Ron Paul Already has Teams in Place in 12 States

Maggie Haberman at Politico reports:

Paul has already put teams in place in 12 caucus states through March 6, when close to a dozen Republican primaries and caucuses will take place. On Wednesday, the campaign announced five new office openings: Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota and Washington.

None of it means that Paul is dismissive of the early states.

Rather, he’s assembled an infrastructure aimed at giving him staying power and a voice at the national convention — a strategic approach that few other candidates besides Mitt Romney are pursuing at the moment.

“Obviously, Iowa and New Hampshire are very important to us because of both their historic position and the intense vetting of candidates that their citizens provide,” Paul’s campaign manager Jesse Benton told POLITICO.

“Our campaign has worked very hard in both of those states, and we plan to do very well,” he said, but he added, “We are also, however, looking beyond those states to the delegate selection process and have organizational structure and voter contact programs in multiple states that will caucus through February and on Super Tuesday.”

“Our campaign has a comprehensive plan to win the delegates needed to either secure the nomination or enter into a brokered convention in Tampa,” he said...

According to recent polls, Paul ranks among the top three candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire.

But unlike most other candidates, given the war chest Paul has amassed and his ability to raise money there’s no pressing reason for him to drop out quickly even if he begins with a string of disappointing early state performances.

As of the fundraising quarter that ended Sept. 30, Paul had raised over $12 million, the bulk of it in small donations. Few others in the field can claim an ongoing donor base to raise money from once voting starts winnowing out the candidates.