There has been a great deal of confusion since the Paul campaign released a strategy document saying that while they are bowing out of the primaries, the fight for delegates goes on all the way to the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

“Unfortunately, barring something very unforeseen, our delegate total will not be strong enough to win the nomination,” campaign chairman Jesse Benton acknowledged publicly for the first time. “However, our delegates can still make a major impact at the National Convention and beyond.”

This kind of talk elicits sneers from those who think of politics purely in horse-race terms. The Christian Science Monitor claims Paul’s influence “may be more symbolic than practical.” Even the libertarian blogger Doug Mataconis concludes, “it’s unclear what Paul’s supporters think they are going to accomplish here.”

To answer that question, it is useful to ask another: What would have done more to advance the Christian right’s goals in 1988 — Pat Robertson somehow seizing the presidential nomination or his supporters winning party leadership positions all over the country? It is easy to forget now that the Robertson forces were viewed as disruptive at the time. They denied delegate slots to longtime party regulars, including sitting congressmen and Republican elected officials. To the extent that party leaders were willing to tolerate them at all, they wished these religious conservatives would simply vote Republican and then go home.

Sound at all familiar? By the mid-1990s Robertson’s supporters were integrated into the state and national party structure. The Christian Coalition played a key role in setting the Republican agenda. Ron Paul’s supporters are using similar tactics, though they hope that unlike the Christian right they will change the party more than they are changed by it.

To be sure, some of the influence Paulites hope to have on the party platform is symbolic. Yet in politics, symbolism and substance can sometimes be mutually reinforcing. The GOP adopted a strong pro-life platform plank partly because of an influx of antiabortion activists into the party. But the platform language itself played a meaningful role in defining Republicans as the pro-life party.

It is easy to imagine Paul having a similar influence over the party through its platform, perhaps by identifying the GOP with auditing the Federal Reserve or demanding more specific spending cuts than likely nominee Mitt Romney has dared to offer. But there is a lot of practical politics going on in the Paul movement too. Paul supporters are now state party chairs in Iowa, Alaska, and Nevada. They have made inroads from Maine to Louisiana. These gains do not evaporate the minute the presidential campaign ends.

Neither do Paul-inspired liberty candidates who win their elections in down-ballot races. The careers of Rand Paul and Justin Amash, the most successful of dozens of Ron Paul Republicans to have sought office since 2008, are ultimately more important to the party’s future — and perhaps the country’s — than any credentials fight in Tampa. Critics who insist that the movement is simply a cult of personality around one man focus on colorful eccentrics at rallies (admittedly not few in number) while ignoring the Paulites’ increasingly effective practical political involvement. Ron Paul supporters are starting to do the very things that are required to have a more lasting impact…

The name of the game is changing the Republican Party. Anything that takes Paul’s supporters out of the party or leads them to surrender to the GOP status quo is a defeat.

Even if Romney is the nominee rather than Paul, anything that keeps the momentum going in favor of the GOP’s constitutional transformation is a victory for the Texas congressman.

Antle’s entire column is well worth you time

When I signed on with the 2012 Ron Paul campaign I viewed it as Part 2 of the Part 1 of our movement that Paul had inspired in 2008. Before 2008, the Republican Party was a depressing wilderness, offering absolutely nothing for constitutional conservatives. I had supported Pat Buchanan’s presidential runs in 1996 and 2000 in my early 20’s because he was the only candidate willing to take on the neoconservatives who were steadily influencing American foreign policy. With the election of George W. Bush, the neoconservatives would dominate on foreign policy. The GOP became so obsessed with championing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the party became little more than apologists for big government so long as it was Republican. Medicare Plan D, No Child Left Behind, doubling our national debt, destroying the 4^th amendment with The Patriot Act—nobody cared. That period of the GOP was all about support for war at any cost, literally. At the 2008 RNC convention, neocon liberal Joe Lieberman was even given a prime time speaking spot while strict constitutionalist Ron Paul wasn’t even allowed in the building.

Like I said, during that time there was literally nothing of worth to constitutional conservatives in the Republican Party.

This is no longer true.

In his quest to save America, Ron Paul is also saving the Republican Party. The Democrat-lite, big government hacks and neoconservative maniacs who still think the George W. Bush model represents Republicanism defined—and believe me, they do—are quickly becoming yesterday’s news. Yes, they’re still there, and yes, they still have much influence.

But that influence is shrinking. Their base is shrinking. Want to know why more than half the votes cast by the under 30 crowd in each GOP primary state were for Ron Paul? Because the rising generation of libertarians and conservatives understand something many of their elders don’t—that we can’t afford the status quo anymore. Sure, many Americans share Paul’s young supporters fear that the country is going bankrupt, yet they still jealously guard the entitlements that are bankrupting us, or can’t imagine the U.S. not being militarily engaged all over the world, another massive drain on American taxpayers. The rising generation does not have these attachments. In fact, they can’t wait to detach themselves from them. American youth don’t expect to ever see Social Security or Medicare. Nor do they find it particularly strange that perhaps America shouldn’t police the world anymore.

In short, while the GOP establishment’s base is shrinking, Ron Paul’s is growing. For the first time in a long time—the Republican Party might actually become the limited government party it has always pretended to be. This is due to the ideas and influence of Ron Paul.

This is not wishful thinking on my part. Last month, renowned pollster John Zogby broke down the numbers at Forbes, citing what he calls “First Globals” (18-29 year olds):

Mitt Romney has spent months selling himself to the Republican base. Now, Barack Obama is working overtime trying to re-sell himself to his base of voters age 18-29. Team Obama knows that hard times and the growing libertarian leanings of young voters will make them a more difficult target than four years ago…

However, on some key issues, majorities of First Globals are not doctrinaire liberals. The poll found less than majorities agree with liberals on some of their most cherished beliefs.  For example: 44% agree health insurance is a right government should provide for those who can’t afford it, 43% agree with the same statement about food and shelter, 37% agree government should spend more to reduce poverty, 20% agree government spending is an effective way to economic growth…

Lest Republicans get too giddy at those findings, they should also know less than majorities agree with these conservative and neo-con ideals: 22% agree it’s sometimes necessary to attack potentially hostile countries rather than waiting until we are attacked, 23% are willing to give up some personal freedoms for the sake of national security…

These attitudes betraying both the traditional left and right fall generally within the bounds of libertarianism. Live and let live. Individual responsibility is as important as collective responsibility. Avoid military interventions. Distrust both government and corporations. Protect civil liberties.

Young voters have been the energy behind Ron Paul… 

Ron Paul and his supporters have not yet taken over the Republican Party. But they are taking over the Republican Party. In many states, Paul supporters have become significant parts of the GOP apparatus and even Republican Party leaders. I remember the head of the Iowa GOP saying that Ron Paul shouldn’t be allowed in the next debate after Paul’s spat with Rudy Giuliani about “blowback” in 2007. That same position in Iowa is now held by a Ron Paul supporter.

It is Paul’s ideas of liberty and individual freedom that are winning the day. There has been much written about how Ron Paul’s ideas about the Federal Reserve, sound money, civil liberties and even foreign policy have become standard Republican talking points. But more importantly, only Paul’s ideas address the emerging attitudes and concerns cited by Zogby. Conventional liberalism is bankrupt, and with Obama in office millions of Americans have come to this realization. But also conventional Republicanism, or establishment “conservatism,” is bankrupt, which millions of Americans learned under Bush and still see in too many Republican candidates. Paul’s constitutional conservatism is as old as the Founding Fathers, yet refreshing and new to a whole new generation. We could very well see an electorate emerging that doesn’t even immediately identify with conservatism or the GOP per se, but that is still more conservative in a true limited government sense than the current Republican partisans who brandish that label.

These are Ron Paul’s supporters. They are the future.

When I signed on with the campaign, we were all in it to make Ron Paul President of the United States. But I knew that even if Dr. Paul did not get the nomination, this fight—our fight—would be the most important political course of action in 2012. Ron Paul in 2008 and 2012 is the Barry Goldwater campaign in 1960 and 1964. Goldwater failed twice in trying to win electoral victories (VP slot in 1960, President in ’64) but the Arizona Senator’s campaigns changed the Republican Party forever. Ask Ronald Reagan.

Likewise, the Texas Congressman’s two campaigns are changing the Republican Party before our very eyes. Ask Rand Paul. Ask Justin Amash. Ask Thomas Massie, Kurt Bills or any of the other countless liberty candidates running for national office in 2012—who actually have a shot at winning those offices. Ask the liberty candidates who end up running in 2014, 2016 and beyond how much Ron Paul has changed the Republican Party.

Ask me—before Ron Paul I had little to no hope for this country. Today, I’m filled with hope thanks to Paul and his movement. In saving the Republican Party, Ron Paul also, at least politically, saved me.

By most accounts, Mitt Romney will likely be the Republican nominee. Though still confusing, the delegate counts are what they are. This is significant. But from the perspective of any Paul supporter, a nominee Romney should be far less significant than it sounds.

If Romney loses the general election, we will have to endure another 4 painful years of Obama—but the Ron Paul movement remains, and the Republican Party will continue to be cast even more in the mold of Ron Paul.

If Mitt Romney wins the election, there will be a different dynamic in the GOP than what we suffered through under Bush. There was no conservative pushback against Bush’s big government offenses because, as I noted earlier, there was really no conservatism to be found in the Republican Party. Now we have Senator Rand Paul, and regular allies like Senators Mike Lee and Jim DeMint. We have Congressman Justin Amash. We have a number of Ron Paul-inspired candidates running in 2012 that might be joining these leaders on Capitol Hill. There will be even more in 2014. If a President Romney were to insist on protecting and expanding the status quo, like Bush did, there is a genuinely liberty-minded and limited government wing of the Republican Party to resist any such agenda. This is the first time this has occurred in my lifetime.

The current fight over the direction of the Republican Party will continue to be fought whether or not a Republican or Democrat wins the next presidential election. And that fight has been defined, and will continue to be defined, by the philosophy and person of Ron Paul.

The campaign will continue to rack up delegates, and needs to rack up as many delegates as possible, so that we roll into Tampa with as much influence as possible. Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton has stressed that rewriting not only some platform tenets—but also, and perhaps most importantly, standing Republican rules—will be necessary to loosen the establishment’s stranglehold on the process and to give future liberty candidates some leverage.

Running for office has always been about two things: Winning elections and building coalitions. The latter is as important as the former, precisely because you can’t eventually win elections without first building coalitions. Ask coalition-builder Goldwater and election-winner Reagan. The coalition we’ve built—and continue to build—will withstand and triumph over anything that happens in this particular election. What we represent is bigger than Mitt Romney. Seriously.

This is precisely why Ron Paul is not suspending his campaign or dropping out. He can’t. This campaign remains the most important in the entire 2012 race, no matter how little the mainstream media gets it, or even if sometimes Paul supporters don’t get it. Ups and downs, confusion, happiness and sometimes bewilderment are inherent in any genuine grassroots movement. But we can’t lose focus of the big picture.

I signed on with this campaign for Part 2 of the Revolution that Paul began in 2008. After Tampa, we will begin Parts 3, 4, 5 and however many are necessary until this movement triumphs philosophically, ideologically, electorally—totally.

And we will. This is why it’s vitally important not to give up on Part 2 before it is complete. Even if he wins, I predict Mitt Romney will be an asterisk in the history books—while Ron Paul and his movement will help write the history books.

Ron Paul is the most important political figure of our time. In time, the whole world will know it.

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul will attend the Minnesota state Republican convention, addressing attendees live and in person as part of his far-reaching delegate-attainment strategy.  The 12-term Congressman from Texas will attend the convention in St. Cloud on Friday, May 18^thbeginning at 6:00 p.m.

Details of the event are as follows.  Time is Central.

Friday, May 18, 2012

6:00 p.m.
Ron Paul speech
Minnesota State Republican Convention
St. Cloud Rivers Edge Convention Center
10 4th Avenue South
St. Cloud, MN 56303

For a map of the location, please click here.

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

“Asked if this is a dropout, Paul’s campaign manager Jesse Benton said ‘Absolutely not! We are focusing our efforts squarely on winning delegates and party leadership positions at state conventions.”

Hopefully this will help clear up some of today’s confusion:

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – 2012 Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul issued the following statement to supporters and the general public concerning the continuation of his historic bid for the GOP nomination.

The statement tees up forthcoming information the campaign will release concerning its fruitful delegate-attainment strategy still occurring at delegate-selection events such as state conventions ahead of the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Below please find comments from Congressman Paul:

“As I reflect on our 2012 Presidential campaign, I am humbled by the supporters who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much.  And I am so proud of what we have accomplished.  We will not stop until we have restored what once made America the greatest country in human history.

“This campaign fought hard and won electoral success that the talking heads and pundits never thought possible.  But, this campaign is also about more than just the 2012 election.  It has been part of a quest I began 40 years ago and that so many have joined.  It is about the campaign for Liberty, which has taken a tremendous leap forward in this election and will continue to grow stronger in the future until we finally win.

“Our campaign will continue to work in the state convention process.  We will continue to take leadership positions, win delegates, and carry a strong message to the Republican National Convention that Liberty is the way of the future.

“Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted.  Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have.  I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.

“I hope all supporters of Liberty will remain deeply involved – become delegates, win office, and take leadership positions.  I will be right there with you.  In the coming days, my campaign leadership will lay out to you our delegate strategy and what you can do to help, so please stay tuned.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul.”

Ron Paul has made the point time and again that our hyper-interventionist foreign policy is too costly and counterproductive. Many Republicans still say “I like Ron Paul, except on foreign policy.”

Well, they had better start liking Dr. Paul on foreign policy if they want to win the military vote. Americans are tired of wars that make absolutely no sense. So are our soldiers. From Reuter’s:

Mack McDowell likes to spend time at the local knife and gun show “drooling over firearms,” as he puts it. Retired after 30 years in the U.S. Army, he has lined his study with books on war, framed battalion patches from his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, a John Wayne poster, and an 1861 Springfield rifle from an ancestor who fought in the Civil War.

But when it comes to the 2012 presidential election, Master Sergeant McDowell is no hawk.

In South Carolina’s January primary, the one-time Reagan supporter voted for Ron Paul “because of his unchanging stand against overseas involvement.” In November, McDowell plans to vote for the candidate least likely to wage “knee-jerk reaction wars.”

Disaffection with the politics of shock and awe runs deep among men and women who have served in the military during the past decade of conflict. Only 32 percent think the war in Iraq ended successfully, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. And far more of them would pull out of Afghanistan than continue military operations there…

While the 2012 campaign today is dominated by economic and domestic issues, military concerns could easily jump to the fore. Nearly 90,000 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan. Israeli politicians and their U.S. supporters debate over whether to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities as partisans bicker over proposed Pentagon budget cuts…

Mitt Romney has accused President Obama of “a dangerous course” in wanting to cut $1 trillion from the defense budget – although the administration’s actual proposal is a reduction of $487 billion over the next decade…

Romney, along with his primary rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, had also accused Obama of “appeasement” toward U.S. enemies…

If the election were held today, Obama would win the veteran vote by as much as seven points over Romney, higher than his margin in the general population.

The GOP’s heated rhetoric, aimed at the party’s traditional hawks, might be expected to resonate with veterans. Yet in interviews in South Carolina, a military-friendly red state, many former soldiers expressed anger at the toll of a decade of war, questioned the legitimacy of George W. Bush’s Iraq invasion, and worried that the surge in Afghanistan won’t make a difference in the long run.

“We looked real cool going into Iraq waving our guns,” said McDowell, 50, who retired from the 82d Airborne Division in November with a Legion of Merit and two Bronze Stars. “But people lost their lives, and it made no sense.”

Now he worries. “I really don’t like the direction we are going, how we seem to come closer daily towards a war with Iran…”

“I went to war for George Bush,” said Grafton, 48, a retired Army master sergeant who served in special operations units in Somalia and Iraq. “But we can’t keep policing the world.”

Now he is “watching the primaries very closely to see who will be the least careless with soldiers and their families…”

LAKE JACKSON, Texas – Responding to complaints that the Republican National Committee has violated Rule 11 by setting up RNC Victory Operations while Dr. Paul still seeks the nomination, the Ron Paul 2012 Presidential campaign issued the following statement.

Below please find comments from National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton:

“In April, the RNC asked our campaign for our blessing to begin assembling the Victory organization Republicans will require to guarantee a win in the fall.  Building such an operation is no small undertaking, and our Party needed to build in a few months what the incumbent president has been building for four years.

“The RNC offered to set up a joint fundraising committee with the Paul campaign and were very clear that if Dr. Paul became the nominee, the Victory Operation would be behind him 100 percent.  They also were clear that they would hold off if our campaign objected.  I gave my full consent for the RNC to move forward.

“Chairman Priebus has always treated Dr. Paul and our team with respect, and we appreciate his leadership.  He has been an outstanding chairman and has our full confidence.”

But the larger point is, is there a “Women of the Newt Gingrich Revolution” list? The “Romney Revolution?” The “John McCain Revolution?”

Those in the mainstream media who continue to wonder why Dr. Paul is still a candidate refuse to admit, or are comically blind to the fact, that Paul goes on precisely because he is so much more than a candidate. 

Ron Paul is a revolution. This revolution extends far beyond the man himself. Here are some of the women who are leading it:

Behind the scenes, a growing number of women — and millennial women in particular — are taking arms in the Ron Paul Revolution, as grassroots organizers, party activists, anti-Establishment political operatives, and elected representatives.

“It’s not uncommon…to joke about how an upcoming event will be awesome because there will be at least one girl for every 30 guys,” said Bonnie Kristian, a Ron Paul supporter who serves as director of communications at Young Americans for Liberty. “In practice, however, the ratio is much better than that, and over the five years or so that I’ve been involved, I’ve seen a very steady increase in the proportion of women in the movement.”

Kristian is part of a cadre of young women who have quickly risen through the ranks of Paul-inspired organizations, a cottage political industry that is working to remake the Republican Party in Paul’s image. 

These women are far more comfortable talking about Austrian economics and defense appropriations than about gender politics.

And when Paul leaves Republican politics this year, they are ready to take over the mantle of his movement…

“Meet the Women of the Ron Paul Revolution” 

Sen. Rand Paul, in Des Moines today, said if the Republican Party wants to grow, it needs to include supporters of his father who bring different views on certain issues.

“People talk about it being a big tent – having a big tent means bringing in the Ron Paul people. And if you do, your party will grow,” he said…

Drew Ivers, a Ron Paul campaign official in Iowa, called the changes “growing pains” that are offset by the benefits of growing the party. He said people new to politics can be “zealous” and don’t always understand customary procedures, but they will learn with experience.

Paul spoke at an event sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a super-PAC that opposes President Obama’s green energy agenda…

Sen. Paul is right. The Ron Paul people are not only growing the GOP–they’re transforming it.