Ron Paul drops out?

One wonders how this news squares with the announcement of a counter-convention to be staged by Ron Paul supporters, but apparently Dr. Paul has elected to drop out of the race officially. The move frees up campaign money to be funneled into a fund to elect Libertarian Republicans in local elections nationwide. Apparently, it will also be used to launch Ron Paul's new book "The Revolution: A Manifesto".

Personally, I can't help wondering if McCain called up Dr. Paul and had a frank talk about the problems with a counter-convention. It never made sense, other than to stoke Paul's ego. This way, John McCain can say some nice words about Paul at the convention, and maybe even let the guy give a speech outside of Prime Time. This move certainly is more in line with Paul's intention to be the Barry Goldwater of a new Conservative/Libertaian movement.

Has Ron Paul dropped out?

Ron Paul's "revolution" has been money-rich, but delegate-poor in this election cycle. Dr. Paul has cast himself as the "true conservative" of the G.O.P, and has suffered for standing against many of the ideas that the so-called "neoconservatives". He had pledged to fight to the very end, but recently sent a letter to his supporters that appears to indicate he is ending his presidential bid in order to defend his Congressional seat.

But with so many primaries and caucuses now over, we do not now need so big a national campaign staff, and so I am making it leaner and tighter. Of course, I am committed to fighting for our ideas within the Republican party, so there will be no third party run. I do not denigrate third parties — just the opposite, and I have long worked to remove the ballot-access restrictions on them. But I am a Republican, and I will remain a Republican.

I also have another priority. I have constituents in my home district that I must serve. I cannot and will not let them down. And I have another battle I must face here as well. If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen.

Of course, with Dr. Paul winning only 14 delegates nationally, one must wonder if that itself was not a rejection of his ideas on some level. Or at least a rejection of his personality. Then again, it was nice having someone on the platform forcing the other candidates to defend the Iraq War. It sharpened and clarified their differences. And that was a useful thing to everyone.

Romney to drop out today!

So says Time. Seems a bit premature to me, but then if he believes he can not win, why not give the party more time to heal and prepare for the November run?

Update: 1:15 PM Mitt Romney has dropped out of the race.

I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

This is an interesting strategy, and essentially sets up the key issue for the next campaign to be the War on Terror. Up until now, the Democrats were comfortable that their supporters were against the War in Iraq, so they have been running on Universal Health Care and other Economic issues. Now, they will have to return to the debate. And the American people have not made up their mind yet.

The one good thing to say: I think we can say with confidence that Mitt Romney did NOT lose because of his Mormon faith. In the end, nearly everyone I knew who decided not to vote for him had a real different with his political positions or his character.