A new poll was released showing a virtual 4-way tie in Iowa. The poll showed Cain at 20%, Paul at 19%, Romney at 18%, and Gingrich at 17%. CBS News released a story saying that Ron Paul has moved into the top tier. Both articles were featured on Drudge Report.
Just the fact that both of these stories appeared on Drudge, help the Ron Paul campaign. It makes people realize that he is a serious candidate with a legitimate chance of getting the nomination. It also makes it difficult for the media to portray Ron Paul and his supporters as a bunch of wackos. Are they going to keep saying that if he starts polling at 50%?
If you look at the 5th paragraph of the CBS News article, it says that Paul is the leader, with 32 percent support, from likely caucus-goers who say they’ve made up their minds.
If you look at the 4th paragraph of the Bloomberg article, it says that Paul’s support is more solidified than his rivals.
This is quite significant. A lot of the potential Republican voters are switching with whichever way the wind is blowing. They either don’t like the candidates, don’t know enough yet, or are just afraid to make up their minds without being part of a big crowd.
Ron Paul’s supporters tend to be quite devoted. The majority of his supporters will not change their minds. This means that Ron Paul’s poll numbers will not plummet like we have seen with Bachmann or Perry.
Romney is still the favorite to get the nomination, particularly since he is the establishment’s choice and he has the most money. But Romney has his problems. He is still the founder of Obamacare and there is nothing he can do to change that. He is still not that well liked with Tea Party people and other fiscal conservatives.
Gingrich has the same problem that Bachmann has. He does not poll well against Obama in a head-to-head match up. Republicans are concerned that he can’t win the general election and rightly so. We will see if it turns out for him the same as it turned out for Howard Dean in 2004.
Cain, as I continue to say, just isn’t that bright. His latest gaffe was about Libya. He is practically incoherent on foreign policy. His 9-9-9 plan is a massive tax hike on the middle class. And if you have any doubts on what I’m saying about his lack of intelligence, just watch this video.
Because of all of these flaws of the candidates and because a lot of Republicans can’t support Ron Paul’s foreign policy views, I am not counting Rick Perry out yet. He has been horrible in debates, but he still has a lot of money and may still make another run by default.
We will see what happens, but today was good news for libertarians. Ron Paul’s message is getting out there and is being received well by many people now. It really gives me great hope for the future of this country.