'Widening Public Interest in Paul Campaign'

The Hill's Brent Budowsky writes:

For many months I have tried to be fair and ahead of my colleagues in the media in giving serious treatment to Ron Paul as a candidate, his campaign as a campaign, and his movement as a movement. Something is happening. There is a widening public interest in the Paul campaign, a passionate support from his followers, a professionalism from his campaign managers, and growing, though not yet sufficient, respect from the major media.

For the next few weeks, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney will be calling each other names and questioning each other's conservatism, which just might open the door for Ron Paul to charge through the gap and win the Iowa caucus. If he doesn't win, I predict a strong second.

I have suggested for some time that Paul's organization in Iowa is stronger than pundits realize, the loyalty of his followers is deeper and his performance in Iowa will surpass his numbers in the polls. Recently I have added emphasis to the well-managed Paul campaign and the strength of his ads.

Today I will add two additional factors. First, many younger voters support Paul, and many of them have cellphones, not landline phones, and are not picked up in polls. Second, while Gingrich and Romney attack each other, Ron Paul not only looks better, but there is now a growing "protest vote" that might go to Paul because GOP voters are fed up with both Romney and Gingrich and the insiderism they represent

.