Paul Trades Fox for Jay Leno

MANCHESTER, NH - Well, the choice was sort of made for him, but 24-odd hours after being bounced from the Fox News five-man forum, Ron Paul will be appearing on the Tonight Show. He's en route to Los Angeles to shoot the show for Monday night. Ron's son Rand and his friend ex-Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr. will be filling in at Paul's campaign events until he returns Monday night.

I asked Paul if he had any problem breaking the writer pickets to appear on the show. Silly question: He doesn't care about the unions or the pickets. And at his speeches at a Republican brunch (attended by almost 1000 people) and the Liberty Forum (attended by hundreds) But Paul backers in the state were enraged at the Fox shutout. At the Liberty Forum, so many people were organizing a Fox protest that Operation Live Free or Die sent out a request that Paul supporters chill out and devote their energy to an afternoon town hall instead. Some listened, but more than 200 materialized on Elm Street in Manchester to chant "Fox News Sucks!" and reel in local news teams. The Paul crowds were close to Frank Luntz's debate focus group; after it was over, Luntz got the crowd to bet him $1000 that Paul would score 20 percent in the primary.

A little more from this afternoon: Paul will campaign at least until Feb. 5, by which time he'll "reassess" the race.