Political analysts at ABC News place Ron Paul and Donald Trump in the same category, the “fringe.” Their headline yesterday:

Donald Trump and Ron Paul: Republican Fringe Out in Front of 2012 Field

But don’t worry, folks — the rest of the analysis, which reads in part like a high school civics essay, reassures us that less scary candidates like Romney and Pawlenty will get into the race soon:

To be sure, there’s plenty of time for the more establishment-oriented candidates like ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and ex-Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to recapture the spotlight. Most voters are paying very little attention to the process at this time.

And again today on The Note blog, ABC’s reporters cite their own cutting edge analysis to characterize Paul as part of the same “fringe” as Trump:

Even more broadly, there’s also growing concern among the GOP establishment, not only in states like New Hampshire and Iowa but also around the country that the Republican presidential field is fast becoming defined not by the mainstream but by the fringes.

With Trump raising questions about President Obama’s birth certificate and whether or not he was qualified to attend Columbia University and Harvard Law School and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., a favorite of the libertarian-leaning grassroots during the 2008 election cycle, announcing a presidential exploratory committee yesterday, party leaders are wondering what has become of those who they see as the more serious establishment contenders.