Hopeful? Ron Paul hasn't won a single primary.
Doesn't matter.
Can Ron Paul still win the nomination? YES HE CAN! but before I explain how, let's take a look as to why Ron Paul has not won a state caucus yet.
I have been watching very close the votes in the primary as well as the caucus events. There is a distinct reason Ron Paul has not won any of these states even though in many cases Ron Paul is drawing thousands upon thousands at his event rallies on a regular basis, more so than any other candidate.
One true specific is clear and this is holding true in the other states.
Let's look at North Dakota : Ron Paul did a rally in Fargo North Dakota, his rallies had thousands atleast 2000 people if you believe CNN's total and there is video to confirm the thousands at the event. Yet, Ron Paul only received 92 votes in Fargo North Dakota last night, why is this?
Well my conclusion is that there are two factors which can be confirmed by even utilizing info from pro on Paul forums and blog sites.
# 1 : Most of the libertarians that all claim they support Ron Paul refused to join the GOP and simply register republican so they could vote for Ron Paul in the primary, their position is I WILL NEVER JOIN THE GOP, ok, great, then you have done nothing to help further the nomination for Ron Paul and his chance to win. Most states are not an open primary thus, these people can not vote for Ron Paul unless he wins the nomination in the republican party.
Many libertarian party members claim that they put principle before party; however, they don't practice what they preach, if they refuse to register republican, even though the day after they vote they could leave the republican party, THEY DON'T and WON'T simply register so they can cast a vote, their actions have not helped the liberty movement in any way, shape or form, becuase they are actually selfish and have put the libertarian party before principle, they have proved this by their own statements.
If anyone remembers, the libertarian party nominated NEO CON Bob Barr in the last election and he this election endorsed Newt Gingrich, hows that for libertarian party principle?
# 2 : it is clear that the 18 to 25 enthusiastic college crowd that shows up in droves for Ron Paul's events and rallies, DON'T SHOW UP TO VOTE. This has become a major problem and therefor cost Ron Paul several caucus victories, I reference back to Fargo North Dakota as just one clear example. The young people seem to be very motivated to show up to a rally but are not disiplined enough to actuualy show up and caucus and vote.
# 3 : The next example of our people not showing up was in the Maine caucus, our people and the whole world knew that Ron Paul would have won Maine with an additional 194 votes, our people had a week to prepare to show up in droves. Washington county Maine had over 10,000 people that could have voted in the caucus that day, yet Ron Paul supporters couldn't turn out the task of obtaining 194 more votes to secure Ron Paul the win. Out of thousands that could have voted, Ron Paul only received 163 votes, this is pathetic.
The fact is that rallies and sign waves don't win elections, getting our people to vote does. Until we figure out a way to get the vote out Ron Paul is not going to win a state any time soon.
Now on a side note :
Even though Ron Paul has not won a single state, he has however won more delegates than Santourm and Gingrich, the hard numbers actually show that Ron Paul in many cases has won the majority of the delegates in many states, this is what really matters as to winning the GOP nomination.
Ron can still win the nomination by turning out the delegates and he has been doing well in the manner, so get back to work. Let's focus on what we need to fix and start winning some states by getting our people to the voting booth for Ron Paul.
