Ron Paul Wins 24% in Idaho, Best Yet

Close, but no tattoo. From The Boston Globe:

John McCain has the Republican nomination wrapped up, but Ron Paul isn't going anywhere.

In fact, in Tuesday's little-noticed Republican primary in Idaho, the iconoclastic Texas congressman had his best showing so far, grabbing 24 percent of the vote, nearly 30,000 votes in all.

McCain won with 70 percent, while the other 6 percent went to uncommitted.

After winning 16% in Pennsylvania, some people took notice:

With a low Republican turnout expected due to the nominee already being selected, the combination of Paul-ites and rogue Dems will have much more bang for the buck than Markos Moulitsas' Dems for Romney did in Michigan. An attention-grabbing 20%+ finish is well within reach, and with some hard work, an outright victory for Dr. Paul is not impossible.

The fact that McCain is already the nominee doubtless has some impact here, but the mainstream media has been doing its best to ignore Dr. Paul's successes for a long time now. Will this result make them stand up and take notice? With only 2 contests left, was this the Paul Army's last chance?

Most of the mainstream media has treated the Paul campaign as a curiosity, a freakshow, not to be taken seriously. Even when the candidate placed 2nd in Nevada, besting the GOP's former front-runner by a factor of almost 4:

As Ron Paul supporters have observed, you wouldn't know it to scan this morning's headlines. Like him or not, Ron Paul is newsworthy, and the drumbeat of "unfair treatment" from his supporters is justified. Mitt Romney has received similar treatment from the press, so the one-two punch here is instructive. Over at Politico, Romney at least rates the 6th headline, but with no blurb. Zip for Ron Paul. Isn't Ron Paul a politician?

Ron Paul has been the star of the Republican debates (that he has been allowed to participate in), humiliating John McCain at the Reagan Library, making Rudy Giuliani cry "Uncle!" on his way out of the campaign, and yet was never afforded the air of credibility given to, say, Fred Thompson.

A 24% finish in Idaho is a big story, but it seems to be acting more as a negative for McCain than a positive for Paul. The fact that so many people have been caught up in the R3volution, despite a complete lack of encouragement from the MSM, should tell us something more than, "Wow, McCain is really unpopular!" or,"Those Paul guys are intense!"

While I disagree significantly with Dr. Paul's platform, I can see that he has found common cause with those who oppose the Iraq war, the conduct of the "War on Terror," and the attendent rollback of civil liberties. While he hopes to influence the GOP's platform, there doesn't seem to be a place to meet the party halfway.

It is unlikely that, even if he had won Idaho, the Punditocracy would have suddenly seen the light. The best he was ever going to do was to hurt John McCain. Still, if ending the war and restoring the Constitution are the goals, this is a step in the right direction.