A significant share of Paul voters — 35 percent of those in a Michigan exit poll last week — say they would not vote for any other GOP candidate. And even as Paul’s rivals adopt some of his rhetoric, it remains to be seen whether his followers will shift their allegiance.
“I just don’t see it,” said Omer Rafi, 24, a college student and owner of a polo equipment company in Woodbridge. “The establishment, they marginalize not just Ron Paul but the supporters as well. They call us cultists and all sorts of names: ‘Paul-bots.’ ‘Obsessive.’ After treating us like that, I don’t know how they can feel like we are supposed to become obligated to these guys.”…
Rick Tyler, who heads a super PAC supporting Gingrich, said the involvement of Paul activists would be a boon to the GOP in a general election.
“Their energy is amazing,” he said, particularly among young people, one of the GOP’s weakest groups. But, he added, “many of them, they cannot concede a point ever. Ron Paul is right about everything, and if you bring up a countervailing point, they get mad at you rather than admit that’s a good point.”
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