Ron Paul Tells South Carolina Voters "Stay Optimistic"

WALL STREET JOURNAL | Kristina Peterson | January 20, 2012

Rep. Ron Paul scurried across South Carolina Friday, with scheduled stops in six cities a day before the Palmetto State’s primary. The Republican presidential hopeful from Texas cheerfully exhorted his crowds to show their support Saturday in his typical understated fashion.

“I think we should stay optimistic,” Mr. Paul told a crowd in an airport hangar in North Charleston, S.C. “Do whatever you can to get some voters out for tomorrow night.”

Unlike his rivals gunning for a victory on Saturday, Mr. Paul embraced his modest showings in the two earlier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“We’ve been pleased with how they came out,” he said. Mr. Paul did little to criticize his rivals, other than to say that unlike the other candidates, his camapign “takes the Constitution very seriously.”

The congressman has said he doesn’t plan to drop out of the primary after Saturday’s primary, regardless of how well he does. On Friday his campaign announced a “substantial” purchase of advertising in Nevada and Minnesota to air its 30-second “Big Dog” ad, showing Mr. Paul as the only candidate on spending cuts “whose bite on such matters equals his bark,” according to the campaign. These will be the first Paul ads to air in Minnesota, which holds its primary on Feb. 7.




Mr. Paul traveled on Friday with his wife, who was deluged by supporters posing for her with pictures and passing her their children to hold.

“My wife, Carol, is here,” Mr. Paul said, searching for her in the crowd, then spotting her. “She’s not paying any attention.”

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