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Paul Campaign Never
Ended, Spokesman Says
By Garance Franke-Ruta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 6, 2008; Page A08
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/05/AR2008050502314.html
As the Democratic presidential
candidates held pre-primary rallies
yesterday in Indiana and North Carolina,
and presumptive Republican nominee John
McCain spoke to the Charlotte Chamber of
Commerce, another major-party
presidential candidate continued his own
quest for nomination, headlining a
"Freedom Rally" on a Fort Wayne, Ind.,
university campus.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) told supporters
in early March, through a Web video,
that he knew he was no longer in the
running for the presidency, and aides
said his campaign would be "winding
down." But it turns out Paul never
stopped running for president.
"He put out a video in which he said
victory in the conventional sense was
not available to us, but there was still
much the campaign could try to
accomplish," Ron Paul 2008 spokesman
Jesse Benton said yesterday. "People in
the press reported that as him dropping
out when he was not dropping out."
Paul's campaign has shrunk from a high
of more than 150 staffers before Super
Tuesday on Feb. 5 to around 15,
according to Benton, and his
record-breaking Internet fundraising
operation has turned off its online
ticker. But with more than $4 million in
cash on hand, his campaign says there is
no good reason to stop.
He is still racking up votes, for one
thing, having garnered 16 percent of the
vote in Pennsylvania's Republican
primary on April 22. And his supporters
are still active at the grass-roots
level: GOP officials abruptly canceled
the Nevada state convention when it
became clear that Paul's backers
outnumbered those for McCain and stood
ready to take control of the delegate
process.
Paul's campaign hopes to turn such
support into upward of 50 delegates for
the party's national convention in
Minneapolis-St. Paul in September, where
he is gunning for a speaking slot.
There's also the matter of Paul's book.
"The Revolution: A Manifesto" hit stores
on April 30. His campaign is prohibited
from selling it, but a continued
presence on the speaking circuit is sure
to stoke sales. (The book debuted at No.
1 on Amazon.com's "Hot New Releases in
Books.")
The former Libertarian Party nominee has
"no plans and no intentions" to switch
to any other party when the time comes
to end his bid, Benton said.
"If it was just for the presidency, it
would have ended a long time ago," says
supporter Tom Martin, 50, a database
administrator from State College, Pa.
"The idea was to reinvigorate the
Republican Party back to its principles
and, more than that, to reinvigorate the
American people back to its principles."
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