Why Romney is Running Scared. (Ron Paul, voters, campaign, Republican)
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Ron Paul is brilliant to act like his supporters are still in the minority and that he still is in the minority when it comes to delegates.
The truth is, all Ron Paul needs is a majority of the delegates to control the entire proceedings of the national convention in Tampa and I think the status quo GOP types are beginning to figure this out and are a little frightened about it.
Even the rules themselves don't bind delegates as many would like to have people and the delegates themselves think.
Of course the MSM is too chicken thus far to point this out. All the articles put in a disclaimer that Paul can't touch Romney..."the presumptive nominee".
However if Paul has the majority of living breathing delegates not just computer entries paid for by Goldman Sachs and MSM talking heads reports of supposed "bound delegates" for Romney, who's to say the Tampa convention can't turn out like numerous state conventions have where Paul delegates took control?
As far as likability and electability go, Ron Paul wins hands down-- not that facebook is going to determine the outcome of the election, but it may be a better barometer than the results of some of the primaries where supposedly Romney or Santorum or Gingrich won. Facebook shows that clips of the candidates show far more "likes" for Ron Paul than any of the other candidates and few if any dislikes whereas there are lots of dislikes for the other candidates and far fewer likes.
These results mirror the crowds the candidates are able to generate with Ron Paul being the only one who can thousands to come hear him speak.
The truth about who the real front-runner is and always has been, just becomes more and more evident as time rolls on.
Why do you think the media is chicken, Emily? They don't have anything to lose or gain with reportage on either Romney or Paul.
Of course, if Paul is able to subvert the convention processes, he will gain a lot more attention by them than he has gotten thus far, but the subversion may be the worst thing that can happen to Paul, as it will be seen as more Republican dirty tricks, done on a grander scale than ever before, against themselves. This is not an image that is going to make voters more prone to voting for either the party or for Paul, I think.
Facebook is no barometer at all. If it was, Sarah Palin would have become a candidate; her Facebook pages are swamped with millions of 'likes' even now, when there is slim chance of her ever re-entering politics in the future.
Paul has indeed drawn several large audiences, but none have come close to Obama's in 2008- here in Idaho, the reddest of red states, 14,000 people turned out on a freezing night to see him, and thousands more were turned away when the stadium completely filled up. The best Paul has been able to do is half that figure, and Obama's appearance in Idaho was not his largest- he drew more than 14,000 several times.
While he can out-draw Mitt, and did, his appeal might not be nearly as strong if he was to become the nominee. Large venues don't come for free; if Paul refuses to accept any party money, he would not be able to afford many stadium appearances.
It's good that he's shaking up the party, but you have to try to be realistic, Emily. Despite his strong points, Paul has really a lot of things that are not in his favor, and time has run out on developing the kind of national campaign he would need to win.
is Mitt Romney scared? I don't think so, but he is certainly concerned, and his backers are most likely taking steps right now that could thwart the Paulistas at the convention. Like 'em or hate 'em- the Kochs and Vandersloot (and Mitt's many others) are very smart, very thorough, and very quick on their feet. They also have the power in the RNC, and the RNC wrote the rules. Rules can be changed in the wink of an eye, and have been, many times in the past.
The real question that should be asked is: Are Paul's followers smart and sophisticated enough to pull off an end run against the professionals? Karl Rove and all the other guys like him, who have vast amounts of intimate knowledge on the machinery of the Republican Party are going to be hell to get around. Paul is playing a game on a field that all of them know microscopically well, so he had better have some super savvy people in his corner. This is no game for amateurs at this level.
Last edited by banjomike; 05-09-2012 at 05:38 PM..
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