http://www.star-telegram.com/667/story/696874.htmlStar TelegramPosted on Fri, Jun. 13, 2008reprint or license print email Digg it del.icio.us AIM
By ANNA M. TINSLEYStar-Telegram staff writer
Ron Paul officially ends his campaign HOUSTON -- Three months after U.S. Sen. John McCain clinched the Republican Party's presidential nomination, Texas Rep. Ron Paul formally ended his bid for the nomination Thursday.
Paul's announcement came on the first day of the state Republican convention, a time to unify and invigorate grassroots supporters.
"With the primary season now over, the presidential campaign is at an end," Paul wrote in a letter posted on the Internet. "But the larger campaign for freedom is just getting started."
The Surfside doctor, who is now focusing on being re-elected to Congress, will begin a new phase of his "revolution," helping like-minded Republicans get elected to office throughout the country. He calls it a "Campaign for Liberty."
'A permanent presence'
"We will educate our fellow Americans in freedom, sound money, noninterventionism and free markets," he wrote in his letter, echoing remarks he later made at a rally. "We will be a permanent presence on the American landscape. That I promise you. We're not about to let all this good work die."
Although he has not actively pursued the nomination in months, Paul officially was still in the race, many say to continue delivering his conservative message, which includes ending the Iraq war, reigning in federal spending and abolishing the Federal Reserve.
During Paul's presidential bid, in which he raised more than $30 million, his supporters were a force at state GOP conventions across the country trying to become delegates for Paul as well as trying to win him a speaking role at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., in September.
He announced his new venture at a rally late Thursday across the street from the George R. Brown Convention Center, where the GOP convention is being held. At times, supporters chanted "revolution, revolution."
Paul, a Republican who previously ran for president as a Libertarian, is not expected to seek the third party's nomination for president again.
The Libertarian presidential nominee, Bob Barr, has already been chosen and will speak in Fort Worth during the party's state convention Saturday.
Paul's announcement capped off the first day of a three-day GOP convention where party leaders called on Republicans to work together for their candidates if they hope to beat the newly energized Democrats this fall.
Perry: Dems awakening
"I won't sugarcoat it," Gov. Rick Perry said. "At the national level, our party has lost its way.
"Like it or not, the Democrats are awake now and they are more unified than ever, and they are singing this seductive siren song of change. Let's not forget what Democrats really mean when they talk about change," he said. "They really mean the change that they'll be sucking out of your pockets, along with dollar bills."
Added Perry: "When you've been in power as long as Republicans have, you get some nicks and bruises. We are not going to be outworked."
