The demise of the Romney campaign has meant that the legions of Ron Paul supporters have had to face a sobering fact, namely that without the chance of a brokered convention, Ron Paul, the man who lapped the rest of the GOP field in fundraising, has absolutely no chance of becoming the Republican nominee. Now Ron Paul himself is conceding as much, though I doubt he'll announce it on his blimp.
In a message to supporters sent just before 11 p.m. Friday night, Representative Ron Paul, a long-shot G.O.P. candidate from Texas, basically conceded that he's not going to win the party's nomination.
That said, he's scaling back his campaign - but not entirely.
He said:
"With Romney gone, the chances of a brokered convention are nearly zero. But that does not affect my determination to fight on, in every caucus and primary remaining, and at the convention for our ideas, with just as many delegates as I can get. But with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not now need so big a national campaign staff, and so I am making it leaner and tighter."
Mr. Paul clearly stated that he will not run as a third-party candidate. Right now, his priorities are serving the residents in his Texas congressional district and winning re-election.
"If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas."
From what we can make of the letter, Mr. Paul is staying in the race on a peripheral level, just so he can keep participating in policy discussions (and maybe use up all that money he's amassed?).
"In the presidential race and the congressional race, I need your support, as always," Mr. Paul wrote. "And I have plans to continue fighting for our ideas in politics and education that I will share with you when I can, for I will need you at my side. In the meantime, onward and upward! The neocons, the warmongers, the socialists, the advocates of inflation will be hearing much from you and me."
Given that I always wondered just what the hell Ron Paul would do with $20 million bucks, I'm curious to know what exactly he means by making his campaign "leaner and tighter." Regardless, the Ron Paul phenomenon deserved more coverage this cycle. I personally think they guy is nuts and he had some pretty awful ties to some pretty awful people, but his steadfast calls to get out of Iraq and against the maintenance of a global American empire resonated rather profoundly with a not insignificant number of folks, folks who responded by raising buckets of cash for their guy. It should also be mentioned that much of this activity was self-organized outside of the Paul campaign and that is significant. Say what you like about Ron Paul and his ideas, but the movement that coalesced around him was a beautiful thing to watch, people outside of the party power structure, a power structure that was overtly hostile to them, taking it upon themselves to see that their ideas and concerns were heard.
Granted, they ultimately failed, but it was inspiring in many ways to watch. There's a term for what they were trying to do. They call it "Crashing the Gate". |
