Ron Paul Isn’t Suspending His Campaign

Yesterday the Ron Paul campaign sent out the following e-mail:

Dear Christopher,

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

This has lead media sources, like the LA Times, and other individuals to state that Ron Paul has all but suspended his campaign. Fortunately that’s not what’s happening:

Battling on would require millions of dollars that the Ron Paul operation does not have, his campaign said.

But the Texas congressman will continue to try to win delegates awarded at forthcoming state conventions.

Mr Paul has 104 delegates, behind Mitt Romney’s 966, with 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Unfortunately what’s really happening and what people think is happening are entirely different. Because of the campaign announcement people now believe the Ron Paul campaign is done and that he’s out of the race. This was one of the dumbest moves the campaign could have made. I do understand that campaigning in Texas and California isn’t likely to gain much advantage but it would prevent media outlets and other individuals from saying the campaign is throwing in the towel. In this case it would have been smarter to run a couple of advertisements for the sake of appearance and left it at that.

Politics is all about appearances. If you falter in any way your competition will swoop in like vultures to pick your corpse clean. The campaign announcement basically opened the door for Ron Paul’s opponents to say the Paul campaign is broke and done. While the e-mail said, “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.” most people are only going to focus on the second line and interpret it as saying the Ron Paul campaign doesn’t have enough money to continue on.

This was a boneheaded move if there ever was one. Ron Paul isn’t “effectively ending” his campaign but focusing resources where they will be better utilized. Any intelligent person would understand that but politics isn’t about the intelligent person, it’s about soundbites, and the Paul campaign just handed out a soundbite that is allowing the media to announce Romney is now running unopposed.