Last Man Standing

It has been said time and again that if it were Dr. Paul against any of the Democrats, he'd win in a landslide. Why is that? Because we all know that if Dr. Paul was the nominee, he would get so much more air time and if Dr. Paul's message was given equal time and fair treatment, he would win over all but the most soundly asleep people or those hopeless souls pretending to sleep.

While I think it was to our advantage to have lots of candidates in the beginning, as it allowed Dr. Paul to set himself apart from some of the stragglers and emerge as a real contender, now I think we will benefit even more from a narrowing of the field. Just as we know he'd trounce anyone if it were a head-to-head battle (think Giuliani over blowback, Huckabee over saving face, McCain over terrorism, Ingraham over foreign policy), he's only going to pick up more momentum as the field shrinks.

And shrink it will. Duncan hunter will not last long for obvious reasons. Thompson never really started, nor appeared to even want to, and will likely be out soon on account of a weak showings, no grassroots, no money, and no detectable pulse. Next will be Giuliani. His "America's Mayor" shtick isn't selling as well as he thought, nobody was impressed by his abuses as Adulteress-in-Chief of New York City, people are realizing he isn't conservative at all, he has no grassroots, the mainstream has given up on him, he's trailing Paul after the first three contests, and is out of money.

All of this means more air time for Dr. Paul. Every time he gets more air time he gets more supporters. Jones, the debates, the fifth, Leno, Beck, the Tea Party, Kramer, Meet the Press, Leno again. Every time we hear stories of friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers saying that they saw him for the first time and are excited about it.

And when people come around to supporting Dr. Paul it is solid, enthusiastic, reliable, enduring support because it isn't a change in preference from charismatic to endearing to strong to persuasive to attractive to distinguished to compelling. It is a waking up. It is truth over lies. It is real solutions over more empty promises.

The other candidates will continue to rise and fall, the shine and fade. They will trade votes and sling mud. They will smear and attack. They will continue to hope that they will get the final anointment and be carried away to victory.

But Dr. Paul isn't going away. He knows what it's going to take. He knows this is a long war, not one battle. He's prudent and frugal. He's patient and wise. He will continue to spread his message and let the message continue to spread itself. He will have money to contend as long as any other candidate. The other candidates are all in rough financial shape. They have been since last quarter and Dr. Paul out-raised them all, contending even with the leading Democrats.

Then the remaining three will start to fall one by one. Each time Dr. Paul gets more air time. Each time he gets taken more seriously. Each time he begins to look more presidential.

Don't think for a second that he can be written off because he got fifth in New Hampshire. He started out as fringe, long-shot, loony, kook, radical, and unelectable. One by one these have begun to fade away with each new surprise. Soon we will hear the official Q4 fundraising results and how he out-raised all republicans, matched the Democratic front-runners, and was the only candidate to increase each quarter. Soon we will hear commotion about possible vote fraud in New Hampshire. We will hear how he is forth place in total votes and beating other anointed front-runners. We will hear him on the Howard Stern show and hear Stern rave about Dr. Paul. We will see him reason circles around his intellectual inferiors at more debates. We will hear how he continues to make steadily growing and consistently strong showings in Michigan, South Carolina, Nevada, and Florida. We will hear speculation about the delegates up for grabs when others drop out. We will hear how his supporters never missed a beat and continue to drive the most enthusiastic, well-organized, creative, and powerful grass-roots campaign this country has ever seen.

Dr. Paul has been staying the course for decades. While we amateurs get all desperate and irate when we hit a few bumps in the road, Dr. Paul breathes deep, keeps his chin up, bears down, keeps his eye on the prize, and pushes ahead with the renewed vigor that comes from the animating contest for liberty.