StrictConstruct

With 95% of the vote counted, it is clear that Pennsylvania turned out to be the best primary, and arguably best contest, Ron Paul has had yet. The previous best, percentage wise, was set by both New Hampshire and DC, with 8% of the vote. Paul got 16% in Pennsylvania, but that doesn’t tell half the story. He achieved the most votes he has ever gotten in a single state, beating out the 110,077 votes he received in California, and reaching over 120,000.

This makes it even more significant and meaningful then the caucuses in which he scored higher percentages, because those caucuses had much fewer people participating. But once one also takes into consideration the fact that the Republican race was much less hyped then California’s, which occured on Super Tuesday, and that Pennsylvania has a much smaller population than California, the number becomes even more significant.

The performance occurred in a state which had a whole lot of grassroots activity, and a lot of out of state effort aimed towards helping the local campaigners as well. It is a testament to the idea that getting Ron Paul’s name and positions out there into public knowledge would aid greatly in getting votes, as he lacked the name recognition and free publicity given to other candidates. It is also worth noting that McCain received only 73% of the vote, which is pretty weak considering he has “wrapped up the nomination.” 27% (Paul’s 16 plus Huckabee’s 13) is a pretty large number, and its a number that is going to have to be addressed by the Republican Party.