While he lags behind former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts in the national polls in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul is making a splash in Iowa which will hold the first presidential caucus in three weeks.
Pauls campaign pointed to an American Research Group poll of likely Iowa caucus participants that finds the Texas congressman locked with Romney for second place with 17 percent -- 5 points behind Gingrich. The poll of 600 likely Republican Iowa caucus voters -- 505 registered Republicans and 95 voters with no party affiliation -- was taken Dec. 8-11 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
Our campaign is continuing to make strides in the key early-voting states, especially in Iowa, insisted Jesse Benton, Pauls campaign chairman, in response to the ARG poll. After witnessing packed rallies time and again in Iowa, it is no surprise that we are seeing these encouraging poll numbers.
While Paul took just less than 10 percent of the vote to take fifth place in the 2008 caucus, his organization appears much better in the Hawkeye State this time out and his team has been running ads hammering Gingrich. Paul took a strong second place in the Iowa Republican straw poll in Ames in August, finishing a whisker behind U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota who has since faded in polls at both the state and national levels.
Paul has been generating momentum among young voters in the Hawkeye State. This past weekend, with 35 percent of the votes cast, Paul won a straw poll held by students of Drake University in Des Moines, followed by Romney with 25 percent and Gingrich in distant third place with 10 percent.
The Lone Star State congressman continues to set up an impressive operation in Iowa, unveiling the support of prominent Sioux City pastor Rev. Mark McGlohon.
Ron Paul is the only candidate who understands the challenges we face as a nation. We need a man like Dr. Paul to put an end to politics-as-usual and tell the truth even when it is unpopular, said McGlohon, a former businessman who is now the senior pastor at Bethel Baptist Church. I believe Dr. Paul is the right person to be president. He is a man of faith and it is his faith that will guide him in leading our country.
McGlohon is not the only prominent religious conservative to praise Paul this week. Social and religious conservatives remain pivotal in the Iowa Republican caucus and helped Mike Huckabee win in 2008, Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes to do well in the 2000 caucus, and propelled evangelical leader Pat Robertson over then-Vice President George H.W. Bush to finish second in the 1988 caucus.
Ken Connor, who used to lead the Family Research Council and now is with the Center for a Just Society, offered his take on the Republican presidential race on Tuesday and praised Paul. Connor is known to Floridians for leading the state Christian Coalition and for his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1994.
Connor noted that Gingrich currently leads state and national polls but speculated that he could implode, providing an opening for another candidate to exploit.
If fundraising and organization are any indication, that person could very well be Ron Paul, Connor added. Evoking an image of the tortoise and the hare or the Little Engine that Could, Paul is neither flashy nor fancy.He does not pander or preen, and it is unlikely that his sex life will become a topic of public conversation. With Paul, what you see is what you get: steady, predictable, plain spoken ... vanilla. He is above all a humble, self-effacing candidate who maintains a consistent and constant focus on the issues, not himself.
"He doesn't thump his chest or have an exaggerated sense of self-importance. He has a coherent and consistent world view, and his philosophy of government is strikingly simple: He thinks we should be governed by the Constitution. Following the path where his largely libertarian logic takes him, he believes that the ever-burgeoning federal government should be pared back dramatically so that the people and the states can exercise the degree of self-government envisioned by our forefathers. He thinks the U.S. is overextended economically and militarily and has a concrete vision for correcting the problems on both fronts.
"While Paul's refusal to play the game of politics-as-usual precludes a warm embrace by Republican blue bloods, he is remarkably well-financed (having raised over $12 million from mostly small donors) and has a devoted band of followers, continued Connor. Whether or not this long-term strategy for success will bear fruit remains to be seen, but the Beltway talking heads are beginning to recognize that it would be folly to dismiss Paul this early in the game. The polls are bearing this out. Having indulged themselves on everything from vichyssoise to Bananas Foster, it may well be that American conservatives are finally ready to cast their vote for plain 'ole vanilla.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
