The Los Angeles times is reporting a headline today that Ron Paul is "effectively" ending his campaign with a decision to stop spending money on future state primaries and instead focus resources on upcoming state conventions.
Ron Paul, Mitt Romney’s lone remaining rival for the Republican presidential nomination, announced Monday that he would stop spending money on the party's 11 remaining primaries, in effect suspending his campaign.
The libertarian Texas congressman told supporters in an email that he would continue to accumulate delegates to the Republican National Convention, to be held in Tampa, Fla., in August.
"Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted," he wrote. "Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have."
Apart from President Obama and Romney, Paul has raised more money than any other White House contender this year — more than $36 million. His calls for strict adherence to the Constitution and his no-nonsense manner have spawned a vocal and well organized group of followers, but not enough to give him a realistic shot at the presidency.
Having won 104 out of the 1,144 delegates needed to capture the Republican nomination, Paul is in fourth place and has no chance of overtaking Romney, who has 966, according to the latest Associated Press tally. Rick Santorum is in second with 264, followed by Newt Gingrich, who has 130.
Paul's success at winning delegates at state party conventions could push him ahead of Gingrich by the time the national convention takes place. The more delegates Paul wins, the more influence he can wield at the national gathering.
"Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process," Paul said in his email.
The state conventions are Paul's ripest opportunity to continue accumulating delegates and put his stamp on the GOP convention. I have no doubt he will accumulate more than Gingrich by the time the convention occurs.
I am not sure I would call this a suspension of Paul's campaign since he is still intending to carry on and win delegates. If suspending a campaign is by definition not competing in the statewide primaries, then yes, he suspended it but only to devote expanded resources to the more attractive state convention contests. I'd call this a shift to accomplish the most he possibly can at this point in the most efficient manner.
Republicans in Indiana, North Carolina, and West Virginia hit the polls on Tuesday to have their say in the GOP nomination process. At this point, they're voting for either Mitt Romney or Ron Paul but the primary is still ongoing nonetheless. Along with Romney's victories, Republicans also ousted Senator Richard Lugar in Indiana which is considered a victory for the Tea Party who backed the more conservative leaning Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock. North Carolina also voted overwhelmingly to amend their state constitution to outlaw gay marriage and defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
Complete results in Indiana, North Carolina and West Virginia:CNN Election Center
NORTH CAROLINA — Six-term Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar was routed by the right flank of his own Republican Party on Tuesday, and North Carolina voters decided overwhelmingly to strengthen their state's gay marriage ban. It was a double-barreled show of conservative enthusiasm and strength six months before the nation chooses between Democratic President Barack Obama and GOP rival Mitt Romney.
Romney swept three Republican primaries, moving ever closer to sealing his nomination in an otherwise sharply polarized environment.
"We are experiencing deep political divisions in our society right now. These divisions have stalemated progress in critical areas," Lugar, a Capitol Hill diplomat and a deal-maker, said as he conceded to the tea party-backed GOP opponent who ended his nearly four-decade career in the Senate. Lugar's foe, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, had painted the Republican senator as too moderate for the conservative state.
North Carolinians voted to amend their state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman, effectively outlawing gay unions through a ballot measure pursued by the right.
Also Tuesday, Democrats overwhelmingly picked Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to challenge Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a June recall election. The primary outcome set up a re-match; Barrett lost to Walker in 2010.
These results all around can be seen as a positive for Romney since it does show the Tea Party is still actively affecting the process and the voters in North Carolina may not have moved as purple as once thought following the 2008 election. President Obama won North Carolina in 2008 and it is considered a must-win this time around if he is to be re-elected.
The first USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll since the GOP settled on a presumptive nominee shows big challenges for each side: Mitt Romney in generating enthusiasm and a personal connection with his supporters, and Barack Obama in convincing Americans he should be trusted to manage a fragile economy.
The president and the former Massachusetts governor start their head-to-head contest essentially even among registered voters — Obama 47%, Romney 45% — in the dozen battleground states likely to determine the election's outcome. That's closer than the lead of 9 percentage points for Obama in the Swing States survey in late March.
But the poll also finds a reversal in what has been a key GOP asset in the five previous battleground surveys taken since last fall: an edge in enthusiasm among voters. For the first time, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they are extremely or very enthusiastic about voting — a shift from a 14-percentage-point GOP advantage at the end of last year to an 11-point deficit now.
I am not sure I buy the claim over the enthusiasm gap. For Republicans weary of President Obama's policies, November of 2012 couldn't some soon enough. The enthusiasm may be growing more on the Democratic side as the election dominates the news cycle. Furthermore, some of the perceived lack of enthusiasm on the GOP side could be due to a reluctance of conservative voters to immediately coalesce around Romney as the nominee. This will change in due time. Whatever the case may be, don't expect there to be a serious lack of enthusiasm among either side come November.
As we originally reported last week, sources inside the Gingrich capaign said the former Speaker would formally suspend his campaign on Tuesday, May 1, and back Mitt Romney. Today the Gingrich campaign put out a "goodbye" video and now sources say he will officially suspend his campaign sometime Wednesday afternoon on May 2.
Soon to be former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Tuesday thanked his supporters and vowed to continue working to defeat President Barack Obama via web video ahead of his official campaign suspension on Wednesday.
"Because of your help and your support, we were able to put up a terrific campaign, and I want you to know that Callista and I are both very grateful to everybody across the country," Gingrich said. "I want you to know that we're going to continue out there on the road. Both Callista and I will be talking, campaigning, making speeches, doing everything we can to help defeat Barack Obama."
The former House speaker, who announced his White House bid last May, is scheduled to suspend his campaign in the afternoon on Wednesday and back Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Although Romney will be in the Washington, DC area during the day, sources familiar with the session told CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger not to expect Romney to be in attendance at the announcement.
Sources previously told CNN Political Director Mark Preston Gingrich is expected to endorse Romney.
While Romney is not expected at the Wednesday afternoon event, the Romney and Gingrich campaigns have discussed the two appearing at a second event in the near future, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
The two campaigns have had ongoing talks since Gingrich signalled last week he was going to pull out.
Gingrich can help show some unity but his campaign has been over for several weeks now, maybe even a month or more. Ever since he crested winning his home state of Georgia, Gingrich has been on a downward trajectory.
Over the weekend, Republicans caucused in Louisiana and handed Ron Paul a victory. A portion of Louisiana's delegates were awarded on March 24 during the statewide Primary while the remaining delegates were awarded this weekend in a GOP caucus.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul claimed another come-from-behind caucus victory this weekend, announcing that approximately 74 percent of the delegates to Louisiana’s state GOP convention will be Paul supporters.
Louisiana has a unique system of selecting delegates to the Republican National Convention. Twenty delegates are selected based on the results of the state’s March 24 primary and another 26 delegates are based on the outcome of the state’s caucus process.
“Preliminary results from the Louisiana Republican Party indicate that Ron Paul supporters won majorities in Congressional Districts 1, 2, 5, and 6, with a narrow decision having occurred in District 4,” said a Sunday press release from the Paul campaign. “This means Ron Paul supporters won about four and a half of the six Congressional District caucus conventions held yesterday.
“Taken together, victories across four and half CDs mean that Ron Paul supporters are likely to control the outcome of the state convention in June,” said the Paul campaign. “To be sure, a win on this scale gives Ron Paul supporters a majority of yesterday’s elected delegates and the ability to choose most of the at-large delegates, as well as the three National Delegates from CDs 1, 2, 5, and 6.”
Rick Santorum dominated the Louisiana primary with 49 percent of the vote to runner-up Mitt Romney’s 27 percent. Paul fared poorly — receiving six percent of the primary vote, behind Newt Gingrich’s 16 percent.
There are several similar upcoming contests around the country where the GOP delegate selection process is finalized and Paul is expected to outperform the other candidates. Many of the early primaries and caucuses were non-binding and left the delegate selection process officially to a state convention or smaller contests down the road. Similar to Louisiana, some states held a statewide primary but left a portion of the delegates decided at state and county conventions or caucuses.
Sources inside the campaign of Newt Gingrich are stating that the former Speaker intends to exit the campaign next Tuesday and will likely endorse Mitt Romney at the same time. The decision follows a major defeat in the Delaware primary, the state which Gingrich had hung his last campaign hopes on.
Mitt Romney took five more contests on Tuesday winning in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. It appears as though Newt Gingrich will take second place in Delaware, a state which he staked the remainder of his campaign on. Ron Paul's strongest showing might end up being second place in Rhode Island but as . . . → Read More: Romney wins five more contests, Paul grabs a few delegates
In an eye-opening victory over the weekend, Texas Congressman Ron Paul took an amazing 20 out of 24 delegates up for grabs based on congressional districts. Another 13 Minnesota delegates will be awarded based on a state convention in May.
Yes, there still are primary battles left to fight but with the exit of Rick Santorum from the race, Romney will be essentially running unapposed in most of these contests. Neither Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul has been able to mount a serious coalition with Santorum's exit. At least not in these northern eastern states which . . . → Read More: Northeast "Super Tuesday" happens tomorrow
Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson could pull as much as 6% of the vote in a hypothetical three-way match-up with Mitt Romney and President Obama. Johnson began the 2012 race running for the Republican nomination but has wound up carrying the libertarian banner and could gain ballot access in several states.
