# Why are Gravel and Paul still running? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 12, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278 "2008-02-12T14:40:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yelimS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/54ee81/32.png) [@yelimS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yelimS)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/1 "2008-02-12T14:40:07Z")
I assume some of the original 16 candidates never even dreamt of winning, and have only ever been in it for the publicity. But these two (and well, Huckabee, too) seems rather like sore losers, now. What’s the deal? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/2 "2008-02-12T14:44:29Z")
Why should they quit when they didn’t expect to win in the first place? I don’t know what Gravel is doing, but Paul seems to get about 10 percent of the vote everywhere he runs, and his campaign was well-funded as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/3 "2008-02-12T14:52:45Z")
Paul stated his mission quite plainly. He says that the Republican Party has “lost its way”, and he wants to continue making that point as long as he can. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/4 "2008-02-12T15:43:05Z")
Mike Gravel wasn’t even on the Illinois ballot. I’m guessing he didn’t have the signatures or something. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/5 "2008-02-12T15:46:49Z")
I think it’s a ridiculous notion that it’s somehow unacceptable to continue one’s campaign just because another candidate has a big lead. Voters throughout the primary season should have the opportunity to vote for whomever they want, and candidates shouldn’t feel obligated to stop campaigning before one of their rivals has clinched the nomination. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/6 "2008-02-12T16:21:53Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] I think it’s a ridiculous notion that it’s somehow unacceptable to continue one’s campaign just because another candidate has a big lead. Voters throughout the primary season should have the opportunity to vote for whomever they want, and candidates shouldn’t feel obligated to stop campaigning before one of their rivals has clinched the nomination. [/QUOTE] A good point as well. Whatever the mathematical odds, campaigns aren’t just about numbers. One ill-conceived speech, one badly timed comment, one person rising up out of nowhere with an accusation — it is easy these days for a campaign to be completely derailed. I can’t imagine what McCain could do to blow it, but it’s often the thing no one thought of. ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/7 "2008-02-12T18:16:58Z")
Additionally the lower tiered candidates keep the front runners honest. With out a real chance at the nomination, they are free from trying to triangulate and please all the people all the time; they can speak bluntly where the others have to tiptoe through the mine fields. Though they don’t draw the biggest numbers in the polls, but the “fringe” candidates do always draw the biggest applause in the debates. Where would we be now if we did not have Gravel calling out the Democratic candidates for their war baiting with Iran? With out Kucinich to really begin the debate about helping the poor, where health care should be, what should be done with Cheney and Bush? Unfortunately that last one hasn’t really stuck, but the populist points of his did. Even Biden would take the front runners to task when needed. Ron Paul- with out him to keep the Republican debates on foreign policy honest and to inject a little sense, we might very well have “Double Gitmo”-Mitt and snickering 9iu11iani in the lead right now. Plus he was the first one, especially on the rightwing, to really speak on a mainstream, national level, of how bad the economy is right now. Without him bringing it up in the debates, the Republicans probably would have kept saying the economy is fine and tried to blame it solely on the next guy(or gal). Hell, even Tancredo(who shames my birth state) served a purpose by showing just how mean spirited and bigoted the general Republican immigration platform is. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/8 "2008-02-12T18:35:59Z")
McCain should be thanking Huckabee- if Huckabee dropped out, there’d be no one left for McCain to stump _against_, and so McCain would get no media attention at all while everyone watches Clinton and Obama. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/9 "2008-02-13T15:14:00Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Why should they quit when they didn’t expect to win in the first place? I don’t know what Gravel is doing, but Paul seems to get about 10 percent of the vote everywhere he runs, and his campaign was well-funded as far as I know. [/QUOTE] _snrk_ Ron Paul’s lucky to get 4% wherever he runs. Even the states where he was supposed to “take off” in, he only gets about 4%. The best he ever did was get 10%. Yes, he’s well-funded. That’s because the same small number of supporters are fanatics about him. He’s the new Lyndon LaRouche. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/10 "2008-02-13T15:40:46Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] _snrk_ Ron Paul’s lucky to get 4% wherever he runs. Even the states where he was supposed to “take off” in, he only gets about 4%. The best he ever did was get 10%. Yes, he’s well-funded. That’s because the same small number of supporters are fanatics about him. He’s the new Lyndon LaRouche. [/QUOTE] I’ve never been a believer in Ron Paul - I agree with him on a couple of basic things, but I think he’s nuts and mostly funded by nuts. Still, I don’t think your 4 percent comment is accurate. He’s finished in double-digits in every caucus except Wyoming (0) and Colorado (8), with highs of 25 percent in Montana and 21 percent in Washington and North Dakota. In the primaries, on review, mid-single digits (4-6 percent) looks more accurate than 10 percent. In summary… whatever, it’s Ron Paul. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/11 "2008-02-13T15:54:13Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] Ron Paul’s lucky to get 4% wherever he runs. [/quote] Well, then, he’s been “lucky” in the 26 out of 33 contests to date in which he has received more than 4.0%. With luck like that, he ought to play the lottery. > [@smiling bandit](#): > > Even the states where he was supposed to “take off” in, he only gets about 4%. The best he ever did was get 10%. Well, yeah, except for the eight states (Alaska, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, and Washington) in which he got more than 10%. But hey, you put in a _snrk_. There’s nothing like a _snrk_ to make a factually incorrect post more impressive. > [@smiling bandit](#): > > Yes, he’s well-funded. That’s because the same small number of supporters are fanatics about him. He’s the new Lyndon LaRouche. Oh, well, he’s well-funded and LaRouche is well-funded. So obviously they’re both crackpots. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/12 "2008-02-13T16:07:30Z")
Yes, I exaggerated. But not by much. Ok, he’s getting more than 4%. it’s stil a pititfully small numbers, and he’s already got no chance fo dong anything, including even affecting the election in any way. If memory serves, he got much less support than Ross Perot for crisakes. And he’s a crackpot because he’s a lunatic whackjob. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/13 "2008-02-13T17:10:36Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] . He’s the new Lyndon LaRouche. [/QUOTE] I remember Lyndon LaRouche. I’d watch his 30-min infomercials on our dwindling grain reserves, space-based missile defense, the need for a US-Russian gold-based currency, liberal Democrats being “Soviet agents of influence”, the control over our political system by the spirit of the “Satanic racist degenerate Albert Pike”, etc. Ron Paul’s no Lyndon LaRouche. _sigh_ I miss Lyndon LaRouche. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/14 "2008-02-14T01:03:56Z")
Just out of curiosity, what if McCain suddenly drops dead? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/15 "2008-02-14T01:15:31Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Just out of curiosity, what if McCain suddenly drops dead? [/QUOTE] “Hi, I’m Mitt Romney. If I don’t run for President, Al Qaeda wins.” ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2008, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/16 "2008-02-16T16:28:19Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Just out of curiosity, what if McCain suddenly drops dead? [/QUOTE] Perhaps this is why Mitt “suspended” his campaign, instead of dropping out? ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/17 "2008-02-18T05:23:36Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] _sigh_ I miss Lyndon LaRouche. [/QUOTE] Go to Boston University. You’re bound to come across some of his idiot followers (not students of BU, mind you) trying to tell you all about how Kepler (yes, that Kepler) disproved global warming and so on. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-gravel-and-paul-still-running/437278/18 "2008-03-26T22:24:12Z")
Gravel’s [a Libertarian now](http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/26/gravel/index.html). And Paul’s [still making waves](http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1724358,00.html).