Ron Paul is not going to be the Republican nominee for president in 2012. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Even Ron Paul knows it. His acknowledgement that Mitt Romney will be the nominee is just stating the obvious.

But what exactly did he mean when he said last week that he will "no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not voted"? Was he telling us that he was dropping out of the race?

Not quite.

There was a time, early in this year's cycle, where the guess was that Paul was going to perform far better in 2012 than he did in 2008, when he also sought the GOP nomination. He was better known, his iconoclastic views were thought to be more popular, and his supporters had a better understanding of the system. But after all was said and done, he failed to win a single primary or caucus. Yes, he finished a strong second in New Hampshire, barely lost in Maine, and took 40 percent in Virginia (in a one-on-one with Romney). But first place? Didn't happen.

And so, as Romney's competitors slowly dropped out, Paul was the last challenger left standing.

But for what purpose? He wasn't going to win in Tampa. It wasn't about a prime-time speaking slot at the convention. It's probably not about influencing the party platform, though he will certainly try to get his views about monetary policy and foreign policy represented. And for all the talk about well, maybe he can win on the second ballot ... that is a fantasy that's just not going to happen. No Republican nomination has gone past a first ballot since 1948. He undoubtedly knows that as well.

And it wasn't just to get enough delegates to disrupt the convention. Paul seems quite cognizant that any confrontations at or outside the convention hall would be counter-productive. (Paul supporters have reportedly been booing Romney backers at other party conventions, such as in Arizona and Oklahoma.)

For most of the past year, nearly every journalist who interviewed Paul felt compelled to ask him if his ultimate goal was to run as the Libertarian Party nominee (as he did once before, in 1988). Paul kept saying he had no "intention" to do so, but few believed him.

Everyone seemed to miss the obvious: It is all about the future of the Republican Party.

Paul says his campaign will not spend any money in the 11 states that haven't yet voted, and he won't. For one thing, he doesn't have the money. But he will be — and has been — packing county and state conventions with his supporters and electing Paul-friendly activists as delegates ... even if they are committed to voting for Romney in Tampa. "I hope all supporters of liberty will remain deeply involved," Paul wrote. "Become delegates, win office and take leadership positions." In Nevada, for example, 22 of the 25 at-large delegates selected at the recent state convention were all Ron Paul backers — even though Romney easily won the state in the February caucuses. (Former Gov. Bob List, a Romney delegate who lost his Republican national committeeman post to a Paul supporter, talked about the situation during last week's Junkie segment on TOTN. See below for link.) On Saturday in Minnesota, Paul supporters took 12 of the 13 national delegate positions that were at stake; he now has 32 of the state's 40 delegates pledged to him. Paul supporters have performed similarly in Maine. In Alaska, a Paul backer was elected state GOP chair.

Unless lightning strikes — and it won't — Romney will easily win the Republican nomination in Tampa on the first ballot. But many of those delegates in the hall will be Paul supporters, even if they are bound by party law to vote for Romney.

The convention, however, is only four days long. And November is right around the corner. Pretty soon, we'll be talking about 2014. And the presidential campaign of 2016. That's what is happening with the party conventions right now. It's not about 2012. It's about the future. And these "champions of liberty" may find themselves with a far bigger role than they do today.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/politicaljunkie/2012/05/21/152794224/what-does-ron-paul-want-hint-its-not-about-the-2012-gop-nomination

Most accurate article I have read.

The only way to win the lottery, is to play!

Harding (our 29th President) had 37 delegates going into the convention, but his opponents lacked real support (like Robme), and while it was NOT expected, called "unlikely", and "impossible", 10 votes later Harding won the nomination, and went on to win the election by a landslide vote.

How can ANY media pundent profess to know RP's plan when they won't even cover his campaign, falsly state he has "ended" it as the only coverage they give him thereby manipulating the vote even further.

Why then does the RNC feel they must cheat, break their own rules, or otherwise prevent his supporters from having an honest presence or vote in the process?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Jvt-zFwnc&NR=1&feature=endscreen

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BycOffR9JYFpMmlmWGVvTmZDSDg/view?pli=1&sle=true

If they consider him a threat, then there must be grounds for worry on their part. Ignoring a cold does not make it go away, or get better!

The truth of the matter is, Robme and the RNC will lose without the Paul supporters come November. THEY WILL NOT VOTE FOR ROBME!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3t-T_7bmbk&feature=youtu.be

If they (RNC) want to remain a party after the 2012 election, they had best embrace the RP campaign, come off their high horses, and get serious. If they truly believed there was NO chance of a brokered convention, then why would they stoop to the deeds of cheating and breaking their own rules towards delegate elections?

I've said it before, with only 400 delegates confirmed, to Pauls 200 to date, Robme is far from having this "in the bag"!

http://thereal2012delegatecount.com/

I believe Tampa will yield some surprises for all. What those may be are unknown to ANYONE at this point!

Another phony article written by puppets of the war machine regime.

He's not gonna win, this is getting really amusing.

I'm glad you are amused.

LOL......take time to read something other than what FOX spoon feeds you. You won't be laughing quite so hard. Oh, and as for Romney making money off his companies, the one you work for was on of the ones narrowly avoided being dismantled. So laugh on!

In 2016 Paul will be in a nursing home waiting for his dinner tray.
His views and would be policies are clearly not accepted by main stream Republicans and many Americans. He has no chance to win in Tampa. So I ask, What's the deal?

What the deal is ....you have an opinion, not based on fact, so you are questioning your own decisions....

jmo of course

I'm glad you can take the condition of our country, our freedoms and the economy (which Robme still has no plan for that won't increase our debt) so lightly!

There is an old adage..... "Ignorance is bliss"

Just a "little" info for your records.....

Even tho Robme may have delegates going in to Tampa, MANY of those "elected" delegates are Ron Paul supporters, NOT Robme! It seems the Robme camp can't get enough people to support him to fill the delegate rosters, so they are being filled by Ron Paul supporters ACTIVE in the delegate process!

Forget rule 38 of the RNC, it is there because the RNC knows they can't enforce a delegate being "bound" ....

These are comments by Jerry Davis at Lawyers for Ron Paul:

"1. "It IS ILLEGAL TO FORCE ANYONE TO VOTE ANY CERTAIN WAY...PERIOD!!!!"

2. "ALL of the 'binding' IS under civil constitutional law....VERIFIABLY...ILLEGAL."

3. "We are not even going the rule 38 route, ANY means of manipulating a vote, whether by proxy or by unit, is illegal."

4. "The RNC's use of these rules in their very nature, are illegal, but no-one has brought this to the table yet."VOTE ANY CERTAIN WAY...PERIOD!!!! ALL of the "binding" IS under civil constitutional law....VERIFIABLY...ILLEGAL."

Robme has 453 ACTUAL delegates, MANY are Ron Paul supporters, perhaps 1/3! Paul has 168 ACTUAL delegates (who will vote for NOBODY but Paul!) and is set to sweep or control many of the remaining state delegate caucuses between now and the RNC convention in Tampa!

There are lawsuits in progress against the RNC for violations of voting laws and their own rules, trying to prevent this from happening, but they have NOT got the support, or people, to do it legally, by "Roberts Rules" at caucus conventions!

Why is Ron Paul still in it? TO WIN IT! Because the facts don't support what the RNC and the lame stream media Presstitutes are trying to sell the American people on TV!

I am amused, it's quite funny that the Paultards will believe anything and don't realize the deligates are bound by the rules to vote for Romney even if they support Paul.

Clearly you know nothing about either of the companies I work for.

I think Paul would be a disastrous choice, but its not personal.

I dont feel HATE for him or believe he would intentionally be meaning to cause disaster,, nevertheless, I believe it would be the beginning of serious regression of civil rights and broader class gaps in this country

Hardly. Civil rights just barely exist in this country, just barely enough to think you and I are anything other than a slave. In fact, it's 1984, with drones flying overhead, lies to a people about wars, including the war on drugs, and racism and the slave trade is alive and well. (Privatization of prisons) Have you ever wondered how drugs actually get into this country? Here's a hint, Afghanistan produces 75% of the world's opium. Where is our military? Oh almost forgot. Our military is not controlled by congress anymore, but rather, the President and the United Nations, it it's not really our military.


Other than every war, including WWII, and soon, WW3, being founded in lies, one of the reasons the military needs to be brought home IS to end the war on drugs. When the government plays both sides of any war, slavery is inevitable.

'barely' is a subjective standard

there is much more of a presence of the attempt at civil rights

and yes, there are still blatant systemic residual issues that remain around as a result of the past blatant discrimination,

,but there is no chance to make it better if we go backwards to where we were letting everybody just treat everybody else however they choose when it comes to employment opportunities or education or any number of significant areas of life that certain groups have been all but cut out of in the past,,,,

The attempt at civil rights is little more than a controlled opposition, designed to make you think you might win. It's no longer a black and white issue. We are all slaves of one form or another.

The beginning of freeing ourselves begins with getting an honest monetary system the doesn't change in value. Romney or Obama is more of the same, favoring the 'job creators' who really create jobs overseas and leave us with the crappy jobs at lower pay.

We're seeing the results of going forward on a daily basis and it's not working, fiscally. In terms of the propaganda related to civil rights, the greatest majority of the prison population is black. We need to go at least back as far as 1947, abolish the CIA and play nice with our neighboring countries before our own collective ***** get kicked. I'd like to suggest a google search of +1953 +CIA +Iran sometime. It's a real eye opener.

As for the department of education, it actually costs more to exist, and instead of teaching people to think, is a propaganda tool to tell us what to believe. In particular, American history is biased badly, and in some cases so badly that the actual history is clouded in the number, 6,000,000. This number appears nearly 200 times in the past century, yet few even know that the number was more than 4 times higher, in the USSR. Do you know what the NAZIs discovered when they took Poland? This thing of American history is something I'm continuing to research with the assumption that I know nothing about history. Interestingly, I'm discovering many horrible things about American history, often glossed over.

We've been at war with drugs for more than 4 decades, and it's a lost battle, as would have been proven if we'd taken a moment to look at the results of prohibition. This time, however, the intent is clear, to create a subset of Americans with no rights. Criminalizing the illness of addiction is not what gets people off of drugs. The social loss of friends and family has a much deeper impact, and only when an addict has lost everything is when real recovery begins. Time and time again, CIA involvement has been discovered in terms of drug trafficking, which supports covert activities, and degrades our communities of all cultures. This time, it's obvious that the military is involved as well.

We have had a problem with racism for centuries. As it happens, my own step-father is black, and is the best of 2 step-fathers I've had. Only when we reject the lies that create slaves will this change. Only when we recognize our own slavery will we see the light at the end of the tunnel called freedom.

I agree. I don't dislike the guy but some of his views are kinda out of the norm. If he were elected it would be even worse than what Obama has been. I think that we all know how bad Obama has been.

WW2 was founded on lies? Wow, all that footage of Pearl Harbor and the concentration camps were all staged?

I know how the system works. And it broken.