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Night of the Living Delegates

Ron Paul’s delegate-focused strategy is finally starting to show some results, with Minnesota’s RNC delegation to include a majority of Paul backers and Iowa’s delegates tipping in his favor. After last night’s five primaries he’ll be taking a handful in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island too. In the mean time, Romney delivered Newt Gingrich a campaign-ending coup […]

Ron Paul’s delegate-focused strategy is finally starting to show some results, with Minnesota’s RNC delegation to include a majority of Paul backers and Iowa’s delegates tipping in his favor. After last night’s five primaries he’ll be taking a handful in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island too. In the mean time, Romney delivered Newt Gingrich a campaign-ending coup de grace in little winner-take-all Delaware.

Nobody expects a brokered convention, but Paul needs successes like these if there’s a chance that any of his ideas might be adopted by the Republican Party in Tampa. Also, a Smart Politics study shows Newt may have been right that Romney is “the weakest frontrunner in decades”:

A Smart Politics review of Republican primary election data since 1972 finds that Mitt Romney’s performances in Delaware and Pennsylvania mark the first time a GOP frontrunner has failed to reach the 60 percent mark in a contest conducted after his last major challenger dropped out of the race. (link)

Romney is uniquely weak in some ways, but this sentence is pure sophistry.  Delaware was Newt Gingrich’s last stand, he campaigned there heavily and won 27 percent of the vote. It’s a small state and given disenchanted relationship between the GOP base and Romney, less than 60 percent of the vote is far from surprising. As for the Pennsylvania claim, it’s a little frustrating that they don’t consider Ron Paul to be a “major challenger,”  despite having spoken at Independence Hall on Sunday in front of 4,000 people.

The Doctor’s speechmaking has really improved over the past several months. Check out this excerpt from Sunday’s rally:

“In our early history we had a major undertaking overthrowing an empire. That is what we’re doing now. I believe we have an empire and a constant increase in the tyrannical increase of the power in Washington DC. … Today it’s a bit different. We don’t want separation, but we want to get rid of the people who believe it’s their role and responsibility to run our lives, police our world and run a monetary policy that is corrupt. … Seeking a society that offers virtue and excellence, we have logic on our side and we also have the humanitarian principle on our side. They tell us too often that we don’t care about the poor. If you care about the poor, or you care about prosperity and peace, the only way you can achieve that is through free markets, sound money and individual liberty. That is the answer. This campaign has a few months left to it, it’s not going to end like some people pretend. The media say ‘Where’s Ron Paul gone? Where’s Ron Paul gone? Where’s his campaign?’ [Shouting: ‘We’re right here!’] I want to know, where has the media been? Spread the message, be optimistic, and have fun doing it. Thanks a lot.”

There’s a full video of his speech here, but the version below is cleaner:

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