The Texas congressman could end up winning more delegates over the next few weeks. Paul ready for caucus states

LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Ron Paul has known for more than a week that he would finish fourth in Florida.

So instead, he skipped the Sunshine State and campaigned in states like Maine, Colorado and Nevada.


“We’ve been having a fantastic trip,” Paul said to cheering fans in Henderson Tuesday night, adding that he had called Mitt Romney to congratulate him on his big Florida win. To Romney, Paul said: “I would see him in the caucus states.”

While the media spotlight has been on Florida, Paul has been waging a quieter, parallel campaign in the caucus states with contests coming up in February. Unlike Florida — which awards its 50 delegates through a winner-take-all process — many of these states distribute delegates proportionally, allowing second and third place winners to nab some of them.

The result is that the Texas congressman could end up winning more delegates over the next few weeks than anyone except Romney.

“We’re in third place when it comes to delegates and that’s what really counts and we’re only getting started,” Paul said Tuesday. “We will be spending time in the caucus states.”

It’s a calculated strategy designed to take advantage of new party rules that allow candidates to peel off delegates in some states even if they don’t place first. Combined, Maine, Colorado and Nevada represent 88 delegates compared to the 50 at stake in Florida. A total of 1,144 delegates are needed to secure the GOP nod.

Unlike Newt Gingrich — who hewed to the most grueling schedule of the week in Florida and emerged bloodied and poorer in a distant second place, without any delegates — Paul opted against sinking the $9 million he estimates it would have taken to make a real dent in the state. Rick Santorum also campaigned in Florida — he placed third there, and his campaign argued that it would have been a big mistake not to compete — though he abandoned his efforts there at the end of last week. Santorum spent primary night in Nevada.

Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton believes that, if the campaign plays its cards right, it has a shot at winning a majority of the delegates in Washington, Nevada, Minnesota, North Dakota, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Maine and Colorado. Hawaii is another state in which Paul expects to be a top finisher.

Last Friday and Saturday, while all three of his opponents campaigned in Florida, Paul barnstormed Maine, whose caucuses begin this Saturday and are open for one week. That state offers 24 delegates, half as many Florida.

Six town halls took him to every area of the state, from Alfred to a Bangor church, Colby College in Waterville, to the University of Southern Maine in Gorham and to Freeport. During the two-day swing, he picked up the endorsement of L.L. Bean heiress Linda Bean and sat for a private meeting with Gov. Paul LePage, a tea-party favorite. He had the state to himself this week.

Benton said the off-the-beaten-path strategy has three purposes: garnering positive free media from local press, galvanizing the base and converting undecided voters.

In Nevada, Paul held a “Call to Arms” rally on Florida primary night at a casino in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. He’ll hold another event Wednesday morning in Las Vegas. By the caucuses on Saturday, he’ll have spent time in each of the Nevada’s population centers from Reno to Elko.

Paul spent most of Tuesday campaigning along Colorado’s Front Range in anticipation of that state’s Feb. 7 caucuses. Eager to fire up his base of young supporters, he stopped at Colorado State University’s student center, pitching his message to the college students that are a staple of any Paul campaign swing. He then went to a Denver hotel and held a rally at the airport in Colorado Springs before flying further west.

Paul finished second in Nevada four years ago, and his advisers think they can build on that showing this year. His campaign has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on TV ads here.

After winning here in 2008, Nevada is Romney’s to lose in 2012 because of his built-in advantage with the large Mormon population in the state. But the Silver State also has libertarians sympathetic to Paul’s limited government message, and he has been making a play for the Mormon vote as well.

After Florida, the next traditional winner-take-all-primary is not until Arizona on February 28. Even then, only 29 delegates are at stake because the national party sanctioned the state for scheduling the primary outside of the approved window. Paul is unlikely to spend time or money there (except for a February 22 GOP debate).

Paul also believes arcane primary and caucus rules governing February contests work in his favor. Most of these states don’t award delegates on the day they hold votes, instead apportioning delegates at local party meetings, where Paul’s camp believes its superior organization can help it capture a majority that their candidate may not have won outright on election day.