it has to
Remember the straw poll held here where Paul was supposed to win easily, only to be trounced by Cain? If he cannot buy seats at open caucuses, his clout diminishes greatly. It is now clear he is out of money.
Will it help Gingrich? If there are any conservatives in the bunch, it is likely but most of Pauls supporters fall into the Libertarian bunch so who knows?
I would think it might help Gingrich. There are a lot of Ron Paul signs in my town, and if they can’t vote for Paul, they most likely aren’t going to switch to Romney and they sure won’t vote for Santorum. So I’d suspect that if they vote, they’ll vote for Gingrich. Of course, “if they vote” is the key phrase.