Ron Paul is second favorite choice of registered Republicans voters

Mittens is the Republican favorite and the likely nominee, but Ron Paul is second (tied with Gingrich at 16% support). Paul won't get the Republican nomination unless some miracle happens, but he carries some clout into the Republican convention. My guess is Gingrich will drop out of the race pretty soon, probably after south carolina. Paul is in it till the Republican convention, though.

Mitt needs the independent voters to win the general election for prez, so he will be courting Paul and the libertarians. What form that courtship might take is anybody's guess but the things that resonate with independent voters are likely choices:

1. end the wars in Afghanistan, and Libya, etc.
2. cut spending and balance the federal budget.
3. end (or more likely just soften) the war on drugs, obvious choice here is to remove cannabis from schedule 1, and let the states decide whether to prosecute the war on cannabis users. Personally, I doubt the feds will walk back their stance on any of the "hard" drugs. If cannabis is removed from schedule 1, look for several states to legalize cannabis entirely.
4. adhere to the US constitution. Easy to pay lip service here and actually do nothing.

Obama also needs the independent voters, so he will come a courting as well.

Sorry, forgot to post a link the poll that shows Paul in second place:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postabcpoll_011512.html

Considering the implied premise, that it is long accepted that we can only elect a brush shined turd, is taken so lightly, I deem you worthy of a reply and even a like. Rock on.

Back at ya!

If it were to become a two man race, Romney vs. Paul, I am not sure Paul wouldn't win. There are a lot of people that vote anyone but Romney and right now Newt, Perry, and Santorum are getting a lot of that. Perry and Newt should be gone relatively soon, but Rick might hang around a while. Anyway, if we were to get down to Romney vs Paul I think it would be really close.

HonestJim said:

If it were to become a two man race, Romney vs. Paul, I am not sure Paul wouldn't win. There are a lot of people that vote anyone but Romney and right now Newt, Perry, and Santorum are getting a lot of that. Perry and Newt should be gone relatively soon, but Rick might hang around a while. Anyway, if we were to get down to Romney vs Paul I think it would be really close.

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Maybe. You are right, there is a whole lot of "not Romney" sentiment, but there is also a whole lot of "we must beat Obama" sentiment so a bunch of people who would like Paul to be president think "they are throwing their vote away" if they don't vote Romney. Personally, I don't sunscribe to the "throwing your vote away" thinking. Really, I see no difference between Romney and Obama so I plan to vote my conscience. If RP gets the nomination, then I will vote for him, if not then I will vote for Gary Johnson. Nobody owns my vote but me.

Oh Boy.. If it wasn't so sad.. Not the news about Paul but you guys slowly devolving to non-voters or worse anti-legalization voters. Sad to see that you guys have no Plan B and are going to talk this to death.

Oh and Pardon I assume you are posting in the Legalization forum because this is about Legalizing.

Ernst said:

Oh Boy.. If it wasn't so sad.. Not the news about Paul but you guys slowly devolving to non-voters or worse anti-legalization voters. Sad to see that you guys have no Plan B and are going to talk this to death.

Oh and Pardon I assume you are posting in the Legalization forum because this is about Legalizing.

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Getting Ron Paul elected is ALL about legalization of cannabis.

That is interesting you think that way. Is Ron Paul a Hero to you?

Ernst said:

That is interesting you think that way. Is Ron Paul a Hero to you?

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No. No politician is a hero to me. RP just happens to be the only one who wants the drug war ended.

Obama and all the other Rs want to escalate the drug war. When asked about legalizing marijuana Obama laughed and said, "that's not in my vocabulary". Obama is basically George W Bush's third term.