The Two Washingtons-message from HQ

Did ya'll see this on the Daily Dose today?
Sorry if it was already posted here....here is it again. Once you have determined whether or not you can hang with RP even tho' he said no to 3rd party,read on....And notice the very last line of the post: Now is the time to redouble our efforts.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

The Two Washingtons
February 10th, 2008 by Dan McCarthy
With 87% of precincts reporting, Ron Paul has won 21% of the vote in the Washington state straw poll, a strong third-place finish just a few points behind Huckabee (24%) and McCain (26%). The results from the remaining 13% of precincts may change things a little. But even when 100% of the straw poll results are counted, that won’t be the full story. What matters most are the delegates, and in several parts of the state Ron Paul has been winning more delegates than the straw poll results would suggest. We’ve seen this happen in several states: supporters of other candidates show up, vote in the straw poll, then leave — while Ron Paul supporters stay and vote in the delegate selection process. We’ve won delegates in precincts where we haven’t won the straw poll. We’ll have more news about this once all the Washington results are in.

Then there’s Washington, D.C., whose primary is coming up on Tuesday (along with contests in Virginia and Maryland — the “Potomac Primaries”). We have many highly dedicated Ron Paul supporters in the heart of the federal Leviathan, where registered Republicans are so few and far between that a couple of hundred votes could swing the election. One of our field staff who canvassed the District for 12 hours yesterday tells me that he met dozens of Republicans who are considering voting for Ron Paul for the first time now that the field has narrowed. The Romney vote is very much up for grabs. (And indeed, a funny little story comes to me from CPAC, where Romney supporters were so disgusted by their candidate’s decision to suspend his campaign that they turned over their booth to Ron Paul and will be voting for Dr. Paul, too.)

In the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, and every state and U.S. territory where contests are still upcoming, it is essential that we identify and turn out every Ron Paul supporter. And now that the race has come down to just three candidates, only one of whom is a small-government conservative, we have the chance to pick up new supporters and close the gap with the other remaining candidates. The close Washington state caucuses show us this can be done. In primary states the task is much tougher, but we owe it to the principles for which we are fighting to win every vote and every delegate we can. Precinct Leaders are needed now more than ever, and even 24 hours of canvassing can make a startling difference. Now is the time to redouble our efforts.