The calls for Newt Gingrich to get out of the GOP race grew last week when he lost in his alleged home court areas of Alabama and Mississippi, and they only grew louder after another desultory performance in Illinois.
But what about Ron Paul? The only presidential candidate who has yet to win a primary has always been on a mission to spread his messages, such as ending the Federal Reserve Bank and limiting U.S. operations overseas. The candidate himself admitted earlier this year that he doesn't really think of himself becoming the nominee. But his strategy has been to accumulate as many delegates as possible to have some influence within the party at the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa.
In the meantime, the 76-year-old isn't exactly stressing himself out too much in terms of campaigning, taking a less than intense approach to winning over voters in individual states of late. But he's still harboring faint hopes of a contested convention swinging more delegates to his side. On Tuesday night in Hollywood, he appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where he discussed the idea that he actually could still win the nomination in Tampa.
This article appears in Mar 22-28, 2012.