Is it just me or is the continuing Ron Paul not-an-insurrection the key under-the-radar story of the spring? “After years of quiet, relentless organizing, followers of libertarian-leaning GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul have exploded inside the Minnesota Republican Party, becoming its most potent army,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports via The Political Wire. Paul won 12 of [...]
What did Ron Paul accomplish? Not much, says Jonathan Tobin: His exit from active campaigning will, no doubt, provoke some pundits to claim that in 2012, his libertarians stopped being a marginal factor in the GOP and entered the mainstream. But this is, at best, an exaggeration. There was some overlap between Paul’s strict libertarianism and Tea Party [...]
A morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. Thanks for the shout-outs, Abel Harding and Steph Smith. Big thanks to Thomas Grigsby of the Moya Group who tweeted “Damn good read” and Jacob Perry, who tweeted ”Totally worth the read.” HAPPY LOBBYIST COMPENSATION REPORTS DAY! Lobbyist compensation reports are due today, offering details about how [...]
Ron Paul announced he will “no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not voted,” for all practical purposes suspending his presidential campaign, Politico reports. “Paul, however, will continue his bid to collect delegates to the national convention in Tampa this summer. He has earned additional delegates in recent weeks by performing strongly at [...]
Mainstream Republicans afraid Ron Paul’s steady accumulation of delegates will cause chaos at their national convention in Tampa just received a terrifying preview of what a worst-case scenario might look like, writes Benjy Sarlin. In Oklahoma on Saturday, Paul supporters and Romney supporters reportedly came to blows as the Paul side fell short of electing their slate [...]
Ron Paul’s strategy of organizing and working arcane delegate selection rules began to pay off over the weekend. Christian Science Monitor: “And that could mean big trouble for Mitt Romney and his plans to smoothly pivot to a campaign aimed solely at incumbentPresident Obama. Yes, Mr. Romney is still the presumptive nominee. It’s highly unlikely Paul will [...]
Supporters of Ron Paul “commandeered the Maine Republican Party convention Saturday as part of a multi-state strategy designed to give him a voice at the national GOP convention in Tampa,” the Portland Press Herald reports via The Political Wire. “Paul’s backers took control of key parliamentary positions and the convention agenda. The effort was part of the [...]
Steve Kornacki explains why Paul’s mounting delegate haul matters: National conventions long ago stopped being about official party business and became slickly produced infomercials. But Paul’s supporters aren’t, generally speaking, party loyalists. For them, Tampa won’t be a vacation – it will be a mission. With the right numbers, they could slow the convention down with procedural distractions, messing with [...]
As Newt Gingrich exits, the Ron Paul campaign continues. His supporters took more than half of the delegate slots in Massachusetts over the weekend: [T]he losses are an alarming indication that Romney’s campaign organization is still woefully underdeveloped, even in the state where he served as governor, and where his campaign headquarters are located. … Massachusetts wasn’t the [...]
