From:          Jesse Benton, Chief Strategist

Date:           May 15, 2012

Every day, I see firsthand how humbled and encouraged Dr. Paul is to have the enthusiastic support of so many who are committed to revitalizing our country.

Let me be very clear. Dr. Paul is NOT dropping out or suspending his campaign.

As Dr. Paul has previously stated, he is in this race all the way to the Republican National Convention in Tampa this August.

And he is deeply grateful for every resource he has been entrusted with to run an historic campaign that continues to defy all expectations.

Looking ahead, our campaign must honor that trust by maximizing our resources to ensure the greatest possible impact at the National Convention.

So while our campaign is no longer investing in the remaining primary states, we will continue to run strong programs at District and State Conventions to win more delegates and alternate delegates to the National Convention.

To this end, our campaign has several positive and realistic goals:

1) Having recently WON Maine, we believe we can win several more states.
2) We will win party leadership positions at both the state and national levels.
3) We will continue to grow our already substantial total of delegates.

We will head to Tampa with a solid group of delegates. Several hundred will be bound to Dr. Paul, and several hundred more, although bound to Governor Romney or other candidates, will be Ron Paul supporters.

Unfortunately, barring something very unforeseen, our delegate total will not be strong enough to win the nomination. Governor Romney is now within 200 delegates of securing the party’s nod. However, our delegates can still make a major impact at the National Convention and beyond.

All delegates will be able to vote on party rules and allow us to shape the process for future liberty candidates.

We are in an excellent position to make sure the Republican Party adds solid liberty issues to the GOP Platform, which our delegates will be directly positioned to approve. Our campaign is presently working to get several items up for consideration, including monetary policy reform, prohibitions on indefinite detention, and Internet freedom.

Finally, by sending a large, respectful, and professional delegation to Tampa, we will show the party and the country that not only is our movement growing and here to stay, but that the future belongs to us.

Dr. Paul will begin this new phase of the campaign this Friday by speaking and holding several events at the Minnesota State Convention. He has also recently accepted an invitation to speak at the Texas Convention, and we are busy scheduling appearances around other State Conventions later this month and into June.

As Dr. Paul stated in his message yesterday, this fight is NOT over. We will continue fighting and expanding, and “we will not stop until we have restored what once made America the greatest country in human history.”

But for Dr. Paul’s efforts in the remaining State Conventions to be successful, and to ensure we get as many Ron Paul delegates to Tampa as we can, he needs you to continue standing with him.

Along those lines, as you probably already know, the grassroots are holding a Money Bomb on Thursday, May 17. Any money raised from that Money Bomb will go toward winning delegates and finalizing our plans for Tampa.

As those plans for the National Convention come together, we will make sure all of our delegates, whether bound or unbound, get the information and aid they need.

Your support on May 17 will also help us reach more Americans with the solutions we know can restore our nation. Each person we add to our cause strengthens our movement for the critical work that awaits us beyond Tampa.

Dr. Paul, John Tate, myself, and the entire campaign staff know what incredible sacrifices have been made by each of our supporters.

Thank you for all of your hard work and your dedication to liberty. Together, we will champion Ron Paul and his message in Tampa, and we will lay the groundwork for future victories.

Jesse Benton

Paul supporters seize control of Clark County GOP

From the Las Vegas Review Journal

By Laura Myers
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: Mar. 10, 2012 | 10:48 a.m.

Supporters of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul on Saturday effectively took control of the Clark County Republican Party by winning election to 14 executive board positions, or two-thirds of the ruling body.

The election came during the county GOP convention where Paul delegates dominated, winning as many as half of the 1,382 delegates nominated to the state convention May 2-4 in Sparks.

Paul supporters chanted “Paul, Paul, Paul” as the new executive board took the stage.

“This is the grass roots taking a stand to change the direction of the party from the county level,” said Carl Bunce, Nevada chairman of Paul’s campaign and a delegate. “This is bigger than just Ron Paul. This is about liberty and openness and fairness and changing the party.”

Bunce said Paul supporters share the same goal as the other Republican candidates: to defeat President Barack Obama in the fall no matter who becomes the GOP nominee.

…

Read the rest of the story HERE

From NPR – Liz Halloran

…

On how the campaign’s in-it-to-win-it posture seems highly improbable, given the post-Super Tuesday state of play

It’s not far-fetched at all. Most of the delegate projection is simply that, speculation based on how people think delegates will be allotted based on performance in nonbinding straw polls. They’re going to be elected through the state convention process. It’s our strategy to attack those state conventions, move through that convention process and capture delegates that way. The reporting of delegate attainment is largely skewed by the media right now.

On how the Paul campaign will adjust its strategy of trying to harvest delegates in caucus states now that the race is shifting to primaries with winner-take-all provisions

We’re going to have to attack these primary states in a strategic manner. We’re going to be looking at Texas [May 29] and California [June 5] where we can pick up big delegates.

On his former rival, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who vowed to make sure Texas is friendly territory for Gingrich

Gov. Perry doesn’t have very much political capital to spend, so we’ll see how effective that is.

On the point, beyond collecting money, of staying in long after the nomination race is decided. In 2008, Sen. John McCain reached the delegate threshold in March, but Paul stayed in until mid-June and transferred $4.7 million to the advocacy group Campaign for Liberty.

The money that we’re raising, we’re spending very, very aggressively to win delegates. In 2008, the whole point was that we thought conservatives and constitutionalists deserved to have a constitutionalist to vote for even down the line. It was largely a party-building exercise. This time it’s about real political victory. Dr. Paul is going to stay in this race either until he’s the nominee or another candidate has 1,144 bound delegates. We see a brokered convention situation as very likely. There’s a real possibility we can block any other candidate from winning 1,144 delegates.

On why Paul has appeared to go easy on Romney during debates, while enthusiastically criticizing the other candidates

I wouldn’t read into that. We’ve had five different commercials that criticized Romney, called him a flip-flopper and a hypocrite. We’ve sent out millions and millions of pieces of direct mail saying the same thing. Ron answers the questions he’s asked in debates. He’s been asked questions about Newt and Rick Santorum and Rick Perry primarily.

That being said …

I think that there is a certain level of mutual respect between Gov. Romney and Ron Paul. I think that both of those two candidates, especially with each other, want to have a certain level of adult conversation about the issues that goes beyond the typical political attacks. Reading much more in that is just speculation.

On how much of Paul’s effort and fundraising this year are an attempt to create a scenario for his son, Sen. Rand Paul, to run for president in four years

We won’t have money left over. What will be left is the organization, the movement, the lists, things like that. That will be left behind, and that’s extremely valuable. Not a pot of money. Those assets are there to try to fight for liberty and Sen. Paul is one of the premier voices for liberty in this country. The assets that we have will always be available for him to use as he sees fit.

You can read the rest of the article HERE