Paul Turns Attention to State Race

Mitt Romney poised for the win as voters hit the polls

(NEWSER) - Illinois votes for its GOP candidate of choice today, with 69 delegates at stake—the second-most of any state so far. Here's what the experts at Politico and the Daily Beast have their eye on:

• Can Mitt Romney crack 50%? Polls have Romney heavily favored in the state, and with Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich barely trying, passing the simple majority mark is possible. That would "send a powerful signal that the clock is about to expire for his GOP rivals," writes Charles Mahtesian for Politico.

And he's got no intention of dropping out of the race

(NEWSER) - John McCain has knocked out the last of his Republican opponents, right? Ron Paul begs to differ. "I'm still involved, nothing has changed," he told MSNBC after successfully defending his Texas congressional seat in the GOP primary. Paul has no plans to drop out and will resume traveling the country preaching his small-government credo. He'd even address the convention. "It would be nice," he said. "They may not want me to." More»

"Lone wolf''s" campaign gains traction with the young and wired

(NEWSER) - Most Americans know him—if at all— as the firebrand Texas congressman who’s always pushed to the end of the line during debates. Ron Paul flounders at the bottom of national polls, but he's is the most “friended” Republican on myspace.com. And he's the lone GOP presidential candidate who opposes the Iraq war. His solution to the mess, he tells the New York Times: “Just leave.” More»

Paul done looking for votes, but will keep grabbing delegates

(NEWSER) - Ron Paul's campaign is over—at least if you define campaign as an attempt to get people to vote for you. Paul's camp announced today that it would "no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted. Doing so without any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have." More»

GOP gadfly is gaming the delegate game, but no one's sure what he wants

(NEWSER) - Ron Paul's campaign has been expertly gaming the GOP primary system, taking advantage of just how boring its behind-the-scenes machinations are to collect more delegates than his vote totals would indicate. Paul's fans have been flooding the otherwise sleepy meetings where state delegates are chosen and electing themselves, the Washington Post explains. So even though Romney won the Maine caucus, for example, Paul took 21 Maine delegates ; Romney got one. The question is: Why? What does Paul want? More»