Ron Paul's McCain-Like Path to the Nomination

[bobbyw24]

Winning the Republican nomination with non-Republican votes has been done before—as recently as 2008.

Matt Welch | December 30, 2011

This week, Ron Paul supporters and detractors alike have been gloating over the same basket of statistics showing that Paul's candidacy is predicated on the support of people who self-identify as independents, Democrats, or otherwise non-Republicans. "'Mischief' voters push Paul to front of GOP race," was how the Washington Examiner's Byron York headlined it. At HollywoodRepublican.net, meanwhile, Tom Donelson hailed the arrival of "Paul's Invisible Army."

CAPTION CONTEST!Mostly missing from the commentary were two salient points in American politics as we lurch into 2012. First, there is an immediate precedent for winning the GOP nomination by triumphing among non-Republican and anti-war voters in early-state primaries and caucuses: It's exactly what John McCain did in 2008 (yes, even the anti-war part, hard as that is to believe).

McCain didn't win a plurality among self-identified Republicans in any early state last election cycle, but garnered enough independents and Democrats to eke out victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida, knocking out most of his competitors and establishing himself as the front-runner going into Super Tuesday. (For more on this unprecedented turn of events, see the afterword in the paperback version of my book McCain: The Myth of a Maverick.)

The Republican electorate (like U.S. politics in general) has only gotten more fluid and unpredictable since then. Which leads to the second point: As USA Today put it in an article last week, "Voters [are] leaving Republican, Democratic parties in droves." Excerpt:

http://reason.com/archives/2011/12/30/ron-pauls-mccain-like-path-to-the-nomina

 

[freedom-maniac]

I've been saying since 2007 that the key to winning this lies with the Dems and independents. We believed it back then, but we didn't court them enough, and after 2008 we got into this "Take Back the GOP" mode, as if the GOP was ever ours.

We need to quit trying to convert every last neo-con, crony-capitalist, bigoted, paranoid theocrat, and start looking to the center and left. If we convince them to vote for Dr. Paul because of a lack of a Dem primary (if nothing else) and his legitimate civil liberty and anti-war views, we can win this with some breating room.

 

[bobbyw24]

I've been saying since 2007 that the key to winning this lies with the Dems and independents. We believed it back then, but we didn't court them enough, and after 2008 we got into this "Take Back the GOP" mode, as if the GOP was ever ours.

We need to quit trying to convert every last neo-con, crony-capitalist, bigoted, paranoid theocrat, and start looking to the center and left. If we convince them to vote for Dr. Paul because of a lack of a Dem primary (if nothing else) and his legitimate civil liberty and anti-war views, we can win this with some breathing room.

Bingo