McCain Irked By Ron Paul the Spoiler

Des Moines, Iowa - GOP presidential candidate John McCain is deeply worried that his resurgent national campaign may be stalled by a relatively strong showing in tonight's Iowa caucuses by the iconoclastic Ron Paul.

The Arizona senator's campaign told the HuffPost that their candidate is concerned that Paul will finish third behind front-runners Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney.

McCain, whose campaign floundered earlier in the year, has been showing renewed strength in the battle to win the key New Hampshire primary next week. His national numbers have also been rising and one respected poll now has him in first place..

The McCain campaign also gives former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, currently leading the Iowa Republican polls, little chance of surviving New Hampshire even if he scores a clear victory in tonight's caucuses. The fight for the GOP nomination, McCain strategists believe, should be a head-to-head showdown between McCain and Mitt Romney.

A strong showing by Paul tonight could severely damage McCain's overall strategy. McCain is said to be especially irked because the outsider campaign of the Texas Congressman is given little viability on a national scale. But Paul raised $20 million from his fervent supporters in the last quarter of 2007, enough money to act as a spoiler for more mainstream candidates like McCain.

"Ron Paul's like the Joker in a poker game," said one McCain staffer. Paul reportedly dropped three mailers overnight and kicked his phone banks into turbo-mode in an all-out push to make into the final tier of tonight's winners.

Both McCain and Paul are currently tied at about 10% in most polls of likely Iowa caucus-goers. McCain has not actively campaigned in Iowa and skipped last summer's Republican Straw Poll. His visit to the state today just hours before the caucuses was one of his rare campaign trips here.

As Paul greeted his volunteers this morning at his downtown headquarters, the HuffPost asked for the candidate's reaction to McCain's anger: "I'm so excited. I'm excited he's so upset about me."

Comments

[LoRiseAntlers]

The Paultards are getting boners reading this.

[prolifeprogressive]

I support Paul but am wary of the starry eyed surety some of his followers have about his chances in the nomination.

assuredly 20 million is massive and enough to carry him through the core of the primary season, but his real potential to cause massive mischeif to the common wisdom is if Hillary gets the nod and is the supposed 'anti-war' alternative.

The triangulations of th CLinton's, there very own Ross Perot, then, if we can get Paul in the general debates as an indy or Lib, then Paul becomes a possible contender, especially if Bloomberg/Hagel, sucks up rightwing and centrist Dem votes who want even more corporate milquetoast than Hillary is offering.

Paul becomes more relevant the more the dems lean to the military industrial center.

If paul on the other hand does in the single digits in Iowa AND NH, then he will only become an oddity, indeed, sucking votes most likely in the R isde anyway, from [lesser of all evil rfontrunners] McCain.

I give Paul 12-18%[3rd or fourth] in Iowa and 20-27%[1st or 2nd] in NH.

Of course Buchannon also won NH...

[jadez]

Crazy mccain is upset that the PEOPLE support Ron Paul. He wants them to ignore Paul like the media has. mccain has never recovered from the lies bush and rove spread about him,but being on the brink on a mental breakdown is not presidential material.

[rbspickles]

You've GOTTA check this out! If Ron Paul doesn't make it to the ballot, VOTE FRAUD is the only way he didn't.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/PrJoe Biden 1% 40

Rudy Giuliani 1% 48
Hillary Rodham Clinton 7% 292
Mike Huckabee 2% 77
Chris Dodd 0% 5
Duncan Hunter 0% 5
John Edwards 3% 130
Alan Keyes 0% 7
Mike Gravel 0% 11
John McCain 1% 40
Dennis Kucinich 2% 70
Ron Paul 77% 3375
Barack Obama 5% 217
Mitt Romney 1% 36
Bill Richardson 0% 15
Fred Thompson 0% 19
ograms/lar­ry.king.li­ve/

[sleuth51]

Paul is on a roll and the antithesis of McCainPaul is on a roll and the antithesis of McCain. McCain is the war monger (“bomb Iran”) and attacker of our first amendment rights (McCain-Feingold). He is more comfortable in the company of liberal Democrats (Kennedy) than his own kith and kin. He showed poor judgment on Iraq and illegal immigrants. He is a good man though, who did his duty for his country in the most admirable manner possible, and for that we are eternally grateful. He also acknowledged that Ron Paul is most honest politician you would ever find in Congress. If Ron Paul comes in third, the cat will be among the pigeons and we have race on our hands. Paul’s best chance is a win in New Hampshire. Regardless, Ron Paul has the means to run harder and longer than any of his opponents. He will never quit. He has too much backing from too many patriots. If McCain thinks Paul is a spoiler, expect choicer words from Romney et al once the dust settles.

[cognate]

Dr. Paul has cured MY apathy.

He is the only politician EVER I sent money to. Three times in the past three months.

I have never voted before, though I could have, since Carter. There never was anyone who had my respect.

I have just registered, for the first time, to vote for Dr. Paul.

There are millions like me, as you will soon see.

If this country can be rebuilt from the necon train-wreck, Ron Paul is the man to help us do it.

[antiwardoc]

There's a special place in hell for John McCain.

He suffered tremendously in Vietnam, as a POW. It was all for nothing. All of our soldiers who died there - they died for nothing. Those that returned alive, suffering from PTSD and nightmares that never stop - for what? So John McCain KNOWS the price of war.

Now we are in a second, analogous war without reason. Our 19- and 20-year olds are being sent into a place where they are totally disoriented, where they can inadvertently kill Iraqi civilians and mothers and children and then they will return, emotionally scarred for life. Many will return not only with PTSD but with horrible physical injuries that will follow them for the rest of their lives.

See this link at National Geographic on what condition our surviving Iraq War soldiers are coming home in:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0612/feature3/gallery1.html

McCain now has become another warmonger. He must know that there is absolutely no reason for this war. But in his warped mind, if this war has no justification, then Vietnam didn't, either, and then all of his suffering was for nothing. He needs psychiatric care, and should be fighting his demons under therapy, and not vicariously through the lives of our brave young soldiers.

[BigLeagues]

Every voter should be offended when candidates label an opponent a "spoiler". It really should be beneath McCain to employ such a tactic. The single most insulting permutation of this tactic is when a candidate or campaign begins labeling a rival candidate as a "wasted vote". There is no way to characterize such an act as anything other than anti-democratic. It should be self-evident why this practice is so bothersome, but for the uninitiated here is my position: first and foremost the spoiler/wasted vote tactic assumes that a the candidate has no validity in a given election. Of course, "the spoiler" would never be labeled as such if he or she wasn't raising issues that resonated with voters where no other candidate dare venture. Case in point - Ron Paul. There is a place in this election for Ron Paul, whether it be for the Republican nomination or as an independent candidate. And at no time will a vote of support for him be a wasted vote, because he is raising issues that no other candidate has and thus adding to the national debate in no way any other candidate is willing or able.

[SteveDasbach]

The people who give Ron Paul "little viability on the national scale" are the same people who said he would never get more than 1% support, and certainly wouldn't come in 3rd (or better) in Iowa. They were wrong then, and they are still wrong now.

Ron Paul will be contesting this nomination until the last delegates are chosen, and he has a better chance of winning that nomination than several of the media anointed "top-tier" candidates.

As for McCain, the pundits declared him "no longer viable" several months ago. He managed to defy expectations -- he shouldn't be surprised that another candidate managed to defy them as well.

No one is entitled to anyone's vote. The support of every American has to be earned.

McCain made the choice to not compete in the Iowa Straw Poll and to not invest resources to do well in the Iowa caucuses. Fawning media coverage will only get you so far -- ultimately, you have to have a message that resonates and a campaign to deliver that message if you want to win.

[ibsteve2u]

"Ron Paul's like the Joker in a poker game," said one McCain staffer.

I'm not committed one way or another about Paul, but methinks that being compared to an extremely flexible card that is not bound to fit into any pre-determined, pre-existing order is about the weakest insult that I've ever heard.

If that was what it was supposed to be.

[gaiilonfong]

Hey St McCain STFU you are a has-been LOSER ....GO AWAY

[ptarantino]

McCain lost my respect when he let George Bush treat him like sh%t & drive this country into a ditch.

[riceowlex]

Let's see McCain the King Of Amnesty and an endless war that is bankrupting the country thinks that Ron Paul is a spoiler? Is it just me or are there other people here that would actually prefer not to be overrun by illegals and to live in a solvent United States. Mr McCain you are INSANE. TRULY ABSOLUTELY INSANE, INCURABLY PERMANENTLY INSANE, CERTIFIABLY INSANE. Some want to call Dr Paul nuts? BETWEEN HIMSELF AND MR GRAVEL THEY ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE TELLING THE TRUTH. VOTE RON PAUL END THE INSANITY!!!

[YukonDave]

Your vote counts now more then ever in history?

As of right now, the major news outlets have devoted time to the candidates they think are the leading candidates. We see a CNN Poll of 377 people that still use land lines and they announce Huckabee has taken the lead for Republicans but has only $2 million in the bank. Clinton is said to lead the polls but the number of unique donors is higher for Obama. If the media says you are a front runner, are you? Is this a self fulfilling prophecy? Not for long.

A change is happening that is important. For the first time the internet is changing the way elections are going to be run. For the first time, we the individual can impact a candidate and research all of the candidates ourselves. The big media of FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN are about to have their power called into question and it is happening right now. Look around, lots of real people giving real money is what is important now.

Hillary, Obama and Paul are leading in fund raising with about $20 million each for Q4 2007 with all of the other candidates notably quiet and not reporting their numbers. Obama reported 472,630 unique donors while Paul had 144,231 total donors leading the Democrat and Republican fields. It seems that Barack Obama and Ron Paul have more individual donors then any other candidates yet they are not being called the leading candidate. What is more disturbing is the fact that Ron Paul has the most individual donors out of the Republicans but only has 30% of the number of donors that Obama has. You would think that is a big story, but if it were, that would mean the media polls would stop being important in influencing the election process.

[Pdubya]

keep in mind that 10% for McCain and Paul represents attendees at the last GOP primary ballot. thats who is surveyed. It is common knowledge that Paul is attracting the disenfranchised conservative republicans that haven't voted in the last few elections, democrats, independents, first-timers (including several retirees that haven't voted) and people with cell phones. I don't think McCain will even put a dent into those categories of voters.

translation? paul is far past what the polls indicate. 3rd iowa, 1st new hampshire.

oh, and paul is the only gop candidate with the rate of increase in support and dollars exists. i think that is true for everyone except obama. (rate of increase).­.not sure who's rate is larger.