By Connor Adams Sheets: Subscribe to Connor's RSS feed
January 16, 2012 11:47 AM EST
Is Ron Paul betting his presidential candidacy on a Nevada strategy?
Coming off his strong second-place finish in the New Hampshire Republican primary, Paul's campaign has shifted its focus to the Silver State's Feb. 4 primary.
The GOP candidate's crew has decided it is more worthwhile to pour money, "phone bomb" calls and bodies into Nevada rather than expend large amounts of resources in Florida's Jan. 31 primaries, though Paul is spending some time and effort campaigning in South Carolina, whose voters go to the polls Jan. 21.
The gamble may be a smart one, as Paul came in second (albeit by a long margin) to Mitt Romney in Nevada in 2008, besting eventual Republican nominee John McCain.
Time.com explained the campaign's reasoning behind not making a full push for voters in Florida.
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"His campaign manager, Jesse Benton, says they don't have the estimated $9 million they would need to vie for sprawling, expensive Florida," wrote Time.com. "'We're not gonna compete in a state where we can't fully compete,' Benton says."
As such, the campaign is looking toward Nevada, according to a statement by Ron Paul 2012 Nevada Chairman Carl Bunce.
"The Ron Paul campaign is serious about a competitive showing in the February 4th Nevada Caucus. These events will energize voters and other stakeholders to ensure that our seriousness translates into tangible results," said Bunce.
The next months will be an interesting time for the Republican field, and Feb. 4 will be a bellwether for the future of Ron Paul's candidacy.
"Nevada is a key constituency with important and growing influence on the National political environment, and Dr. Paul plans to win the state in 2012," Benton said in a statement.
As Time magazine said in 2008, the Ron Paul force is strong in Nevada.
"In Nevada, where the liberty lobby is strong, McCain got trounced in the primary voting, coming in third behind Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, the magazine wrote. "When the state GOP tried to crown McCain at its Reno convention in April, so many Paul supporters showed up that party leaders literally fled the hall, turned off the lights and postponed the convention to make sure the anemic pro-McCain camp wasn't swamped by liberty's marauders. It was like a John Ford western set inside a hotel ballroom ... If the freedom that lives in the Libertarian imagination has an earthly home, it is the American West. If it has a temple, it's Nevada."
However, the candidate has not fully abandoned South Carolina, which would require less resources to achieve a good showing.
ABC reported on Sunday that the candidate appeared in Myrtle Beach that day to accept a key politician's endorsement, adding that Paul's campaign expects him to finish in the "top tier" in South Carolina, the first southern state to host a GOP primary this year.
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