Ron Paul finished third in Iowa, and by all accounts, he's planning to soldier on -- but the likelihood of a Paul nomination has gone from slim to virtually nil. With that in mind, how should national Republicans treat Ron Paul in the months ahead? On Fox News last night, Sarah Palin warned that the GOP shouldn't be needlessly dismissive of Paul and his supporters (via The Right Scoop):
Is she right, or are some of Paul's ideas so wrongheaded that he and his backers deserve to be written off? I tend to think that to beat President Obama, Republicans needs to appeal to a wide swath of voters. I have deep differences with Ron Paul, but he's also right on a number of big issues and attracts support from folks who don't usually get involved in politics. Why antagonize and aggressively marginalize Paul supporters when the Right will need an all-hands-on-deck effort to defeat President Obama in the fall? Doing so might only serve to encourage many of them to "go rogue" or stay home.
A few questions for the many Paul supporters who read Townhall and regularly patrol our comments section: Do you plan to vote for the eventual Republican nominee, regardless of who wins? If not, would you vote for Obama? Or is it Ron Paul or nobody?