America’s oldest President

“Ron Paul worries everyone but Romney

By Dan Balz, Updated: Thursday, December 29, 2:55 PM

DES MOINES — Ron Paul is the Republican the Republican establishment wants to ignore. Right now they can’t seem to take their eyes off him.

Many Republicans see him as a fringe candidate, a politician whose views on foreign policy and the legalization of drugs put him far outside the mainstream of the party. They would like to dismiss him, but here in Iowa it’s impossible to do so. Among the candidates, only Mitt Romney seems happy with the strength Paul is demonstrating.Ron Paul offered his take on why his poll numbers are rising in Iowa as his fellow Republican presidential candidates take aim at his controversial foreign policy. (Dec. 28)

GOP PRIMARY TRACKER: A interactive look at the schedule through Super Tuesday and an analysis of where candidates are focusing their efforts.

Paul is a potential threat to win the caucuses Tuesday, but just as important, he is an obstacle to every candidate other than Romney. They are seeking to get into a post-Iowa pairing match-up against the former Massachusetts governor, who appears to be positioned to win here but who wouldn’t mind losing, if Paul is the winner.

Paul is therefore an unwelcome threat and the others are coming after him. Newt Gingrich, dropping in the polls here, said Tuesday he would not vote for Paul if the libertarian candidate were the GOP nominee. Joe McQuaid, publisher of the Union Leader newspaper in New Hampshire, which endorsed the former House speaker, wrote an editorial in Thursday’s editions calling him “a truly dangerous” man because of his foreign policy views.

Rick Santorum, rising in the polls in Iowa at just the right moment, said Paul has no track record of accomplishment in Congress. He said Paul may talk big but can’t deliver on anything. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is attacking a lot of his rivals, went after him at a breakfast Wednesday as well.

Michele Bachmann, embarrassed by the stunning defection of her state chairman to Paul’s campaign Wednesday night, has been hammering him for weeks. She told reporters Thursday morning Paul is dangerous on Iran, weak on same-sexmarriage federally and plain wrong on drugs.

Romney has generally refrained from criticizing Paul, but even he said this week his rival is dead wrong on Iran. But he probably won’t go much farther right now in trying to knock down the congressman from Texas. He’d like nothing better than a final contest matched up against Paul rather than, say, Gingrich or one of the others.

That’s why the super PAC supporting Romney’s candidacy is still focused here on Gingrich, with a new ad out Thursday. This strategy is reminiscent of what happened in 1996 when conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan and his “peasants with pitchforks” were charging toward victory in the New Hampshire primary over front-runner Bob Dole.

Dole’s campaign ignored Buchanan, knowing he was not a long-term threat, and used itsTV ads in the final days there to attack a rising Lamar Alexander (then the former governor of Tennessee and now a senator from that state). Buchanan won and went nowhere. Alexander finished third and was never a worry after that.

Romney and his allies are playing the same game now. The others can’t afford to. Paul is someone they have to deal with. But they are dealing with a rival who is nothing if not unusual and whose supporters represent a coalition unlike anything anyone else can attract.”