Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Jan. 12, 2012 in Manchester, N.H. UPI/Matthew Healey |
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul, who finished fourth in Saturday's South Carolina primary, says he has reason to be encouraged on the stump.
"There's no doubt our numbers have been growing," he told supporters once the numbers were in showing he polled fourth out of four candidates. "We will be going to the caucus states and we will be promoting the whole idea of getting more delegates, because that's the name of the game and we will pursue it. Tonight we will get four to five times more votes than we did four years ago."
Paul's strategy so far has been to up delegates with the goal of building his movement that espouses a Libertarian viewpoint and perhaps wield some influence during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., in August, The Christian Science Monitor reported Sunday.
Paul, a U.S. representative from Texas, finished third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire.
"We've got four early-caucus states coming up next month," Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton told the CBS News. "Colorado, which is a caucus-convention hybrid, Minnesota, Maine, and of course, Nevada."
Benton said the Paul campaign has field operations doing voter outreach, door-knocking, working phones and building coalitions.
"[We] plan to compete and win in those caucuses," Benton said.
Paul hasn't really campaigned in Florida, with a primary Jan. 31, although he is scheduled to participate in two debates this week.
Many commentators note Paul campaigns for a cause.
"He is unlike any of the other candidates," conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer said in The Washington Post. "They're one-time self-contained enterprises aiming for the White House. Paul is out there to build a movement that will long outlive this campaign."
"He's run before and he'll run again," said Steven Schier, a political science professor at Carleton College in Minnesota. "He is a cause candidate. He's running to get the Libertarian agenda out for the public to inspect."
