I had thought Ron Paul’s fifth place finish in New Hampshire, with 8 percent of the vote, was pretty lousy. I mean, he had gotten 10 percent in Iowa, which looked to be less friendly territory.
David Weigel has a through and detailed account of what went wrong for the Ron Paul crowd.
It turns out his supporters needed to spend less time protesting Fox News and complaining that CNN’s pie chart of the vote amounted to “censorship” and more time actually getting out the vote. The New Republic’s story on old newsletters, put out under Paul’s name and expressing horrifically offensive views, may have been a factor, but not the definitive factor.