Ron Paul's Strategy Vindicated?

by Liberty and Power

Despite the pleas of Eric Garris and Liberty & Power's own Anthony Gregory, and a great many other libertarians, Ron Paul has declined to quit the Republican primaries and run as an Independent/Libertarian. At least so far.

Tonight Fox News reports that, with 88% of precincts reporting, Ron Paul has won almost 16% of the vote in the Republican primary in Pennsylvania. This beats Mike Huckabee (less than 12%) although, it ought to be added, Huckabee conceded to McCain some weeks ago. Today McCain received just over 72% of the vote. This means that Paul has won more than a fifth as many votes as McCain. Certainly there are a good many Republicans who are unhappy with McCain and his policies of high spending, inflation and war. Ron Paul's decision to stay in the race demonstrates this very clearly and sets down a marker for future Republican contests. And his impressive vote total raises some interesting questions. What will be the impact on the race for the Libertarian Party nomination? And how will those Ron Paul supporters vote, if they vote at all, this November?

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Mark Brady - 4/23/2008

Why is this so amazing?

Perhaps Ron Paul supporters will leave the Republican Party, perhaps not. Right now they're taking the opportunity to register their support for Ron Paul and their disapproval of John McCain. They're sending a message that will be read by the Republican leadership, Libertarian Party activists, and indeed antiwar activists of every stripe. The message is that there's a good many people who are both very unhappy with McCain but not interested in supporting either Clinton or Obama. To paraphrase the late, great Bette Davis in All About Eve, It's going to be a bumpy -- and interesting -- next few months!

Keith Halderman - 4/23/2008

I went to an event last week put on by the Granny Warriors at which Ron Paul spoke where I met people from everywhere and I also get Yahoo alert e-mails about Ron Paul These two sources of information reveal that all over the country people are using the process to install Ron Paul sympathizers as delegates to the convention. If we had an honest news media this year's GOP convention could provide an unprecedented educational opportunity.

Craig J Bolton - 4/23/2008

Amazing, isn't it, that 28% of Pennsylvania Republicans will vote for a candidate who doesn't have a chance of being nominated but these same voters still remain Republicans. What are these people thinking?

Don't the Paul supporters understand that the Republican Party has once and for all given up any pretense of being free market/small government on Economics, such that there is now nothing at all left to save?

Since a move to proportional representation in the U.S. isn't realistically on the horizon, I'm personally hoping that the Republican Party will go extinct - thus leaving room for some clarification of the party spectrum from here on out. Maybe we could even get some of those first century of the Republic antiwar pro-free trade Democrats dug up from their graves and set back on their feet in the next quarter century? [Wouldn't it be a truly mind blowing experience to not know who to vote for on the basis that both candidates were more or less libertarian.]