Ron Paul makes his move

Rep. Ron Paul, the oldest person remaining in the presidential race and the only one who's also simultaneously running for Congress (you know, on the off chance he doesn't reach the White House), came in second in the Montana Republican caucuses, right behind former Gov. Mitt Romney.

The 72-year-old onetime ob-gyn, who was the most successful fundraiser among all Republicans last quarter, got 25% of the GOP vote in Big Sky Country to Romney's 38%. Paul also beat Sen. John McCain, who got only 22%, and Mike Huckabee, who trailed with 15%.

In North Dakota, Paul, with 21%, fell behind McCain, at 23%, and Romney, at 36%.

Elsewhere, Paul, a strict constitutionalist who opposes the Iraq war and in 1988 ran for....

president on the Libertarian ticket, slipped back to his familiar single-digit showings, despite the determined, earnest efforts of thousands of outspoken Ron Paul Revolutionaries, including an endorsement from THE Jane Roe, an eight-state ad campaign, not one but two appearances on Jay Leno's show and stunts such as hiring a plane to circle downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday dragging a giant Ron Paul banner.

With incomplete results, Paul looked to finish in the Golden State with about 4% of the GOP vote, way behind Huckabee at 12%, Romney at 25% and McCain at 44%. Alaska, where Paul had thought he might do well, also turned out to be disappointing, as Romney easily won.

In West Virginia, Paul's forces did gain three of the state's 18 GOP convention delegates in a deal to throw in with the winning Huckabee supporters and deny Romney his expected win there.

In Maine, where the arcane uncommitted caucus system defies explanation, Paul forces finished third in voting recently but believe they will end up ahead of McCain in terms of state convention delegates and second only to Romney. Paul also finished second to Romney in the Nevada caucuses and ahead of the now departed Rudy Giuliani in Iowa.

In other Super Tuesday states, some with incomplete results, Paul's showing was not so super. He finished last virtually everywhere -- with 8% in Colorado; 6% in New York and Tennessee; 5% in New Jersey, Arkansas and Illinois; 4% in Missouri and Arizona; and 3% in Oklahoma, Alabama, Massachusetts and Utah, though he beat Huckabee there.

Many in Paul's dedicated legions of supporters profess incomprehension over how he does not attract wider support among voters. The only explanation they can imagine is that he would do much better in elections if it wasn't for a mainstream media bias that forces supporters to conspire on the Internet, has barred him from a major New Hampshire debate and often eliminates him from regular candidate listings.

For instance, The Times' recent tepid Editorial Board endorsement of John McCain in the California Republican primary discussed every remaining GOP candidate except Paul, who's outlasted more famous competitors like Giuliani and Fred Thompson and is the only GOP candidate to increase his fundraising  every quarter last year.

Many will now fill the comments section beneath this item with complaints about the mainstream media's bias and little recognition that the words themselves in this item contradict that claim in this forum. And, of course, they are welcome, as always.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Tyranny]

Contrary to your insinuations, I think this was a fair article. You did not start off mentioning Ron Paul as a "longshot" or "dark horse" candidate as EVERY other article Ron Paul has been mentioned in has done. You stated the facts and kept your opinions of Ron Paul to yourself. This is reporting as it should be. At least there's one true journalist remaining in the world.

You do have to admit though, if more outlets have covered Ron Paul's campaign with an open mind, like Romney or McCain - would people still be saying, "Ron who?" But, in a world where Britney Spears makes the Nightly News and Natalie Holloway updates make it on to Entertainment Tonight - it's becoming harder and harder to differentiate between what's considered "entertainment" and actual "news".

Pop-Politics maybe? Sounds like exactly what Romney is looking for. "Let's sit in a debate and argue about who said what when instead of discussing health care or foreign policy. Americans will eat that up." And it appears they have.

[Mike Byers]

Thank you for writing about candidate Ron Paul. I am a supporter of Dr Paul and I am disappointed in the lack of media coverage he gets as are most of his supporters. My local newspaper shows pictures of all the remaining candidates in there coverage of the race except Dr Paul. Whether this is intentional or not I can not know. It does hurt his campaign as it leads the casual reader to think that he is no longer in the race. Now his only viable option is probably a 3rd party run and he will most likely face the same media exclusion. So much for democracy and so much for a free market of ideas. We'll be left with the choice between two pretty terrible evils and a very narrow range of debate. The two major parties only disagree about trivialities. On the man issues like a sound monetary system that does not promote inflation or an insane foreign policy that we can't afford and actually makes us less secure the two parties march in lockstep towards disaster. Thank you for providing this forum.

[Stephen]

Andrew,

It's one thing to get mentioned in a blog on the LA Times, it's quite another to be systemically removed from every single broadcast television station's coverage of the elections. Some even go so far as to say there are only three candidates running on the Republican side. The media should be proud of the election they've masterfully orchestrated for us.

[TBone]

Andrew,
Thanks for the objective report - especially reporting the difference between the preference polls (which are the only results reported in caucus states and have no direct effect in getting the candidacy) and the delegate count.

In my precinct in MN Ron Paul had only 18 pcnt of the straw poll votes, yet we captured (at least) 40% of the delegates.

[Greg]

Andrew, I've been following your writing for the past month or so, and I'm pleased with your fair and balanced reporting. As a Ron Paul supporter and voter, I do not see our effort as failed. Congressman Paul has ignited almost a million people over the past year into a very important message. A message of non-nation building, constitutional wars, ending the Patriot act, limited government, and securing our country from terrorism the way the 9/11 Commision report suggested.

As a result of the election there is now a movement to chenge our government. We the supporters will run for office to try and implement these changes. Dr. Ron paved the way, and it is up to us donors to make the changes. This campaign did not fail. It was an enormous success. And in time, I believe we will look back on this election, and remember the message Dr. Paul delivered.

America will come their senses once we bankrupt our young. Let's hope we don't get there, and we can make these changes from the bottom up.

My best to you and our country. Let us together work for freedom according to our founding fathers. Without remembering our history we are doomed to fail.

[mana]

Nice article Andrew. thanks...
I will forgive all the people who didn't vote Ron Paul but history will never forgive you guys. You guys will keep paying these endless wars for at least four more years.
Ron Paul won already for standing against mass media and corrupt politicians and silly party politics.
Go Ron Paul

[Eric Sundwall]

I suspect that Mr. Malcolm will begin to miss the paternal I told you so's to the yearning Paul masses.

[Josh]

Ok, it was not the best showing that a candidate could have.
But I could well say that about any of the republican's.
McCain is halfway there and Ron Paul is living on a prayer. (He could well be dead an gone but I would like him to stay and fight on and keep getting the message out.)

To me there still seems to be a long way to go and just maybe with the delegates that he garners he may still be able to make a difference in the current primary.

I know for myself he has already made a difference as I am no longer a life long democratic and I am certainly not a republican in the Bush, McCain , Romney, and Huckabee sense.

Thanks Andrew, good article and thank you for pointing out that he has been left out of many MSM events. I know friend who even asked is he still on the ballot as close as a couple of days ago because they never heard about him on the news and didn't see him listed as a candidate.

Hmm , let me point them to this blog just maybe they will get a better knowledge of what is going on :-)

[Jeff]

Man...I'm bummed. I expected a much better performance than we had last night. I just checked the daily dose on RP's website, and a nice post about fighting the good fight and hanging in there, but...I'm afraid he's done. And if he's done, I'm done as well, as I refuse to hold my nose and vote.

[Charlotte]

Four reasons for Ron Paul's failures:
(1) Certainly, the lack of media coverage figures. Not being mentioned by any of the major networks' Feb 4 nightly broadcasts is indicative.
(2) People don't vote for candidates who are perceived as sure losers.
(3) Paul's campaign hasn't been able to reduce his message to soundbites.
(4) The welfare state is today part of the fabric of America. An old-school, Herbert Hoover Republican is an anachronism at a time when people look to the federal govt for every kind of hand-out, bail-out, and entitlement.

[Mike]

Thank you Andrew, you've been one of the few rare "MSM people" to honestly report on and talk about Dr. Paul and his supporters.

Under FEC rules ALL candidates (even Gravel! ;-) ) are supposed to get equal air time on all shows, papers, etc. and yet that most definitely didn't happen this time. The MSM picked our leaders and we are going to suffer the consequences of their actions.

Dr. Paul isn't done yet, nor are his supporters. People are talking about the actual delegate counts (which nobody is actually committed yet, debate the MSM's idealized view), the half of the nation that hasn't voted yet, and even a third party.

With the continuing collapse of the economy, the Iraq terrorists now looking outside the nation, and more incidents of torture and subversive tactics from our government Dr. Paul's predictions as well as his words will just continue to ring more soundly.

Why?

Because Dr. Paul is the only one speaking the truth.

[Vic]

I think a lot of voters think he's a kook. I did, until I actually did some homework. To understand Ron Paul it takes effort. He truly is the only respectable, uncompromising candidate. I think if more conservatives were brave enough to be intellectually honest with themselves, they'd come around to Dr. Paul's views on the Iraq war. His basis for opposing the war is rooted in a completely different ideology than the left's, and a sound ideology as well.

[Anthony]

Thanks for the coverage, you are one of the few... ABC's big coverage of Paul is "when will he drop out", while their poster boy, John McCain is shown as victorious though most of the delegates they list are not even bound yet... we all know most of media is just BS. The small portion that is well reported, is for the 20% or so of Americans who have taken the time to discern.

[Daniel Fard]

Andrew, a good article summarising Paul's results - especially for a UK citizen like me!

I think Ron Paul is doing very well - both in terms of election polls & delegate counts - considering his censorship by the majority of your national media. I find it' hugely impressive & exciting that the grassroots has managed to co-ordinate their common passions, many of whom were completely apathetic to politics (and especially politicians) before this election.

You could argue that Paul supporters are making excuses for their candidates low polling, but it's plain to see the large news networks have appointed their own front runners, and allowed them millions of dollars worth of free publicity in the form of news articles - Guiliani still gets more publicity from Paul, and he was flattened by the congressman in almost every caucus.

A disastrous consequence to this is many people now believe Paul has dropped out or 'can no longer win', therefore they are choosing to vote for another candidate.

I've done a fair bit of research about the U.S.A - and of late, it has truly lost it's way. I've learnt more of the torture you force people to endure at Guantanamo contrary to UN resolutions, you attack countries & murder innocent people to further your own corporate interests, you have very little regard for the civil liberties of your citizens and your politicians will lie to protect your corrupt actions, you care very little for supporting those who need basic healthcare (or even provide viable alternatives), you destroy your economy by spending trillions you simply do not have, causing widespread economic turmoil around the world, you allow corporations to dominate politics in the form of lobbyists, big military contracts and multi-national media companies - even your elections are severely flawed and wide open to corruption, with evidence they might even be rigged.

But above all that, America has forsaken it's constitution. In light of all the things above (and too many more to list unfortunately), you have ignored the one document which protects everything America stands for - liberty, justice, freedom, prosperity.

The Bush administration has made America the laughing-stock of the world and made enemies with many other countries needlessly. Unfortunately, the national televised media has censored the one man who stands against all the crimes committed against American's citizens and it's values, whose record and public standing are a truly outstanding example.

I have a lot of confidence the Ron Paul supporters will eventually unite and make their voices heard after this election - when many people will be suffering the painful consequences of your existing leader's actions.

Only then will America begin to heal.

[Paul Magliochetti]

here in ct I was handing out literature for Paul all day Tuesday, NO ONE not one person I talked to out of 50-75 people I talked to ever heard of him, NEVER HEARD OF HIM! The media has done an outstanding job of making sure this great man and his message of hope never gets heard

[Eric]

Do you that most American's are not educated enough to know that you can't continue the debt train forever. I don't know how the average American can not see that the government will have to take away almost everything we own one day to repay their debts and what they owe the seniors. No one else will repay them. But at that point will China own all the banks and companies because they have all our money? What will the government do when they have squeezed the lifeblood out of every hard working American with a 40-50% tax rate federally and 15% at the state level? At what point will they stop? Fascism? What if we want to be free? I want to be able to live in my debt free house and have the government leave me alone. Do you think the founding fathers meant this land to be a place that if you worked hard to pay for everything you own you could never stop working because of property taxes? What is wrong with this country is we have become a slave state. We cannot remember what it was like with out the shackles of debt on our hands and feet. Today I am sad for our country.

[Kelly Tucker]

Thank you for the article Andrew. My husband and I both voted for Ron Paul yesterday. We live in Tennessee. We really thought he would do well in this state. We were a bit disappointed at the results this morning. However, we weren't surprised. I do believe that the majority of the msm have treated Ron Paul unfairly throughout this process. I also believe that the majority of people in this country have been so dumbed down that they have lost all understanding of what once made this country great. My hope is that the few people, especially the young people, who have rallied for Ron Paul will now run for political offices on his platform. I just pray that it's not too late to turn this country around!

[Keith]

It's difficult for RP supporters to believe that the general public just doesn't support Ron. I don't understand why they have such a hard time grasping this concept. Most people who follow the races enough to make the effort to vote last night know who Paul is. And they declined to vote for him in droves. It's not the media's fault.

I hear the waaahmbulance coming.

[Daniel Castellano]

This Ron Paul supporter is willing to give you credit for covering Dr. Paul, as have several other online newspapers. Television appears to be the medium where the "media blackout" is most prominent; for example, last night a Philadelphia network affiliate showed Giuliani with 0 delegates, but omitted Ron Paul's count! Giuliani still gets more coverage out of the race than Ron Paul, even though Dr. Paul regularly outperformed Giuliani when he was in the race.

Since even local stations are in on the act, I doubt it's a deliberate design to ignore Ron Paul, but rather a symptom of a more general problem in the media to come up with a storyline, and be very slow to change its storyline in light of emerging facts. The media has been fixated on a McCain-Romney storyline for some time, ignoring Huckabee and Paul, even though Huckabee, as it turns out, was surprisingly viable in Super Tuesday. I wonder how he would have done if Anderson Cooper actually let him talk in the debate, and the media actually treated him as a viable candidate. Sadly, perception can shape reality.

[Flavia]

i can only think of a few reason why all this is happening; the media bias...the invisble ink(yeah invisble!),the inaccurate counting of ballots and the very low numbers of people who actually voted for Dr. Paul.

I think people Love the IRS, the CIA, Microchips and WAR but HATE HATE HATE FREEDOM thats it people hate freedom and they also hate thier rights and the constitution! Makes lots of sense!

AM I TAKING CRAZY PILLS WHY DON'T PEOPLE GET THIS????

WE ARE LOSING HERE WHEN RON PAUL LOSES WE LOSE! HE GIVING US A SHOT TO KEEP OUT LIBERTY AND OUR RIGHTS AND KEEP THIS COUNTRY THE WAY IT WAS WHEN YOU HAVE ABSOLUTE FREEDOM IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT YOU HAVE/HAD FREEDOM MOVE TO IRAQ!

BUT DON'T F* IT UP FOR MY GENERATION GIVE US A CHANCE!

[Brenda]

Andrew, thank you for your continued effort to keep journalism at what it should be, fair and honest. As a Ron Paul supporter it is difficult to get the word out to everyone you know when they go home and watch the news and he is no where to be found. Many friends and family explain that they wouldn't vote for someone that has no chance. Where do they get this idea from? You and I know that the medias constant "longshot", "don quixote", emphasis on "Libertarian" was all to discredit him. I can't help but think if the mainstream media gave Dr. Paul equal coverage how different yesterdays results would have turned out. So many programs never mentioned him and yes some media outlets did, but so many more did not. I am disappointed but I will continue to spread his message because it is crucial to saving America. I just lost a good friend in Iraq yesterday and I am mad at our government because he didn't need to be there. Dr. Paul knows we can not afford to continue our current foreign policies they are costing us everything here at home. With my apathy cured I will continue spreading Dr. Paul's message of freedom and liberty!

[Fielding Hurst]

Sorry to say, but it's over. At least Ron Paul got his ideas out there. I guess the country needs to go further down the tubes and become more broke before more people wake up. http://brushfires2008.com/2008/02/05/dont-blame-me-i-voted-for-ron-paul-bumper-sticker/

[DavidH]

I believe that Ron Paul had a vision, something that is missing from the empty rhetoric of the Minister, the Millionaire and the McModerate. No, I do not believe he can win, nor do I believe that Dr. Paul is naive enough to believe that either, but his vision is what is most important to him. A vision where the states govern themselves, an America free of tyranny, just like our founding fathers saw. No, he won't be the next president, but I have never in my life been inspired any more by a presidential candidate as I have been by the good doctor.
The author said that he expects comments that say the Media has ignored Dr. Paul, which is true, but it is ignorant to think that the Media is the sole reason that his campaign does not attract hordes of votes. The reason is that we have become so apathetic in this country that we BELIEVE the media, and the majority of people follow blindly and do what they are told. If CNN, NBC, ABC and Fox had all gotten behind Ron Paul and pushed him to the nomination, he would not be the icon he is to many of us today. He would be just another puppet. I for one am not disappointed that he is not "winning" the race, for he has changed my entire political outlook and for that I am very excited and grateful to him. I am just disappointed that people in this country have short changed themselves by not believing that our constitution is good enough to govern us anymore.

As for me, give me LIBERTY or give me death. (Patrick Henry)

[CW]

At least you are writing about Ron Paul.
Thank You.

[martialartist]

So when can we expect a 3rd party run?