Ron Paul Crushes Three Tea Party Foes
The much-discussed primary challenge that Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) faced from three Tea Party activists ended with a whimper last night. Paul won 80.8 percent of the vote against Tim Graney (9.7 percent), John Gay (5.3 percent), and Gerald Wall (4.2 percent).
Hours before the polls closed, here’s how Politico handicapped it:
“„The question is whether he’ll win the nomination outright with more than 50 percent or be forced into a runoff. If a Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll victor like Paul — who has built a career out of trying to shrink the size and scope of government — is held to a modest mid-50s winning percentage, it might serve as a flashing sign of caution for other GOP incumbents facing tea party-oriented challengers.
Well, so much for that. There was even more hype about a possible Paul embarrassment in 2008, when a pro-war city councilman challenged him and convinced some conservative bloggers that Paul was beatable. Paul crushed him by 40 points. For all of the whining about his alleged unpopularity in the district, Paul has a fantastic operation there.
Jonathan Martin has more on the inability of Tea Party candidates to live up to the hype.
