Ron Paul is winning the
state of Nevada. With 1,750 of Nevada's
1,789 precincts reporting, the results of which are available Nevada GOP's website:
Mitt Romney would have taken the state at 51%, but
has since dropped out of the race, making Ron Paul's 13% currently the
winner. Ron Paul has 5,802 votes; 192 more than
John McCain's 5,610, and 5% more than Mike
Huckabee's 3,519.
Here is a list of reasons I've heard from both Republican voters and
on-the-fence voters - from he doesn't have enough support, to people
aren't interested in him, to people aren't voting for him - followed
up with facts. Au contraire, mon frère!
"He doesn't have enough support."
Ron Paul has 1,613 meetup
groups in 1,191 cities.
Mike Huckabee has 508
meetup groups in 444 cities.
John McCain has 8 meetup
groups in 8 cities.
"People aren't interested in him."
Ron Paul consistently (and substantially) outranked both of his GOP competitors - Mike Huckabee
and John McCain - in Google searches in the last 12 months. Google
is the #1 search engine in the world (though the link above just measures
the U.S., for purposed of who may be qualified to vote).
"His campaign won't have enough money."
In the last quarter of 2007, Ron Paul beat his own fundraising record of $4.3 million in 24 hours, and
made national history with the highest fundraising amount in one day
in the U.S. presidential race, ever: $6 million in 24 hours.
"He can't fix the economy."
Whether or not you agree with his ideas on how to revive America's economy,
there is no question on the fact that Ron Paul is the only candidate
of the Republican and Democratic parties left in the race whose
campaign has $0 in debts to any company or individual.
Look at the debts column. Paul leads by example when he preaches
on not borrowing what we don't have.
"He hasn't won any states."
Ron Paul took 1st place in Montana, and 2nd place
in Alaska, North Dakota, and Louisiana thusfar. Many of the primary and caucus
results for the states that have voted already are incomplete or not
yet available, and what many people are assuming is fact are just projections
by the media.
"I don't know enough about him."
You watch too much television, then.
Alright, that last one was a joke...sort of.
2/18/08 UPDATE:
100%
of the precincts have now reported. Ron Paul won at 14% of the vote
(6,084); McCain was 2nd place at 13%; Huckabee at 8%. As of right now,
the results page is stating "last updated" on January 19th at 7:00 pm;
this must be a misprint, as the data reflected 97.8% of the vote being
in yesterday (2/17/08), and then was updated before midnight to reflect
100%.