Ron Paul to chill out in Texas for a couple days.

[Bull Moose Base]

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/3268

[argentarius]

Not sure about this move myself, though maybe Iowans have the same attitude and don't want to hear about politics for a couple of days. Paul needs to pick it up, he's now in second in Iowa and needs to go into third, but I think so long as polls have him above 20% he'll win because of how he gets out the vote, and that he outperformed the polls by 5 last time.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Does he secretly not want to actually win this?

[Keystone Phil]

Hahaha...perfect...perfect...

[TheGlobalizer]

Ron Paul does it His way.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Negatives and positives cancel out here...Nobody wants to hear politics on New Years Eve. But this is the last chance he has for Iowa. His base is strong enough alone to win it, but if he wants to make a strong impression,  he needs more then a narrow win. For him, polling will not go any higher or lower. It depends on what Santorum does.

[California8429]

Hahaha...perfect...perfect...

[The Mikado]

Who goes to political rallies on New Year's Eve/Day anyway?

[tmthforu94]

Taking a couple days off may not be a terrible decision, but he should have stayed in Iowa, just to stay in the news more.

[redcommander]

I seriously don't think Paul can win at this point. A dumb move on his part to stop campaigning when polls are showing he might have peaked.

[Keystone Phil]

Who goes to political rallies on New Year's Eve/Day anyway?

This is Iowa three days before their one day in the spotlight every four years. I can't imagine the New Year's Eve parties are a blast anyway.

[Lief 🗽]

Ron Paul is just taking a break to give the other candidates a chance and keep things fair. He doesn't want to win by an obscenely large margin or anything.

[California8429]

This could have made enough difference in a close race (which I think it will be) for him to lose to Romney, Santorum, or Gingrich.

[Peeperkorn]

This isn't President Forever. Campaigning two days more doesn't change things.

The "undecided" already know which candidate they will vote, believe me. That's why I don't think a Santorum surge is possible.

[Roemerista]

This isn't President Forever. Campaigning two days more doesn't change things.

The "undecided" already know which candidate they will vote, believe me. That's why I don't think a Santorum surge is possible.

And if it was P4E, then this is him clearly resting before the 7 day stump blitz in NH after winning Iowa.

[Keystone Phil]

This isn't President Forever. Campaigning two days more doesn't change things.

The "undecided" already know which candidate they will vote, believe me. That's why I don't think a Santorum surge is possible.

Whose to say that they don't already know that they're voting for Santorum with their minds made up before the surge? 

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

This isn't President Forever. Campaigning two days more doesn't change things.

The "undecided" already know which candidate they will vote, believe me. That's why I don't think a Santorum surge is possible.

Whose to say that they don't already know that they're voting for Santorum with their minds made up before the surge? 

The point was that more campaigning from him directly wouldn't make that much of a difference, not that the caucus was already in the bag.

Anyhow, his organization is still going at it over the weekend. As I said earlier, the results here are going to be changed less by last minute conversions and more by turnout of Republicans vs non-Republicans.

[tpfkaw]

Oh, Ron Paul.  This is both why I love him and why I hate him.

[Tender Branson]

He's an old guy, so why not ?

[Peeperkorn]

Did you ever serve as political managers in a campaign?

[Peeperkorn]

"recent surge in the polls"

There's not such a surge, it's the media creating an alternative to Romney or Paul FROM NOTHING.


Why do you think that suspiciously the media discovered Santorum ?

[Keystone Phil]

"recent surge in the polls"

There's not such a surge, it's the media creating an alternative to Romney or Paul FROM NOTHING.


Why do you think that suspiciously the media discovered Santorum ?

From nothing? So the poll numbers are totally made up? I mean, even if you throw out the polls that only surveyed Republicans (OMG CONSPIRACY AGAINST DR. PAUL!!!), Santorum was rising.

[Oakvale]

Every non-Romney candidate (well apart from Huntsman, obviously) has had a sudden surge from seemingly nowhere, including some candidates who weren't even running. Why wouldn't Santorum get his brief day in the sun?

 I thought Gingrich would be the final "Anti-Romney", but he's apparently disintegrated hilariously fast, leaving the field as fractured as it was at the start of this whole circus, with the inevitable result being a Romney coronation. Yawn.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

"recent surge in the polls"

There's not such a surge, it's the media creating an alternative to Romney or Paul FROM NOTHING.


Why do you think that suspiciously the media discovered Santorum ?

From nothing? So the poll numbers are totally made up? I mean, even if you throw out the polls that only surveyed Republicans (OMG CONSPIRACY AGAINST DR. PAUL!!!), Santorum was rising.

Well, from what I've seen, there was one from an unreliable pollster that only polled Republicans that had Santorum in second, and there was one from CNN that (again, only polling Republicans) showed him a ways behind Paul and Romney in third. There was a Marist poll that shows him doing well in third.

That by no means constitutes a surge that can win Santorum the caucus. For sure, he's getting his time in the sun if that's what you mean; the media is getting pretty desperate, seeing as how it has run out of viable options to pump up after pumping up every single other candidate (barring Paul, who they detest). Were Stalin to be resurrected as a zombie in the US and jump into the race, the media would pump him up as a "tough guy" with a "war record" and he would start polling near the front.

This is basically up in the air between Paul and Romney (Santorum will make an effect, but winning with hype this late in the game is effectively impossible), and it'll come down to the caucus speeches changing minds at the last minute as well as independent turnout. It'll also depend on whether the bulk of the undecided voters swing towards Paul or Romney (or Santorum, though from what I've seen his base doesn't really detract from either of the main two so much as rob the various sideshow acts of their already limited support).

[Keystone Phil]

Listen to the little Paultard babies cry about Santorum's "fake" surge. I've seen it all now. A truly sad bunch of people. Dangerous and sad.