Ron Paul Needs Votes More Than Cash

I have written a number of pieces on Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas) predicting that he will have an influence on this campaign. And he has -- to the tune of hundreds of thousands of supporters and more than $28 million raised to date. His support manifests itself mainly on the Internet.

I decided to visit New Hampshire on primary day to see whether Paul's support was real or a figment of the imagination created by the Internet. It is, in fact, real. But where will his campaign go from here?

For much of the fall, Paul was almost nonexistent in the polls, around 1% in New Hampshire, in other states and across the nation. Things began to change once his supporters raised millions of dollars.

Ron Paul's the Only Real Conservative in the Race

In New Hampshire, I saw Paul supporters swarming, carrying signs, urging supporters to vote and manning polling stations. The campaign has managed to move from the Internet out onto the streets.

Paul received 10% of the vote in the Iowa caucus and was one of three candidates to win a county there. I was interested to see if he would repeat that performance or better in New Hampshire. It didn't happen. I had assumed more independents would vote for him and carry him to third place. But he garnered a mere 8% -- three percentage points behind third-place Mike Huckabee.