Ron Paul drops out...who are you going to vote for now?

DEVELOPING:

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas said Monday he will not compete in primaries in any of the states that have not yet voted — essentially confirming Mitt Romney will win the Republican presidential nomination.

Mr. Paul
said he will continue to work to win delegates in states that have
already voted and where the process of delegate-selection is playing
out. He said that’s a way to make his voice heard at the Republican
nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., in August.

“Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted,” Mr. Paul said. “Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have.”

He did encourage his supporters to still turn out and vote.

His decision not to compete for new votes in other states leaves Mr. Romney
as the only candidate still actively fighting for voters’ support in
the 11 states still to vote. That list includes the biggest prizes on
the board — Texas and California.

Mr. Paul
was making his third run for president, after an earlier bid as the
Libertarian Party’s nominee in 1988 and then a campaign for the
Republican nomination in 2008.

He ends his active bid without
having won the vote in any state, though he did end up with the most
bound delegates in Maine, thanks to his delegate-maximizing strategy.

Throughout the campaign Mr. Paul has said his lower vote totals would be countered by his supporters’ enthusiasm, particularly in states that hold caucuses.

In
many of those states, the initial caucuses hold a non-binding straw
poll and the real delegate selection process to the Tampa convention
happens at regional and state meetings. Mr. Paul’s supporters have been more likely to show up at those meetings and win the delegate slots.