Ron Paul, Dr. No-body, beats Rudy and Fred -- again

Well, he's hanging in there. Not only that, but Rep. Ron Paul thumped two reputed Republican heavyweights in the Michigan primary -- former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Who'd have predicted that a couple of months ago?

Giuliani, you may recall if you can remember anything as distant as last summer, was the longtime GOP national front-runner in polls. He ran strongly against everybody in his party, even former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who won one last night, taking his home state from Sen. John McCain, who won there in 2000. Everybody wondered if anyone had a chance against the hero of 9/11, who defied standard Republican theocracy with his liberal social views.

But guess what? Ron Paul, the 72-year-old Texas congressman and ob-gyn who delivers babies and a strict view of the Constitution, beat Giuliani in Michigan. And beat him good. Not only that ...

he doubled Giuliani's totals of 24,000 votes, or 2.8%, getting more than 52,000 votes, or 6.3%, of the total Republican ballots.

Paul even beat Thompson this time, the real consistent conservative who was supposed to be the next Ronald Reagan until he actually announced his campaign in September. Thompson got about 31,000 votes, or 3.7%, which is more than Rudy but still less than the nobody congressman with the libertarian views whom few people but his passionate partisans took seriously months ago. He's often called Dr. No for his consistent congressional votes against spending.

Paul was so written off that Fox News banned him from its recent debate in New Hampshire. Oops, now the Paulunteers are organizing a boycott of Fox sponsors in return for the snub, a move that Dennis Kucinich's fans are now calling for against MSNBC for barring him from Tuesday's Democratic debate in Las Vegas.

True, Romney killed all his Republican competitors in Michigan, as he had to, with more than 326,000 votes, nearly 39%, with McCain trailing at 29.7%, or 248,000. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee garnered less than half of Romney's votes, 135,000, or 16%.

And it's also true that Thompson and Giuliani didn't really campaign seriously in Michigan. Or New Hampshire. Or Iowa except for a last-minute Thompson bus tour. Obviously, both Giuliani and Thompson are intentionally laying back, trying to make the rest of the Republican field overconfident. No doubt.

Paul hasn't won anything yet, either, except the continued devotion of his followers and growing national attention, including two national TV appearances on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" plus a full hour on "Meet the Press." On Tuesday, Richard Viguerie, the noted conservative author, announced he's launching a website to support Paul. Viguerie called Paul "truly a principled conservative in the grand tradition of Robert Taft, Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan."

Paul just keeps picking up his 6% to 10% each time there's a vote. But Paul also beat Giuliani in Iowa. And he came pretty close to Giuliani in New Hampshire and did, in fact, beat Thompson there. And now in Michigan, Paul beat them both rather handily. He does it by going against virtually all the views of his GOP colleagues, including opposing the Iraq war.

Fueled by the generous donations of Paul believers, the congressman was probably the most successful GOP fundraiser in the fourth quarter, acquiring nearly $20 million then and, according to his website, more than $834,000 more so far this month. He's already launched an eight-state ad blitz and has been campaigning in recent days in South Carolina, where he has three offices and will return later this week, and across Nevada. He got skunked in Wyoming, where Romney won, but imagine if Paul scored big one day in the wild West, where many people believe government got too big about 100 years ago.

Paul's website and new campaign blog claim to have quietly organized more than 7,800 precinct captains around the country. Meantime, Giuliani's top staff is going unpaid this month to save dwindling funds. Is there a pattern here?

So, while the "front-running" Republicans each win one state and no one builds up a head of steam, Paul just keeps hanging around, like a bad cold. Some of the other Republican candidates should be careful, lest they get the sniffles one of these days.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Web Smith]

A newspaper in Florida called Ron Paul supporters The Paulites.

This could be the title of a future book on U.S. history, sounds like a conquering army, sounds Biblical, or could be a derivative of the Ron Paul light brigade.

At this point, mentioning that the Paulites are coming will at least cause a short pause in political rhetoric and a few, furtive, over the shoulder glances.

I like it.

[Dave R. from Minot, ND]

The number of responses to this story is probably a good indicator about the support Ron Paul has drawn across the country. Thank you for your attention to this important candidate. Foxnews online had a collage of 5 replublican candidates on their website this morning. Guliani and Thompson were both in the picture, along with Romney, McCain, and and Huckabee?? Ron Paul is outcampaigning two of these guys and somehow Foxnews.com can't seem to find a photo of Ron Paul for their collage!???? What gives?? Foxnews.com!!! I used to be a big fan of foxnews.com, but they are showing themselves as "not much different" than the other majors in my opinion.
GO RON!!!! RON PAUL RON PAUL RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT. HOPE FOR AMERICA RON PAUL RON PAUL RON PAUL RON PAUL RON PAUL!!!!!!!

[Joe]

Nash, go ahead and hit the democrats and independents in your neighborhood! Ron Paul gets a lot of support from both groups. California is a closed primary but the party change deadline is Jan. 22, according to ronpaul2008.com.

[DX10]

Let me see if I can help Concerned Republican. There is this little Asian country with whom we have established normal trade relations. They were over here recently discussing trade and business opportunities with us in friendship. We are having a positive impact on this country by following the founders and Dr. Paul's foreign policy of engaging the world in commerce but making no political alliances. That country is Vietnam! We were using bombs and bullets in 1968 in an attempt to force change and at the same time we were bringing our boys home in body bags at the rate of 80 per day every day. You tell me; which foreign policy is best?

As far as being racist is concerned please cite one example where you have heard a racist remark exit Dr. Paul's mouth. Doesn't it occur to you that if he wrote it, he would say it? For Pete's sake!

[Pete, South Carolina]

Remember Ross Perot's VP candidate in the VP debate in 1992? Most of you Paul supporters probably don't, but that's who I think of when I see RP in a debate. An absolute lunatic.

[Brad]

Modern Republicans are generally too stupid and insufficiently educated in American political history to appreciate Ron Paul's contributions to the GOP. They will continue to vote for the latest fluff candidate hyped by the media networks - the candidates who eschew Democrats over taxes, increasing the size of government, etc. and at the same time call Paul crazy for wanting to privatize social security, eliminate the IRS, eliminate unnecessary executive departments, etc. Paul will continue to earn the 5%-10% he's been garnering because that percentage corresponds with the static percentage of intelligent folks in the GOP who "get it." The percentage won't go up - because people do not miraculously become intelligent. Its just the segment of the population who are. The media could hype Paul to be the sleeper candidate . . . "next big thing" (as was Huckabee prior to Iowa) but it would have to do it en mass and 1 week before Super Tuesday. Voters have a short memory. Paul's real shot is as an independent candidate with a credible VP pick. Short of that, he's done on Feb. 5th.

[Jan 21 money bomb]

"""""Excellent article. Enjoyed the use of humor. That bad cold might just turn into an epidemic. Thanks.

Posted by: Jacquie | January 16, 2008 at 09:51 AM """""""

If only the media treated this the same way as the avian bird flu!!!

Great article, at first I thought it was a smash piece with Dr No-body but it was brilliant!

Cheers!

Money bomb on the 21st!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RobS]

I once drank the kool-aid prior to 2003. After the effects wore off and fog lifted I can truly see things for what they are. Forgive the sheeple, they do not understand what they do. You must understand that you will get the candidate the ruling class WANTS you to have. To be nice they offer two flavors Democrat and Republican. A vote for one of these "front line" candidates is a vote for the status quo military+welfare state. A vote for Ron Paul can be the beginning of change.

[Robert]

After Super Tuesday you wack jobs are all going to by crying in your collective Kool Aid.

[Steve]

I hope Ron Paul wins the nomination. Then Obama's victory in November would become a slam-dunk instead of a mere lay-up.

[Liberty]

Props to the LA Times for mentioning this- on Yahoo! and other "major" news sites it's hard to find even a slight mention of Dr. Paul, despite his strong showing.

RON PAUL 2008

[Me]

I met Ron Paul in person at the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa. He was a nice and genuine guy. Very likable.

[nostradamus]

Ron Paul can't and won't win the GOP nomination. The insiders would never let it happen and the system is too rigged for it to happen even if he had the popular support. What he will do is build up some popularity, drop out sometime before the convention, and then run as the Libertarian candidate (as he did in '88). They have already asked him to run and will surely nominate him. This will automatically put him on the ballot in all 50 states. He will act as a spoiler...... but to whom? That remains to be seen.

[Eric]

This seems like history repeating itself. He could split the vote and deliver a Dem to the White House. I hope he's smart enough not to run as an independent.

[Bethany]

Ron Paul is a LIBERTARIAN... he is running in the wrong party and it is a disgrace that he wants a republican nomination and people want to give it to him.

[Mark]

I like a lot of what Ron Paul says but he needs to change his position on a few things, for example, the Gold standard. I also like that he doesn't belong to the CFR.

[Adam]

About 2 months ago I knew nothing about Ron Paul. Then I saw an article smearing him saying that he is a racist and anti semetic. That got my attention because its a very common tactic to smear people or take comments out of context to discredit someone.

Now I'm more convinced that he is the only one out there who has the vision to resuce the country from out of control spending, end wreckless spending and get this country back on track. Since W has taken the dollar has lost at least half it's value. Think about that, our dollar is worth half as much. Which is the real reason why gas is $3 (which would be $1.50) a gallon because our dollar on the internation market is worthless. We can't keep printing more and more worthless paper and fooling ourselves. Ron Paul is the only one who will try to stop it before its too late. All the other Republicans are socialist lite, who want more entitlements more give aways, more out of control spending. And worst yet the water boys like Rush and Hannity will try to tell you how the are so great compared to the Democrats and voting for Paul is wasting your vote. Nothing will ever change if you vote out of fear. And maybe if the Republicans begin to lose badly enough they will change thier tune. We can't take another loser like Bush. We can't get fooled again.

[Jez]

Now THAT'S a balanced article. ;-/

[Spyke]

"lest they get the sniffles"...

You've just confirmed it for me: to paraphrase Agent Smith, "Ron Paul is a virus."

[Casper Hauser]

Dr. Paul is the only candidate who respects the rule of law. The rest of them will sell your children into slavery, literally. The media are trying to suppress the message of freedom, as witness the New York Times candidate guide, which excludes Dr. Paul but includes such marginal characters as Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. But the American people are spreading the word.

[Bill Mcgill]

In typical LA Times fashion, the author waits until the NINTH paragraph to acknowledge this gem:

"And it's also true that Thompson and Giuliani didn't really campaign seriously in Michigan. Or New Hampshire. Or Iowa..."

So - they werent campaigning in these states - but we're supposed to be shocked that they polled poorly? Brilliant!

Perhaps Paul picked up the 10% racist "white flight" Michigan vote.

[Elijah]

As I see things today, the future of the world is indeed bleak. There will only be two forms of government on the planet soon: Socialist and Islamic.

The lamp of liberty in the world is being quickly extinguished.

Actually, it's already too late. Might as well vote for Paul in one last gasp.

Enjoy the ride down. It won't be long before we hit bottom.

[bob]

Ron Paul would have a better showing if he spent more money on the MSM where most people get their political news. His fundraising has fallen off this month. Most people have no idea who he is or what he stands for , except us Libertarian Geeks

[dcook]

Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Constitutionalist.............Forget about worrying one might "split" a vote........Vote from your heart and whom you feel will best suit this country...It's a real shame the MASSES don't think or feel this way...........So far, this man gets my endorsement, he has said very little that I disagree with.........Good to see the LA Times ACTUALLY mention him.......There was another large publication that wrote an article after the SC debate and I appreciated how it stated there where only 5 Rep. candidates participating........Way to be un-bias and report the facts.........!!!! The smear campaign began long ago....Once again it's a shame the masses can't realize this man is the only one that doesn't talk out of both sides of his mouth

RP for president...!

[Concerned Citizen]

WARNING FISCAL TUSANMI

The “Status Quo” is Not an Option
• We face large and growing structural deficits largely due to known demographic trends and rising health care costs
• GAO’s simulations show that balancing the budget in 2040 could require actions as large as
• Cutting total federal spending by 60 percent or
• Raising federal taxes to 2 times today's level

United States Government Accountability Office
“Saving Our Future Requires Tough Choices Today”
The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General of the United States
http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08353cg.pdf

Glenn Beck - “The Real Story, Touching the Third Rail”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I...h?v=I- 16u9x3tfE