism?

BTW Old world= old media=wrong.
"Old world" are people like you who think you can create the news instead of reporting it.
New world= the re-democratization of information (and the people who deliver it)....similar to the cultural revolution that was inspired by the Gutenberg Press.

HONESTLY, all I want to know is what any of these potential Presidents intend to do about the US Dollar crisis.
I realize that to most Americans this is probably a non-issue, but for people like me it is the only issue.
Tthe result of a mis-step on this issue could result in entire Nations (whose currencies are tied to the US Dollar) Distancing themselves from (i.e. selling off) US Dollars.
But Americans do not seem to be taking this issue seriously. With the exception of Ron Paul, who seems to get uneven treatment by your major media. Which seems incredibly odd.
Especially if you have learned about the "Continental" in history class (early American currency that collapsed).
The US seems to be repeating its past mistakes and the only person who seems to have a stance on the subject at all is A man whose media exposure does not seem to be about his stance on the issues but on how popular he is, yet at the same time you (Major Media) deny his popularity. Which one is it?
Would someone ask the other candidates from both parties what they intend to do about the dollar crisis so I can make an intelligent decision on what to do with my family's money.

Last but not least, if this is the quality of reporting I can expect from an employee of the Los Angeles Times, you can guarantee I will never read anything associated with "your" organization again.
Unless of course, you learn how to write a real article OR the LA Times comes to its senses and relieves you of your post.

NO responsible member of the media should ever quote such a flawed source of information WITHOUT qualifying it first (i.e. pointing out that it is flawed). You even hint at the flaws of this resource in your responses to people's replies.
How about you just write something honest, based on FACT, that you can actually stand by, instead of the drivel that you are trying to pass off as a web log entry.
Then maybe you would not need to mention popular people PURELY to gain attention. You would probably have a clearer conscience, and I'd bet a stalker or two less as well.
Just a thought,
anyway Season's Greetings

[EJC]

You forget that journalists are supposed to be unbiased? Or has somebody bought your integrity? I'm sure, if you have nothing to hide, you wouldn't mind putting up a copy of your bank statements, would you?

[Zack Cosgrove]

Wow! The polls are telling me to change my value system! Thanks for telling us. I'm sure everyone who is hoping and working to get Ron Paul elected will be changing their minds now because you've informed us that it is a losing bet! Thanks, because we were only voting for him because we thought he would win. Gee, if he is not going to win I guess we'd all better vote for Mitt or Rudy even though they are horrible alternatives. Truth is, if there were only one vote for Ron Paul it would be mine.

[amanda]

Obviously they still do NOT understand that it is not Ron Paul we are voting for (even though he is a very good person with great moral and family values) it is THE MESSAGE!!! You people who think he is a "loon" need to wake up and think about the fact that the government was meant to help us keep order and help support us in times of need... not OWN US!!! The government is supposed to work for us.. and for some reason it seems as if things have turned around completely and now.. we are scared of them and we work for them!!! NOT ANYMORE!! Reguardless if Dr. Paul gets the vote or not (which of course I'm backing him all the way) America knows what we want now.. and knows what to do about it! RON PAUL 2008

[Michael O]

Hey guys remember there was an episode of family guy where the executive received 8 phone calls complaing about something on TV? and I quote
"We all know each phone call represents a billion people, So that must mean 8 billion people don't like what happened!"

BTW Andrew Malcolm in case you believe that, there's only 6 billion people in this world!

Andrew I say KEEP DREAMING BABY !!! that's how America got strong, people like you were dreaming while the rest of us were working for the dream!

[Hillary Clinton]

Clearly, Ron Paul is gaining support evidenced by the Meetup groups, yard signs, and recent donations by new supporters.

A Poll of 500 likely republican voters, is not going to represent Ron Paul chances of success, its not a conspiracy theory its just fact.

[convivialdingo]

It's really just sad...

Bush says "The terrorist hate us because of our freedom."

Paul says "The terrorist hate us because we are invading their homelands, killing their people, and intervening in other countries sovereignty."

Which is the more likely truth? Why do the media support such nonsensical rubbish and those candidates that parrot such drivel?

I could go on and on, as many supporters do - but apparently common sense and historical insight is peevishly out of style! Much like McCarthy's era - I suppose there's a communist bogeyman under every bed.

Though Americans may not know rhetoric - but we can certainly see the results of such policies. Eventually somebody pays for sins (or perceived ones at that), and I pray it's not our homeland again.

Thanks for the entertaining article!

[Michael Quill]

I guess all is lost and you should let you pick the winner

[C.T. Kirkpatrick]

Wow,

Look at all the Ron Paul supporters you brought out.

Add one more Ron Paul supporter to this list :)

Reinstate the Constitution! GO RON!

[libertynow]

I do the math this way.... Ron has 5% of Republicans who are being polled.
Most other Republicans do not have non voters, Democrats, Libertarians and others crossing over to vote so I think their numbers are close to what the polls say. With Ron 95% of his supporters have never voted Republican. So....
His 5% in the polls only represents 5% of his total supporters. It is easy to see how that 5% can turn in to 25% quickly when you start thinking the fact the polls only represent a small fraction of his support. Then we have the issue of resolve. Given "young people" are not known for voting it is clear that the people supporting Dr. Paul are deticated and do show up for straw polls, send money, blog knock on doors etc. On the other hand the rest of the field is for the most part still undecided and really shows little real activisim. Angry Ron Paul supporters will walk through the snow and rain to vote for their guy but I do not see anyone standing in the rain for McCain on street corners for Rudy. So their #s may not turn out in as high %s as people think. So asuming the surge of new RepublicanRonbots and a high percentage of turn out for him in a divided field with Ron Paul being the only anti war Republican I think he will do quite well..

[Fredrik (sweden)]

hasn't any pollsters donna apoll to find out how manny of Ron Pauls supporters are in the catagories:

a) newer voted before
b) first time voters (and compare this to the othr canidates first time voters)
b) Former democrates
c) former independent/3rd party
e) republican but has not voted in the last election.

What the current polls tells us is that 4% of the die hard neo-cons, Bush lovers is going to vote for Ron Paul.

[Josehp Hill]

OK I bit.....you wanted us to read it and I have. Wish I could be proud of your efforts. What happened to the good old days of "if it bleeds, it leads"?

If you really want more online participation (whiich is why you put this kind of stuff there isn't it?) you really should pander to all us Paul supporters. Your old pandering methods and craigslist are bringing you and me down too!

Good Luck!

[Gerbeck]

Lame article. Vote for Ron Paul!

[Ben]

Andrew is really a Paul Supporter using reverse psychology to promote the Conspiracy! Way to go Andrew!

Vote Ron Paul.

[cognate]

Normally I wouldn't bother to read the LA Times, but since Google news regarding Ron Paul brought up this piece, I looked.

The quality of writing at this newspaper has gone down since craigslist sucked away all that personal ad revenue. Maybe that accounts for the writer's animosity towards internet-savvy people.

[George Jefferson]

Dear Andrew,

You are a moron. Get a clue; it's not too late to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Look at your blog and the responses thereto.

Regards,
A Patriotic American

[Joe Safety]

(The phone survey of 411 random, likely Republican primary voters was between Dec. 13 and 17.)
>>>411 people>>411 people>>411 people>>411 people>>>
>>>adult peer pressure ALERT>>>adult peer pressure ALERT<<<

[David A. Dudenhoefer]

Andrew, look, I'm a Paul supporter and your point is well taken, keep in mind that his name is not even tested in some polls, I know because I took one here in my home state of Michigan. However, this as well as your other points as well as the points of other writters, does not change the fact that we are in trouble as a nation, and politics as useual does not work. The fact is that our Constitution is not being followed and we're in a mess because of it, so we better find an answer and quick, if not Paul than who? If not now than when?
Keep in mind as well Andrew that most of the issues Paul raises are subjects most politicians do not raise, but does not mean that they are not valid, it could be just a lack of information. But issues like one near and dear to me, the fiat monetary system, is very real and could vewry well be the one issue tied to all the rest, do to its nature and what it causes. Bottom line, one way or another one leader of another, we need to ban together as a nation and as a people and deal with it, before this Constitutional republic turns into something worse.