Ron Paul Aims for Three Super Tuesday Wins
Presidential candidate Ron Paul will continue his focus on small caucus states this Tuesday by concentrating on Alaska, North Dakota and Idaho.
The Texas congressman has not yet won a state and is currently in third place in the delegate count. He said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday that the focus of his campaign is to continue to gain delegates for the Republican convention.
"My measurement of winning is winning most of the majority of the delegates. And in that case, you know, we have about three states that we're still, that we've already concluded that we may well win. And so next week here in Alaska there's a very good chance we'll come out with a majority of the delegates, in Idaho as well as North Dakota."
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Paul acknowledged that winning the nomination is unlikely at this point, but believes that winning is the best way to advance his advocacy for a more limited government, returning to the gold standard for monetary policy, and a less militaristic foreign policy.
"Do I believe I can win? Yes. Do I believe the chances are slim? Yes, I do. But things happen in this world that we don't have total control of. And we live in a world that is very much in flux, you know, internationally and monetarily, that just might make the circumstances different," Paul said.
Paul is currently in third place in the delegate count with 37, behind Mitt Romney (173) and Rick Santorum (74). Newt Gingrich is in last place in the delegate count with 33.
Paul had hoped to win his first state in Saturday's Washington caucus, but finished a distant second place. Romney had 38 percent of the vote. Paul finished with 25 percent of the vote, barely beating Santorum by about 500 votes.
In an interview on Fox News Saturday night after the election, Paul said that even though he did not win the most votes, he may get the most delegates in the Washington caucus. Saturday's vote was non-binding. The actual delegates will be selected through local party conventions and then the state party convention. The delegates to the local convention are selected after the vote. Since many voters leave after the initial vote, Paul is hoping that his loyalists stayed to be selected to attend the party conventions.
"They hang in there and they stay, because if you vote you can walk out," Paul said about his supporters. "If you ... stay for the meeting, you can be selected to be a delegate. ... Most of our supporters read the rules and they insist that the rules be followed."
Paul was also asked about conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh apologizing for calling a female witness at a congressional hearing on the birth control mandate a "slut" and a "prostitute." Paul thinks that the apology is not genuine, but in reaction to several of Limbaugh's sponsors deciding to pull their ads.
"Yes, I think he should have apologized. I had said he used very crude language. And I think he gets over the top at times. But it's in his best interest. That's why he did it. I don't think he's very apologetic. He's doing it because some people were taking their advertisements off his program. It was his bottom line that he was concerned about," Paul said.
