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

[Jim Harris]

Andrew, as much as you want to BELIEVE this blog is the mainstream media, it is barely a blip on the radar. Blogs have a tiny audience. The mainstream media continues it's blackout of Dr. Paul and, when he is mentioned by the likes of a Rush Limbaugh or Michael Medved), It is with derision. The truth is, Dr. paul IS virtually ignored by the real mainstream media. I know you write for the L.A.Times, and I appreciate your generally unbiased (with exceptons) coverage of Dr. Paul, however this is still the L.A.Times BLOG. Big difference.

(I'm glad you finally agree that this blog is not MSM. We've been accused of that all fall. And my theory is that notnhing online can be mainstream, there are so many sources and currents. And as for tiny, I'm afraid not anymore. Would wager a political story here gets read by many thousands more real people than one in the newspaper. Glad to have you here as one of several hundred thousand per day.)

[William Bell]

Ron Paul is almost totally ignored by the media. In order to find out anything about how he is doing, I must always do a search of the news, otherwise I will waste hours reading about every other candidate, including some who are no longer in the race. Your article is one of the few exceptions.

The other day, NPR described Dr. Paul as the top GOP fundraiser . . . then they never mentioned him again. That would not be so bad, but the entire piece was about fundraising. Considering the topic, I would have expected at least a few other comments. As you said, he is the only candidate whose funding is increasing every quarter. Why isn't that worthy of mention in an segment devoted solely to fundraising among the candidates?

When the media makes comments about Dr. Paul, they usually describe him as a fringe candidate with little or no chance of winning. It is a self-fullfiling prophecy. I know of many people who embrace Dr. Paul's positions, but will not vote for him because he cannot win or they are afraid that others will think that they are a kook for supporting him.

The real story should be that he is doing as well as he is.

I have been involved in many political campaigns. Ron Paul's campaign is the best organized and funded that I have ever seen. He may not be nominated, but neither Dr. Paul or his message is going away.

[rockster]

The sad part about the american public, is that they don't know or do not have the time to find out about the candidates stand on issues...heck...americans rather wait for the media to tell them who to vote for...This democracy is just communisma with food. Watch how the country keeps getting screwed by backroom delas between politicians that really just say whatever their writters tell them to say....Come on america...you can do better then this....you're beggining to look stupid..."here's the american attitude" USA! Go USA! the best couyntry in the world...even if we have corrupt politicians....

You all will be sorry once another 4 years go by, and realize we have giving this country to the control of corrupt politicians, and sweetheart deals between rich politicians and big business...keep your blinders on America...you just do not want to see how screwed you'll be in another year or two..and you know what? You deserve it...since you forgotten what freedom REALLY means.

And to think we fought a war over 200 years ago to achieve our freedom...lololol...since the 1900 our freedoms have been sold to the highest bidder...so really, we've only been free from corrupt government for only 100 years...sad...but true...Now go vote for whomever looks better on TV. Since you no longer care what happens to this country soon...dummies....

[Donald Bosch]

I am a Canadian and have followed this campaign since day one. Even here in Canada, every time I hear a radio show, Ron Paul is rarely mentioned. It seems that it is an unwritten rule that any politician in the U.S. who actually shows character, consistency, vision and total integrity simply gets sidelined by the media. What I have seen of FOX and some others is quite telling.

The forces that be wish to keep Dr. Paul sidelined, but in the end, the power of the internet, the strong message and the idea that young people who ultimately will run the U.S. some day will all combine and Dr. Paul will manage to wake up the masses, hopefully before it is too late.

As a Canadian, I am happy to say that finally the U.S. has shown me one politician that restores my faith in the future of our neighbor to the south.

The Ron Paul supporters will get their day. If not this time around, then the next. Let's not forget he has a son who shares his views. His message has time on it's side, so to speak.

I hope that it is heard clearly before it is too late.

D. Bosch
Quebec, Canada

[Dave]

Ron Paul cured my apathy. Then the election system re-instated it. As a combat vet, I can't believe that more Americans don't want the kind of freedoms that were guaranteed us in the Constitution. I wasted my life fighting for those freedoms, only to have them stripped away by greedy politicians. It truly sickens me to know that my vote means nothing. The voice of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands!) means nothing. All that matters is the money and the power. Morally right and ethics are now bad words in politics, and for some reason, millions of people are OK w/ that. The only thing I can do to preserve my own freedoms now is to build a cabin deep in the woods and hope to stay hidden from Uncle Sam until I die. Oh yeah...I can't, because that damn national ID will track my every move. God once blessed this nation, and now we are damned.

[David]

Contradict? Your words cite examples of the bias. And this article is on the internets. More soldiers donated to Ron Paul in the last quarter than to all the other remaining candidates combined, Republican or Democrat!!! This should have been front page news since the 1st. The fact that this has not been front page news on every newspaper in the country is ample evidence of media bias, and media's complicity in the war agenda at the expense of our military and our country.

[tim anderson]

this was actually a pretty straight up essay. even if you write like a second grader...nice ending paragraph too.. in your attempt to be clever you just sounded like a dumbass, maybe next time.

.

[Patrick]

Good article! For once, someone actually pays attention to the Good Doctor. As a freshman member of the mass media, I find it appalling how often he is simply omitted from coverage. It's quite disillusioning to see that the newspapers and news sites I grew up reading are not nearly as honest and responsible as I once thought. It almost makes me wish I'd gone into business instead of journalism!

Thank you, Mr. Malcolm. You've done your country a great service simply by doing your job.

[Chris Uchman]

Just because you do a story in the LA times to satiate the complaints---- doesn't mean that the MSM is not intentionally ignoring PAUL......

Your scoffing at the Idea, shows that you pay way to much for a commoditee that exist abundantly in this land of the free..

Ignorance.........

I am tired of seeing the elections in the country run on the equivalent entegrity scale of THE BEST MAN ON CAMPUS in HIGHSCHOOL-------

Wake up world...... You are missing your opportunity

[Anita]

Thank you for reporting on Ron Paul's results. You are just about the only person who has...in fact, I've had trouble finding his results on multiple google searches.

[Michael]

I don't so much blame the media as I blame Americans who are too lazy to spend the effort to educate themselves on the candidates more than what the television tells them to think. I blame Americans that believe that it doesn't matter what happens in the primaries.

Finally I blame Americans that vote for someone not really knowing what that person stands for (such as those voting for McCain to get them out of Iraq). These Americans are the most disgraceful because they vote based on feelings and looks instead of facts and evidence.

[Ray Jackson]

There's no doubt the mainstream media tried to sideline Paul. Fox news cut him from their debate despite him finishing ahead of other candidates they allowed on in the one caucus that had taken place, and then when they allowed him onto their debate they gave him different (and ludicrous) questions from the other candidates and cut his better moments from the rerun. Fox are only the most obvious case. This was the candidate who raised more money than any other Republican, all from small donations, yet to hear the mainstream media you'd think he didn't exist. In the end, they guaranteed he did not. But at least one thing came of all this.... it's becoming increasingly possible to raise money and awareness without using the msm. I spent more time watching blogs and youtube this season than attending to the msm. The future is that either you guys start reporting the news instead of trying to make it or you get increasingly irrelevant.

[Dan in B-more, hon.]

As a longtime Ron Paul supporter (since I heard him speak in late 2002), I appreciate what you're doing with this blog, Andrew. It is true that there is a bit of hysteria surrounding Ron's campaign, but I do believe there is a silent majority in this country that, while not support Ron Paul explicitly or his views implicitly, are looking for a system that more fairly treats individuals as just that: individuals. Ron Paul is the candidate who most closely represents that ideal.

I continue to be heartened by his respectable showings in a number of states. (His 7% in NY is a bit more than I ever would have expected.) A bit more MSM coverage would be nice, but to be fair, Ron has to prove that he deserves that coverage. His results on Super Tuesday, and his continued uptick in results (10% IA, 14% NV, 17% ME, and 20+% in AK, ND, and MT) are moving his campaign in that direction.

It's clear that the rank and file of the GOP are not thrilled with their choices. McCain is too contrary, Huck is too populist and quasi-liberal, and Romney is just, well, fake. Ron Paul is really the solution for the RP. I hope they see it before it's too late.

[Roger]

The only thing I can say is that the Majority of the American people need to wake up and stop being sheep.
Those individuals not voting for Dr. Paul need to research and discover that All of the Democratic and Republican’s Presidential runners with the exception OF Dr. Paul had and will allow the continuation of our Be loving Constitution to be handle as if it is JUST a piece of Paper as if it is not the HIGHER LAW OF THE LAND.

Dr. Paul Message is well and alive, changes we need and changes will occur in the coming years, 2,4,6,8 where finally those individuals in Congress which are allowing the Constitution to be chipped will be put to pasture and the new youth who cares for the Constitution will take over and restore OUR REPUBLIC TO ORDER where the Constitution is preserve, Protected, and defended against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

VIVA LA CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA!!!
VIVA Dr. RON PAUL and HIS MESSAGE!

[Barney Rubble]

This is a 2-bit blog and coverage here of Ron Paul, though appreciated, hardly constitutes fair coverage by mainstream media. But forget all that, let's just grant out the argument and move to the safer conclusion: Americans by and large do not vote on platform and voting record. They vote on style, image, form, big talk, and hype. Those factors collectively explain time and time again most of the variance in voting patterns, not substance. Paul had substance, but no exciting form. Only chance for Paul now is if the general election comes down to Hillary v. McCain and he can make an independent appeal to substance-minded voters to capture at least 35% of the vote. Otherwise, hey, it was fun while it lasted, now let's move over and let the welfare-warfare state get back to business.

[Jake]

Too little too late...
the msm is only reporting what they have been "predicting" the entire election cycle thus far. I think it is interesting that in such a diverse and complex race this time around the polls seemed to nail it on the head more than once. Especially when it came to Ron Paul. Interesting.
Google Hacking Democracy

[poppatml]

Well written article. No I won't blame MSM for RP not doing as well as hoped. His message falls on deaf ears. Come november we will see how this election shakes out. So, congrats to all the pundents for getting it right. Now live with the results.

[Phil]

Congratulations for mentioning Ron Paul, even if you couldn't resist that dig at the end. But I just wanted to comment on the "coverage" Paul has tended to receive.

Yes, there have been a number of appearances on a few specific shows. But Paul's simple message, namely that we need to abide by the limits to government in the constitution, rarely got aired in comparison to the "viable" candidates. If he was mentioned on any specific news program it was usually to try to heap derision on some aspect, invented or not, of what he'd said in a given debate. In most debates, he was lucky to get a third of the questions of any other candidate. He hasn't exactly been reported on fairly as a candidate with a snowball's chance in heck of winning, and *gasp* egad! He doesn't finish first in any state and the prophecy of the reporting (or lack thereof) is fulfilled! That would be what Paul supporters are incensed over.

Let's look at the other choices we're being presented with as "viable voting options". We have socialists on the democrat side promising to tax us incredibly heavily and treat us like we were little children. For instance, have you noticed that Hillary is effectively going to force us into taking insurance if she has to do it against our will or fine us if we don't get it? And before anybody tries to correct me by saying "but she only wants to do it to people that can afford that," I'll mention it here myself. It's still a darned dirty trick, and she's pretending like we don't know what to do with our own lives. To say nothing of the fact that she voted for the war, for the patriot act, for re-authorizing the patriot act (Obama joins her on that one, though when he was looking at the presidential run he voted against extending wiretapping). Hillary's promise for trying to withdraw will have us out of Iraq just shortly after the next inauguration. Obama's promises aren't much better.

On the other side, we have warmongers who want to continue acting like an empire. They seem to be content to run up the debt like it'll never need to be repaid. They don't seem to understand the meaning of a free market. Their plans to cut taxes are laughable, like offering the passengers on the Titanic a discount on the buffet as the ship breaks in two and sinks beneath the waves. Their understanding of foreign affairs is pre-school at best, since they seem to genuinely subscribe to the "they hate us for our freedom" nonsense and tend to talk about the US needing to seem strong in the international arena by constantly bombing something. You may get ten people to follow by preaching against another's liberty, two or three willing to suicide attack. You don't get a structure with hundreds if not thousands of members, like Al Qaeda. And what you get by attacking sovereign powers and occupying foreign nations is, can I get a drum roll? A lot of people who hate us for the damage our attacks do to their families, their economies, their homes, and their lives. Not to mention for usurping their power of self-government. Even if it means that for the moment they've got to deal with a despot. And they don't seem to understand either the rights of the States as defined in The Constitution or the rights of the individual.

So pardon us while We The People feel like we're being squeezed of our lives, liberty, and sacred honor between the two-party vice-pincers. Most of us who realize what we're losing get a bit cranky when the only candidate who actually wants to preserve liberty gets ignored and ridiculed by the major media pundits.

[Sascha]

The only interesting story about Mr.Paul right now is simply the disproportion between his online support and his poor results at the polls.
He didn't disappear like other 'also ran' (Tancredo, Hunter, Giuliani...) but he didn't do well either: a lot of money with nowhere to go.
What interests me is the relationship between old and new media: if it was all a conspiracy of silence on the part of old media it won, despite all the talk about new paradigm and social networking. Right now (and I don't think it'll change) Internet has a parasitic relationship with tv and print, so it is not really an alternative
On the other hand, Mr.Paul's support may have been 'soft': a lot of talk, a lot of superflous money, a lot of clicking away, a lot of googling but no real commitment.
In my opinion, Mr.Paul's ideas were radical (and bookish and dogmatic and unpractical): if implemented it could have been a real revolution in american politics and society and economy. But they would have caused unrest, dislocation, misery (at least on the short run) and the resistance of those who had to lose something: And with such a soft support (people who can't even be bothered to get out and vote) what chance of success there was?
Remember an old revolutionary saying, revised for the times: the revolution wont' be downloaded...

[poppatml]

Well written article, left out Alaska thats OK. No I will not blame MSM anymore, they seem to have gotten it right. Hope is an amazing feeling, Hope that someday MSM will have no choice but to cover a canidate with RP integrity and honesty. Sadly that time has not come yet. I will regrpoup and as usual try to pick the lesser of Two Evils and make an informed choice.

(No, actually Alaska is in there. Check it again.)

[Joshua Earlenbaugh]

Hi Andrew,

I am confused. I guess I don't understand the article. I like the fact that you mentioned many facts (besides Louisiana) about the race thus far. However, I thought you were going to talk about a "move" that Ron Paul made. I guess I am truly interested in what you believe about this "media bias" hypothesis and whether or not it is very accurate or not. After all, you did note one putative instance of the LA Times showing media bias. It would be great, however, for you offer some analysis of the "media bias" hypothesis. You've been around journalism for a long time and I think your readers and Ron Paul supporters would love to hear what you think. Thanks in advance for the elucidation.

[Zechariah C.]

Great post, Mr. Malcolm. I hope we seen Ron Paul in this thing all the way to St. Paul.

[Tim]

Ha? Have we become that predictable?

Funny: I didn't catch any MIKE GRAVEL coverage last night, did you?

No. The media isn't the problem. The fact of the matter is: Americans love inflation. They love it when the Fed prints monopoly money for them. They hate the debt ceiling. Why are we limiting ourselves with psychological contrivances like debt ceilings?-- And they really love the Prison State. The more of their friends and neighbors that get thrown in jail over drug addiction, the better! And you know what else? Americans especially love perpetual wars against invisible enemies.

I guess I'm just out of step with the mainstream. I guess I just need to learn to stop worrying and love the American Empire.

[David, OH]

Mr Malcom,

Thank you for a straightforward, truth-telling article. The writing is on the wall, Ron Paul is dead in the sense that "God is dead."

Freedom loving people need to expend their time and treasure locally in an effort to win back Congress for the people. Get out there and run as a "Ron Paul Republican" and let's take our Nation back to it's founding principles, back to the rule of law.

[Mark]

Oh please, Andrew, are really you really trying to say that Paul got fair treatment from the MSM? How long did they fawn over and provide millions in free advertising to Giuliani and Thompson? My God, time was when a day would not go by without every single major media outlet providing them significant coverage.

At any rate, I really don't care. If there is anything that this election has made clear, it's that Americans prefer to vote for creeping statism and socialism rather than take a stand for freedom. It's easy for people to blather on about "land of the free, home of the brave" but when someone offers them the chance to act on this - to vote for a candidate who really would reduce the government - they go crying looking for big government politicos to make them feel safe.

We have a $3.1 trillion budget coming up. And the budgets will only get bigger, the programs multiply, the taxes increase and the regulation get thicker.