I think everyone is missing the point of criticism, even the critics.
It's not a question of organization or even money for that matter (for crying out loud Jindal is down to his last half-mil according to reports and there's no deathwatch over him). It's that people expected more. This is not like eight years ago when we were starting from point zero and nobody but ourselves took us seriously. The press was ready to take Rand 2016 seriously (Time magazine for example) and expected Rand to be a major player in the field.
Instead voters have been interested in other candidates (someone of whom have never even run for dogcatcher) and Rand, after starting well in the polls, has fallen and hasn't bounced back. Even after a good debate performance where he just let go, we're still mired in single digits and fundraising is nowhere close to what it was in '12 or even '08. There's no energy or buzz about Rand in comparison to Ron, no real theme to the campaign, or representation of it towards an idea or cause or larger movement.
And that's largely due to the candidate himself! What reporters in the field covering Rand are picking up from watching him interact with voters or after he gives his stump speech is someone who just doesn't care, someone going through the motions or doing what his staff thinks is a good idea and selling it so poorly (like yesterday's livestream) that it comes across as him looking bored or going through the motions (Look at the way he was dressed yesterday. Would he have looked like a future President to someone who wasn't a hardcore supporter? No, he looked like the owner of a Colorado bar.) Thus, the popular narrative of him dropping out eventually and the fact he has Senate campaign as well doesn't help him because it feeds the narrative that Paul can't quite make ups his mind whether he should run for the White House or for re-election. And yes, his opponents are promoting the idea of him dropping out because, well, they're his opponents! Of course they're going to try and trip him up, fair or unfair.
The only way to change this for Rand to start acting like he really wants to be President. When he does, everything else will flow from it and the campaign will improve accordingly. Until then, get used to the drop out question Rand because it's the only one reporters feel worth asking. It certainly won't be about your tax plans, not at four percent in the polls.
Bottom line is this: Rand, do you really want to be the Eugene McCarthy of the Republican Party, a man who started something but was so lazy and diffident he couldn't finish it? Because that's where you're heading. It's up to you but I wish you'd make up your mind so that the people who are doing everything they can to help you quit wasting their time when the candidate they work for won't help them.
