Ron Paul showed no sign of disappointment or distress Tuesday as he spoke to supporters after losing primary contests in Missouri and Minnesota.
Instead Paul focused on what he said was a series of good news: a strong showing in a new national poll, a strong caucus in Maine and an ability to rack up delegates without coming in first.
Paul came in third place in Missouri’s primary on Tuesday. In Minnesota, Paul was in second place in the state’s caucuses with 66 percent of precincts reporting.
“The straw poll is one thing, but there’s one other thing called delegates,” Paul said. “That’s where we excel.”
None of the three contests held Tuesday – Colorado also held its caucuses – are binding on delegates, giving losing candidates an opening to dismiss them as beauty contests.
“We’ve had some good news today. Maybe you have seen,” Paul said, citing a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showing him in second place nationally in the GOP primary for the first time.
Paul appeared giddy as he took the stage in Golden Valley, Minn., giggling as he described the momentum behind his presidential campaign.
“I keep thinking it must be a lot more fun believing in something than just campaigning for nothing,” Paul said in an apparent dig at Mitt Romney.
Paul also offered a helping of his libertarian, free-market philosophy that dependably gets his die-hard supporters riled up, arguing that Americans “should have the right to keep the fruits of all our labors” and saying his solutions to the nation’s ills would not be difficult to implement.
“People of diversity would come together, because they don’t want to lose their liberty,” Paul said. “They respect other people’s liberty as well.”
