Ron Paul placed second in the North Dakota caucuses, perhaps eliminating his best shot at winning a contest on Super Tuesday.Paul finished behind Rick Santorum there, meaning that a first-place win continues to elude the Texas congressman as it has throughout the first dozen contests this year and previously in his 2008 campaign.
The loss portends another disappointing election night for the septuagenarian. It’s a cycle that has repeatedly played out during Paul’s third White House bid — huge crowds show up to Paul events, sparking confident predictions from his campaign team. But then the losses roll in, perhaps because many of the young voters who come to hear Paul don’t show up to vote.
Paul targeted and campaigned in three of the 10 Super Tuesday states — North Dakota, Idaho and Alaska. It’s part of his campaign’s broader strategy to focus on low-turnout caucuses in sparsely-populated states where his libertarian message resonates and his supporters can exert greater influence in the process that awards delegates to the national convention.
Final returns from Alaska, where Paul campaigned Sunday, are not expected until early Wednesday morning.
In Virginia, Paul had a clean one-on-one shot against Mitt Romney because Santorum and Newt Gingrich weren’t on the ballot. He pulled about 40 percent of the popular vote. But because delegates aer awarded by congressional district, he is poised to get only three of the state’s 46 delegates.
Paul’s continuing failure to win a caucus or primary would mean less attention for his unconventional campaign and raise more questions about his long-term viability.
Idaho was Paul’s best state in 2008 after he claimed a quarter of the vote in the state’s May primary. The state is as famous for its libertarian streak as its potatoes. Like Paul, for example, the most prominent elected Republicans here opposed the Patriot Act. In a state where the federal government owns about two-thirds of the land, there’s deep leeriness of the state in general.
“I’ve come in and out of Idaho for 15 years, and the reception has always been good. And our polling shows that we’re going to do very well here,” Paul said Tuesday afternoon before the caucuses. “You go where your strengths are, and that’s why we came here.”
Paul’s fundraising — even though it’s driven by ideological, small-dollar donors — will almost certainly slow as the Republican race moves on. Some Paul activists may begin to question his goal of maximizing leverage at this summer’s GOP convention by collecting delegates throughout the primary season.
But Paul is unlikely to drop out of the race anytime soon. On Tuesday afternoon, about 750 came to a civic center in the Boise suburb of Nampa during lunch hour.
http://www.designerburberryoutlet.com
http://www.cheapburberryoutlet2012.com
http://www.fashiontoy.com
http://www.buymyfavorite.com