Ron Paul's Biggest Super Tuesday Success Came in a State He Never Visited
Vermont was the highlight* of Ron Paul's otherwise disappointing Super Tuesday.
He went from 6.6 percent of the vote and no delegates in 2008 to 25 percent of the vote and 4 delegates in 2012, a major improvement when you realize his official campaign did very little in the state other than run a smattering of radio and TV ads. From phone banking to voter identification to canvassing, the Paul operation in Vermont was run almost entirely by his supporters. Unlike Alaska, North Dakota, Idaho, and Virginia, Paul never set foot in the Green Mountain state yet still managed to improve his result more there than anywhere else.
This morning I received an email from one of the main Paul organizers in Vermont, Steven Howard, with this nugget:
We had three goals besides winning: 1) Keep Mitt below 50%. Accomplished. 2) Get Ron Paul above the 20% threshold to get at least one delegate. Accomplished. 3) Finish ahead of Rick Santorum. Accomplished.
To recap: Paul's biggest success on Super Tuesday came in a state that he never visited and that his campaign never formally organized in.
*Yes, I know Paul killed it in Virginia but that was an anomaly as the only other guy on the ballot was Mitt Romney.