UPDATED FROM INITIAL REPORTS
Ron Paul says he won’t spend more money on his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He said he doesn’t have the money to continue a full-blown campaign.
[This comes as Oklahoma backers say they’ll protest the proceedings of the Republican State Convention held last Saturday. Leader Lukus Collins cites what he says were procedural and rules errors.]
Paul on Monday issued a statement that insisted he would continue the fight for delegates, taking the battle to the GOP convention in Tampa. But the favorite of libertarians and tea partiers says he would no longer spend “many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have.”
Paul, the congressman from Texas and a favorite of tea partyers, effectively ended his presidential campaign Monday but urged his fervent supporters to continue working at the state party level.
In an email to supporters, Paul urged his libertarian-leaning backers to remain involved in politics and champion his causes despite the apparent end of his presidential aspirations. Paul has found success in wrecking the selection process for delegates to the party’s late-summer nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., and trumpeted that he has delayed Romney’s expected nomination.
“Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted,” Paul said in his statement. “Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state and congressional elections, where so many defenders of freedom are fighting and need your support.”
Paul’s supporters have proved successful in winning state GOP conventions in places such as Maine and Nevada. His supporters in Iowa and Nevada were chosen to lead the state central parties.
Paul’s flock is likely to make similar inroads this weekend in Minnesota, which Paul was slated to address. Paul has already dominated the state’s congressional district conventions, winning at least 18 of the 24 national delegates selected, even though he finished a distant second to Rick Santorum in local caucuses in February.
“Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that liberty is the way of the future,” Paul vowed.
Primaries have not been Paul’s strong suit — he hasn’t won a single primary or caucus. But Paul’s supporters have successfully navigated the convention process in a number of states, adding to Paul’s delegate total while gaining influence over state parties.
Read more on Newsmax.com: Ron Paul Says He’ll No Longer Campaign for GOP Nomination
Not true! He does not advocate creating havoc.
Paul himself has bristled at the suggestion that a convention with a
substantial presence of supporters would be a chaotic affair, even
while he has endorsed their continued efforts to score delegates.
“It certainly isn’t for the reason of disrupting the convention,” Paul
told CNN last week. He said he was following his current strategy
because “moving an agenda is very important and to do that we need to
maximize the number of delegates that we have.” http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/so-what-will-ron-pauls-delegates-do-at-the-rnc-convention.php?ref=fpb
Ron Paul has not “dropped out” either. He is not going to be doing any more active campaigning but is continuing to support his delegate strategy.
Points well made; headline changed.
Good job!
Your headline is inaccurate and misleading. First of all, Ron Paul has explicitly not dropped out. Read his press release for crying out loud. Secondly, your headline appears to quote Ron Paul as saying his supporters should “cause havoc.” Of course this phrase does not appear in Dr. Paul’s statement, nor would he ever use such language. This is worse than poor journalism; it’s libelous, intentionally dishonest, purposely misleading propaganda.
So making a business decision to allocate resources from the beauty contests to the delegate process constitutes dropping out? I don’t think so. As soon as I read Ron Paul’s statement, I knew the banker-controlled media would swiftly publish that Ron Paul quit, Naaaa! We’ll see y’all in Tampa.
Sigh – another “reporter” who does not do due diligence on a story.
McCarville, Ron Paul has not dropped out of the race (for that matter neither have Newt or Santorum – they suspended their campaigns to have Mitt help pay off debt). Ron Paul simply announced that going forward he will be using his money (still in the black) to support the grass roots effort for his campaign, instead of buying expensive TV and Radio ads. Why? Because he and his many small grass-roots donors simply cannot compete money wise with big Wall-Street money, which funds Mitt’s organization.
Folks – you are getting more of what you don’t want. Obama’s biggest donors are Wall-Street. Mitt’s biggest donors are Wall-Street. Who wins with either candidate? Not main-street “we the people”.
This is the biggest, joke of journalism I have ever seen.
As I reflect on our 2012 Presidential campaign, I am humbled by the supporters who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much. And I am so proud of what we have accomplished. We will not stop until we have restored what once made America the greatest country in human history.
This campaign fought hard and won electoral success that the talking heads and pundits never thought possible. But, this campaign is also about more than just the 2012 election. It has been part of a quest I began 40 years ago and that so many have joined. It is about the campaign for Liberty, which has taken a tremendous leap forward in this election and will continue to grow stronger in the future until we finally win.
Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process. We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates, and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that Liberty is the way of the future.
Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.
I hope all supporters of Liberty will remain deeply involved – become delegates, win office, and take leadership positions. I will be right there with you. In the coming days, my campaign leadership will lay out to you our delegate strategy and what you can do to help, so please stay tuned.
For Liberty,
Ron Paul
With all of the feedback showing the error of your headline, surely for the sake of honest journalism you’ll change it, right Mike?
Yes.
I think this is a balanced article that covers all that we know to this point.
What the Paul campaign has released can only be taken at face value as there’s no supporting evidence for anything else. I believe the campaign will do exactly as they say which is cease campaigning in the primary states and focus on what can be done at the state levels where they can maximize their efforts and resources. I suspect that the campaign has already met the criteria to partake in the national convention and now they are going to fine tune for maximum effect.
Again, thnx for the fair coverage!
I think you are reading the press releases a little to quick. The campaign will continue but it will switch it’s focus to the conventions instead of the meaningless straw polls. Since I just received a call from the campaign for another contribution and with a money bomb still underway, it is clear we are cutting to the chase and focusing on where it counts. The delegate process has always been 3/4 of the primary process and the straw poll is mainly there to take a temperature and leave party folks feeling satisfied.
Thank you very much for your corrections to this article. As a true Republican, through and through (not a libertarian-leaning backer) and a Ron Paul supporter, I greatly appreciate that.
Thank you Mike for your efforts to be fair and accurate.
These days, Kaye, difficult….
Mike, I appreciate the update to your article headline.