Why a vote for Ron Paul in Iowa is a vote for Mitt Romney

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
Font Size:

With the votes being split in a multi-candidate field, there is a very real chance Rep. Ron Paul could win the Iowa caucuses. He appears to have two very important things going for him: Passionate supporters and a good organization. Often, these two things are mutually exclusive.

When a candidate has both of these things, he becomes very dangerous. Ron Paul is very dangerous; He could win Iowa.

But what happens if he does?

My guess is it would do little to actually help Paul become the GOP nominee. Mainstream Republicans who are skeptical of Paul won’t suddenly jump on the bandwagon. Instead, they will seek to dismiss the results as a fluke (like Rocky beating Apollo in the first movie).

(To be sure, a win would make Paul’s already enthusiastic supporters giddy — but my guess is it would do very little to sway Republican regulars. There is no way Republicans will ever nominate Ron Paul as president.)

This is not to say that a Paul victory wouldn’t have major implications; It would be huge … for Mitt Romney.

I begin with the caveat that nobody knows what’s going to happen. There are too many factors — too many moving parts — for any of us to claim we know how things would play out. Having said that, it occurs to me that there are only a few candidates in the race with the experience — and the potential fundraising prowess — to prevent Romney from becoming the nominee.

If Paul wins Iowa, it means he has deprived Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry — two of the candidates whom I would argue could potentially pose a challenge to Romney — from a victory. The number of delegates they would lose is mostly irrelevant. Winning Iowa means media, money and momentum — things anyone hoping to wrest control of the nomination from Romney must quickly gain.

This would deprive them of that. And if Mitt Romney were to then go on to win New Hampshire — as he’s expected to — it becomes very unlikely he he could be stopped. (Mathematically, of course, it would be possible, but realistically speaking, it would be very, very difficult.)

(Sure, one can envision a scenario where Gingrich finishes a close second place in Iowa and somehow rebounds to win South Carolina. Or one could imagine Jon Huntsman depriving Romney of a victory in New Hampshire — a possibility which could have huge implications. But these are, for now, at least, remote possibilities.)

My guess, therefore, is that a vote for Ron Paul in Iowa is a vote for Mitt Romney.

Depending on where you stand — this may be a good thing or a bad thing. But I think it is a thing.

Matt K. Lewis

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel