Why isn't the tea party supporting Ron Paul?

A Quinnipiac University poll released this week showed that only 30 percent of tea party supporters likely to vote in the GOP primary have a favorable opinion of Paul. That’s compared with 79 percent who view former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) favorably, 64 percent who look favorably at former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and 49 percent who say the same of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R)…

Some polls have suggested that the tea party movement may be fueled as much by views on religion and illegal immigration as by a push for lower spending and taxes. That was a point that Clymer touched on, noting that the tea party-backed idea of fiscal responsibility “all comes back to our Biblical roots.”…

In a statement, Jesse Benton, Paul’s national campaign chairman, heralded the growth of the tea party and suggested that some of Paul’s rivals in the GOP race are “phonies” that have been bending over backward in an effort to pick up support from members of the movement.