While the liberal and conservative media are focusing on the soap opera between establishment candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, underdog Presidential candidate Ron Paul has been climbing in the polls.
In a poll conducted on February 2-6 by Reuters/Ipsos, Congressman Paul has vaulted to second place nationally, only seven percentage points behind frontrunner Mitt Romney, who has seen his lead drop by one percentage point point since early January. Congressman Paul has gained five percentage points since the last poll. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich trails Paul by two percentage points and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum trails Paul by three percentage points.
Congressman Paul is gaining despite a concerted attempt by members of the Conservative Establishment to derail his progress. Powerful conservative commentators on the radio such as Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, conservative bloggers like Erick Erickson of Red State, and conservative television commentators like Bill O'Reilly, have made it clear by their actions that their strategy is to ignore or ridicule Congressman Paul in order to discredit him with the conservative voters who comprise their audiences.
This strategy appears to be self-serving rather than ideologically driven because Paul has consistently been rated as one of the most conservative members of Congress. As Paul's humble non-interventionism gains prominence in the American political landscape, the bombastic interventionism that these commentators have promoted in order to build their audiences continues to take a hit. Their ratings are suffering.
Congressman Paul has a long-tern political strategy. He believes Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum are ultimately not viable long-term candidates because they do not have the money or the organization to compete over the long haul. Both candidates have had trouble generating grass roots support in several kep states. Paul has strong infrastructure in all fifty states and a passionate political base. Paul's campaign advisors believe that if the race is reduced to a competition between Romney and Paul, Ron Paul will win because voters will see a real choice between an authentic conservative and a political chameleon.
If that were to happen there would be considerable consternation within the Republican and Conservative Establishments that have controlled American elections in the past. For the first time in many years, independent-thinking Americans would rejoice.
Kevin Kervick is a social entrepreneur and freelance writer. He is the author of Discovering Possibility: A Common Sense Conservative Manifesto (For Classical Liberals Too).
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