Changing the Republican party from within. That’s what he’s up to.
Paul’s political ambitions become clearer on the ground in Nevada where his supporters have managed to work among the leaders of the state’s Republican party establishment.
Four years ago, an angry and dispirited educational database expert named Carl Bunce walked out of Nevada’s state Republican convention after party leaders shut down the proceedings rather than let Representative Ron Paul’s supporters nominate delegates for the national convention in St. Paul. …
… Today, Mr. Bunce, 35, is running Mr. Paul’s Nevada campaign from a strip mall in this Las Vegas suburb. But this time, he and other Paul supporters are in the vanguard of the Nevada Republican Party: After the ugly scene at the state convention, they decided to work with the party that they felt had treated them as pariahs. It took time, and some rivalries remain intense, but now Mr. Paul’s Nevada backers are part of the state Republican machinery.
“Why commit suicide, and why protest like crazy people?” Mr. Bunce remembers thinking after being slighted at the convention in St. Paul. “We decided to choose our battles, and we moved into the party. To get involved in an organization, you have to be part of it.”
A quarter of the Republican Party membership in Clark County — which includes Las Vegas — are now Paul backers, estimates Tim Williams, the county party’s political director. Four of Nevada’s 17 county Republican chairmen are also supporters, according to Mr. Bunce. And Robert List, the state’s Republican national committeeman and a former governor, says four or five members of the state party’s 12-member executive board are backing Mr. Paul. …NYT
Paul’s son, Rand, the Kentucky senator is engaged in the same fight.
Mitt Romney, who’s looking like the Republican nominee, is not particularly friendly to Ron Paul’s ambitions and Romney-the-Mormon has clout in Nevada. But Romney may need the eccentric libertarian as Paul accumulates delegates.
“If nothing else, they are going to have to find a way to bring the Ron Paul people in, or risk losing to Barack Obama,” said James Smack, 44, a bank branch manager in rural Churchill County, Nev., who was elected vice chairman of the Nevada Republican Party last year with support from Paul backers and Tea Party supporters. …NYT
___
Paul and Romney are pretty good friends.
Romney and Paul became friends in 2008, the last time both ran for president. So did their wives, Ann Romney and Carol Paul. The former Massachusetts governor compliments the Texas congressman during debates, praising Paul’s religious faith during the last one, in Jacksonville, Fla. Immediately afterward, as is often the case, the Pauls and the Romneys gravitated toward one another to say hello. …WaPo
Mitt Romney’s campaign is well aware of that friendship and is using it. So is Ron Paul who wants “a presence at the convention.” Romney’s support will be helpful.
It is a strategic partnership: for Paul, an opportunity to gain a seat at the table if his long-shot bid for the presidency fails; for Romney, a chance to gain support from one of the most vibrant subgroups within the Republican Party. ...WaPo
___
But support for Mitt Romney is pretty weak, in spite of the Florida win over Gingrich.
The exit polls found that not 60 percent of Tuesday’s Republican primary voters said they were satisfied with their presidential field; after watching months of campaigning, nearly 40 percent still said they would like someone else to run for the nomination — a high number, since it reflected the views of Republicans who took the trouble to vote. Romney’s victory was in large part a negative verdict on Gingrich, viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of those who cast ballots.
Even Romney’s supporters had doubts about him: He won 46 percent of the Florida vote, but only 34 percent of the same electorate saw him as the Republican candidate who “best understands the problems of average Americans.” Roughly a quarter of Romney’s own voters denied him this distinction. ..EJ Dionne, WaPo
___
In November, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively by 22 percent of independents.
In December, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively by 29 percent of independents.
And in the new poll, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively by 42 percent of independents — 20 points higher than two months ago.
Also: In November, Romney was beating Obama 47-34 among those voters. Now the numbers are upside down: Obama is beating Romney 44-36. ...Greg Sargent, WaPo
Cross posted from Prairie Weather.
Photo via Rich Koele / Shutterstock.com