Paul scales back, focuses on TX-14
Posted: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 11:34 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
2008, Paul
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Ron Paul has scaled back his presidential run and is focusing on his congressional primary race, Paul spokesman Jesse Benton acknowledged.
Paul is being challenged by Republican Galveston City Councilman Chris Peden in the 14th congressional district for the March 4th Republican primary, the same day as the Texas presidential primary. Paul's name will appear on the ballot for both races in that district.
Paul has raised $400,000 for the TX-14 race, Benton said. Paul cannot use his presidential funds for congressional primary, since he has not withdrawn. The campaign has about $5 million on hand for the presidential race, Benton said.
Paul's goal, Benton added, is to get a substantial delegation to convention (they estimate they'll have about 42 delegates) get a good speaking spot, and "spread the conservative message."
On the $5 million, Benton said, "We're not looking to take any with us. We're going to spend it on what donors contributed it for." Even though he said they're "looking to spend every dime on the presidential race," he acknowledged that there is certainly an "organization that has been built out of this campaign" that they will use after the presidential race, including their more than 300,000-person e-mail list.