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He leads the second tier in cash-on-hand. He was able to get 1,200 people out to the Hy-Vee (has any candidate done something that big on their own, not at an RPI event?). His home base in Texas isn’t that far of a drive, and his people are motivated enough to come in from out of state for him. And he’s making a big push on his Web site, which for all intents and purposes, is his campaign.

Romney, given his dominant position organizationally in Iowa, should still win. Even with the rest of the top tier not participating, he won’t be able to let his guard down, lest he be ambushed by one of the second tier. Should Romney underperform against someone not even playing at Ames, or against someone not taken seriously, that’s a blow to his Iowa inevitability.

Does Paul placing a close second make the straw poll and its winner into a laughingstock? Do benched McCain or Giuliani supporters direct people to vote for Paul to ensure that outcome? Or does this portend something bigger? I see that Ron Paul is up to 3% in the Gallup poll, above Huckabee and Brownback. He won’t come close to winning, but can he aggregate whatever Bilderburger and Trilateral Commission-phobic votes there are in his corner, in the same way that Lyndon LaRouche could get 15% in a Democratic primary against Bill Clinton?

http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/b050a593-906a-4e05-b2fa-6e352fdd3112&comments=true

If you had to take one of the hands, I think most would pick Romney’s cards. Patrick’s worries below about Ron Paul’s supporters picking up the “strategic” votes of the disappearing McCain effort etc overthinks the situation in Iowa, and the tide of the early contests generally. Winning is winning, and if Romney wins in either Iowa or New Hampshire, he’s the conservative to beat in Florida. Beat him in both and he’s almost certainly done. But a silver medal for Ron Paul in Iowa is about as significant as the innards of a pigeon.

http://seacoastconnects.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3425&page=3

You keep dreaming though. The Ron Paul threads here are too much entertainment for you to embrace reality now.