Ron Paul starts Texas campaign in earnest

Republican Texas Congressman Ron Paul is currently in
third place in his home state.
Photo: Declan McCullagh.

The Ron Paul team announced on Tuesday that it was officially starting campaigning operations in the Lone Star State. The Texas congressman also announced in a tweet that he was “in it to win it”.

Dr. Paul is planning to hold town hall meetings at the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Houston. The Texas congressman has already visited Texas A&M University in College Station, the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, and the Main Plaza in San Antonio. When he visited these locations 10 days or so ago, Dr. Paul managed to attract between 3,000 and 4,000 likely voters.

Dr. Paul‘s decision to concentrate on various education centers in his home state makes perfect sense. He has proved very popular with younger voters as he seems to address many of the issues this group of the population is most concerned about: education, the economy, health care, illegal immigration, and Afghanistan, to quote a few.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Paul has only managed to amass 75 delegates out of the 1,144 which are required to win the nomination outright. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has so far taken 685, while former House speaker Newt Gingrich has 136 under his belt However, it should be noted that the Texas congressman has always focused on winning as many delegates as possible to be able to exert some influence when the Republican convention takes place in Tampa, Fla., at the end of August.

Dr. Paul‘s campaign chairman, Jesse Benton, said the team was very positive about the congressman’s performance in his own state.

“Ron Paul is the only Texan, the only veteran, and the only real conservative competing in Texas. We expect Dr. Paul’s fellow Texans to be receptive to his platform of constitutionally-limited government, the restoration of our economic and civil liberties, and a reversal of Washington spending and intrusion into the economy,” Mr. Benton stated.

Yet, the latest poll conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP) in the Lone Star State between April 19 and April 22 indicates that Dr. Paul would end up in third place were the Texas primary held today.

Indeed, Dr. Paul currently garners the support of 14 percent of those questioned, while 35 percent favor Mr. Gingrich. However, Mr. Romney is in pole position with 45 percent of the voting intentions.

The Ron Paul campaign still has plenty of time to turn things around, as the Texas primary is not due to be held until May 29. One hundred and fifty five delegates will be up for grabs.