Congressman Ron Paul's decision to essentially suspend his presidential campaign and focus instead on safeguarding his Congressional seat will confuse and disappoint many of his supporters, while delighting establishment media debunkers, but the truth of how far we have progressed and the reality of the battles that lie ahead show that the campaign has made a shrewd decision. After months of media censorship, smear attacks and dirty tricks, Ron Paul was essentially left with four choices. - Drop out of the Republican race altogether and allow the establishment to claim a hollow victory while disappointing his legions of supporters. This was never going to happen. - Drop out of the Republican race and run as a third party candidate. Up against Hillary and McCain, Paul would have had a 20-30% chance of success but would have immediately endangered his Congressional seat. - Seek to capitalize on a brokered convention should the Republican's conservative base move against the left-leaning John McCain. This was always a remote option because to have any chance of success, Paul would have had to be trailing McCain by just a few percentage points in the primary results, which was not the case. - Stay in the presidential race in the hope that a scandal would cripple McCain and leave Paul going head to head with Huckabee but essentially shift all campaigning efforts to focus on his Congressional seat which is now under threat. Paul rightfully picked the fourth option and in doing so has adopted a rearguard stance to safeguard the influence he has already accrued as a result of appearing in the debates on the campaign trail. Should he retain his seat, Paul will return to Congress with the backing of a gigantic grass roots following the likes of which has not been enjoyed by any other politician in recent times. The Congressman summed it up in this passage of his press release last night. "I also have another priority. I have constituents in my home district that I must serve. I cannot and will not let them down. And I have another battle I must face here as well. If I were to lose the primary for my congressional seat, all our opponents would react with glee, and pretend it was a rejection of our ideas. I cannot and will not let that happen." Paul's Texas District 14 congressional seat is being challenged by pro-war Neo-Con Chris Peden, who deceived the Congressman by going back on his word that he wouldn't run against Paul during the presidential race. The Paul campaign have evaluated the circumstances and the consequences of losing the Congressional seat and have responded accordingly. In shifting the focus of his campaign, Paul will still be able to use the millions raised in his name to hold his district and he will still appear in national debates to educate people about the real power structure that seeks to control and dominate us. Undoubtedly a certain portion of Ron Paul supporters will feel disappointed and let down by the fact that the Congressman is all but suspending his presidential campaign and most of these individuals will be new to politics. They need to understand that we can not and will not win the game with the first roll of the dice. America was not gutted overnight and it will not be restored overnight. The Ron Paul Revolution was the first major salvo in a battle for our freedom that will never end. What we are fighting is a war of ideas, an information war and a game of brinkmanship. The fact that Ron Paul's message resonated with and woke up millions of people is a victory in itself and provides us a niche with which to continue our efforts. The focus now shifts to the Congressional race and if we can help Ron Paul retain his seat then the power of our message will be amplified in Congress, especially if and when Hillary Clinton is anointed in the White House and continues the same policies we saw under Bush. It is essential and shrewd to maintain a positive attitude and consider how far along the path we have traveled in the pursuit of restoring liberty. A powerful message has been broadcast to those who would attempt to enslave us that there will be a reaction and that our numbers and influence will only continue to grow, presidential race or no presidential race. As we have said all along - this is not about a political campaign, this is not about 2008 and this is not even about Ron Paul. This is about an idea, an idea that surpasses the transitory nature of a presidential election and one which can not and will not be stopped no matter what the circumstances. As Ron Paul himself says, "This Revolution is permanent. It will not end at the Republican convention. It will not end in November. It will not end until we have won the great battle on which we have embarked."
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