Posted on 12/19/2011 1:19:16 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, now leads the race for the Republican nomination for president in Iowa.
Iowas Jan. 3, 2012, caucuses kick off the 2012 primary election season. Recent polls in Iowa had shown Paul gaining ground on the races frontrunner, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Two Iowa polls released Dec. 19 now show Paul leading by 3 and 6 points, respectively.
An Insider Advantage poll has Paul at 24 percent; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 18 percent; Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 16 percent; Gingrich at 13 percent; U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., at 10 percent; former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman at 4 percent; and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., at 3 percent.
Meantime, Public Policy Polling has Paul at 23 percent; Romney at 20 percent; Gingrich at 14 percent; Perry, Bachmann and Santorum at 10 percent; and Huntsman at 4 percent.
Despite his gains in Iowa, Paul has failed to gain much ground in national polls. In a Gallup Tracking poll released Dec. 19, Paul remains third at 11 percent, trailing Gingrich at 26 percent and Romney at 24 percent.
Some have suggested a Paul victory in Iowa would deliver a blow to Gingrichs campaign, as Romney is expected to win the next primary of the season, the Jan. 10, 2012, New Hampshire primary.
Iowas caucuses are the first test in the primary election season. George W. Bush in 2000 and Barack Obama in 2008 are the only non-incumbent candidates to win their partys caucus in Iowa and go on to win the general election.
Paul, 76, favors a limited government and is making his third run at the presidency. He first ran as a Libertarian in 1988, then as a Republican in 2008. In the 2008 primary, Paul failed to win a single state, but finished second in 10 states and third in 17 states.
Anita Perry was in NH speaking at a VFW today and an Airforce Vet stopped her and told her "Tell Perry not to quit, hang in there for those in middle America"
Anita assured him they were not quitting.
But that's water under the bridge.
On a side note, I bet if Santorum and Bachmann both dropped out, Bachmann would endorse Romney and Santorum would endorse Perry. That's my gut.
The endorsement I want is Haley Barbour. I saw Bobby J was campaigning in Iowa for Perry. Barbour in SC would be sweet.
They don't give internals of who voted for whom.
In the IA poll they do let you know who voted for whom and Perry is actually 2nd amongst Republican voters to Romney.
Fair and Balanced?
NO
What is it about FNC ? They seem to be going out of their way to not mention Perry.
Just curious.
Some one said that because he just "suspended " his campaign he can use the money to pay off debts from his campaign. (keep the money)
It would be interesting to know for sure.
Perry at 16% and Romney at 18%? I thought Perry was supposed to be a has-been’s has-been, sitting in the toilet with polling numbers under 10%.
Pray you don’t have to make that choice.
If Ron Paul does win Iowa, the Dums will be running ads with his racist newsletters in bold type. And ALL REPUBS will be smeared by it.
I think it’s time to end the Iowa Caucuses.
“If Paul were to win, conservatives need to abandon the GOP.”
The gop abandoned conservatives long ago.
Are you kidding? That's the LAST thing they will do. David Axelrod has wet dreams about the idea of running his guy against Paul.
The good news is that 8% of all voters think Ron Paul is a genuis, 80% think he's a moron, and the rest aren't capable of thinking for themselves. Gingrich or Romney will win Iowa. I still think it will be Gingrich. Romney will win NH. Gingrich still looks like the guy in Florida. Ron Paul will plug away with his 8-20%, state by state, and be a pain in the ass until the Convention.
I watched Fred Thompson today and while it was clear that they were discussing the Insider Advantage Poll, no one thought it relevant to mention that Rick Perry is sitting in a strong third position, just behind Romney, and ahead of Gingrich.
This is inexplicable except by assuming that Fox management has set this silence as policy.
IOW, Perry is a close second discounting the loon Paul. I think it is likely that Perry will finish Iowa ahead of everyone in Iowa, even Paul.
In shorthand terms, that’s a win.
I really want to see how Fox handles THAT.
Exactly.
FOX is doing their finger in the dike suppression of a Rick Perry surge to help Romney.
And they don’t care how it looks.
I don’t seriously believe in the intelligence, let alone the sanity, of anyone who would consider putting Ron Paul in charge of anything more important than the local dog-catcher’s office.
That being said, neither do I seriously believe in the intelligence or sanity of anyone who would pick any of the crop of candidates who does not have 10 years of successful experience running a large state, a state that by all objective measures is doing considerably better than most of the other states in the Union.
But hey, that’s just me, I prefer to look at the whole record, the good and the bad, and weigh the total outcome; I really don’t care to fixate like some idiot-savant on some niggling little zit and turn it into some pre-apocalyptic nightmare. I also prefer to pay attention to the walk, not the talk, so I pay very, very, very little attention to the b.s. that passes for “debates” these days and it is beyond belief that anyone with any pretentions to intelligence would pay any more attention to the so-called “debates” than they would to dancing with the stars.
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