Ron Paul said he was the recipient of 'one of three tickets out of Iowa.' Paul falls short

ANKENY, Iowa – Ron Paul got twice as many votes in this year’s caucuses as he did in 2008 — but his third place finish was short of the win his supporters and allies had been hoping would transform his campaign into a serious factor in the GOP race.

Paul had the fervor and organization going into the caucuses that many expected might propel him into first place, which his campaign believed would force politicians and pundits who had been ignoring him to pay attention.


But given which candidates beat him to the top, Paul said late Tuesday night, he considered the caucus results a victory that would deliver that attention regardless.

Pushing his liberty-loving, Federal Reserve-bashing message, Paul told his supporters they should be proud of the bronze he got by falling about 3,000 votes shy of Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney.

“I think there’s nothing to be ashamed of, everything to be satisfied and be ready and raring to move on to the next stop, which is New Hampshire,” the Texas congressman said.

Paul said he was the recipient of “one of three tickets out of Iowa,” but he also made a subtle jab at Santorum, suggesting that the former Pennsylvania senator could not compete with him and Mitt Romney outside the early state map.

Paul framed his campaign as a movement, saying he’d brought issues that “aren’t going to go away” to the forefront of American politics.

“We have tremendous opportunity to continue this momentum. It won’t be long that there’s going to be an election up in New Hampshire, and believe me, this momentum is going to continue and this movement is going to continue, and we are going to keep scoring, just as we have tonight,” he said.

A Paul spokesman told POLITICO that Paul will return home to Lake Jackson, Texas, before heading to New Hampshire.

“He’s going to go home and take a rest, and then we’re off to New Hampshire,” Paul spokesman Gary Howard said of Paul’s schedule looking forward.

Paul’s staffers say they’re comfortable with his level of organization in New Hampshire, ahead of the Jan. 10 primary. Paul was in the state as recently as last week, on a retail-heavy swing.

“He’s campaigned in New Hampshire almost as much as he’s campaigned in Iowa. He’s been there just about every other week. He’s been here about every week. We have an organization there, we have people in South Carolina,” Howard said.

Howard also said Paul is competitive in South Carolina, though he has spent virtually no time on the ground there.

Elisabeth Bronough, a student from Tulsa, Okla. said Paul’s third place finish was disappointing.

“It’s disappointing, because we really thought this morning that he was going to win hands down. But at the same time, when you look at 2008, this is an amazing victory and I think that Iowa’s just the beginning. How he did in Iowa isn’t a reflection of the whole country.”

John McGowan drove from Carrolton, Georgia to volunteer for Paul.

“We’ve been street-corner preaching for the last few days out in the cold, McGowan said.

Of Paul’s finish behind Santorum and Romney he said: “It just means I just have to work twice as hard.”

He said if Paul’s not the nominee, he should make a third-party run.

“I support him no matter what. I’ll write his name in, and a million others would do the same,” he said.