Ron Paul returns to South Carolina

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul tonight received the endorsement of South Carolina state Sen. Tom Davis, a state lawmaker popular with tea party activists.
Speaking at a rally in Myrtle Beach, Davis praised Paul’s “drastic and radical” efforts to reign in government spending.
“There is only one candidate that is talking about this problem to the degree, at the scale, and with the scope that it needs to be talked about,” Davis said. “You can’t nibble around the edges anymore.”
Davis blamed lobbyists and loopholes for “rotting out our republic to the core.”
“That’s what’s happening in South Carolina and that’s what’s happening to our nation,” he said.
The Paul campaign describes the announcement as “consequential” and “game-changing,” adding in a statement that it “virtually assures” that Paul will get the support of fiscal conservatives in the “First in the South” primary.


Dr. Paul is somebody that I’ve watched for the past 26 years and I’ve always admired the principled stands he’s taken in Congress,” Davis told the overflowing crowd at the rally here Sunday that was Paul’s only stop of the day.
Paul, who gave this typical stump speech focused on economics and personal liberty, told the cheering crowd he had heard Davis was a “very popular senator, and now I believe that.”
“I really appreciate his vote of confidence in giving me this wonderful endorsement,” Paul said.
After the rally, Paul said he felt confident Davis’s endorsement would live up to the “game-changing” billing in a state where his campaign says it’s stepped up efforts following Paul’s strong second place finish in New Hampshire last week.
“He has a lot of influence,” Paul said. “So I do think it’s going to be a very significant event, because he’s been identified with the type of ideas I’ve talked about. He talked about Austrian economics, he was recently elected as a tea party person, and I think that’s exactly the kind of person that will get the attention. I think he’s going to be a big help to us.”
Paul’s been less of a factor in the South Carolina race than he was in Iowa and New Hampshire, but he told the crowd Sunday that his expectations for the state were rising.
“I don’t know if you noticed, you probably have, but the campaign’s been going pretty well,” he said during the rally. “It did well in Iowa, it did well in New Hampshire, and we’re going to do well next Saturday, right? And when we do well, we will send a powerful message.