Three Reasons Ron Paul Should Drop Out of the Presidential Race (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | According to CNN, Texas Congressman Ron Paul is still seeking the Republican nomination for the presidency. "It's the momentum that we want," Paul said Saturday, "and our goal is to get delegates. And we're going to be doing the states were they allocate by percentages as well as caucus states. So that's been our plan all along."

There comes a time in a candidacy, when continuing forward is paramount to Don Quixote to tilting at windmills. It's time, lest he undo what he has accomplished, for Paul to step aside. He never had a slingshot's chance in a gunfight of becoming president, but he has done what he came to do. While there are a plethora of reasons for him to step aside, three rise to prominence:

First, while according to ABC News, Paul finished fourth in South Carolina, and according to CNN, he is third in the delegate count, the fact is he's not third by inches. He's third by a landslide. He can't win the nomination. Staying in the race only serves to keep his party from coalescing around whichever of the two viable candidates left in the race, Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich, will eventually win the nomination. You don't beat the sitting president by dragging the delegate fight to the convention.

Second, he has gained the national voice he needs to continue playing a viable role in the national discussion. He gains no more voice by staying in the race. He's got his seat at the table. Nobody (at least not me) is saying he should sit down and shut up. But, he's already got his voice. He should use it without harming his party's chances of choosing their nominee quickly enough to have a shot in November.

Third, unlike the other three candidates, he's got a job. He's a member of Congress. It would be one thing if he had a chance of winning, or if he was still in the hunt for a national voice. He doesn't and he's not. As such, he has a responsibility to the people of his district, to go back to Washington and to do the job for which he is actually paid, for the people who are actually paying him to do it.

He's run a good race. He's earned his voice, and he's got other work to do. It's time for him to get out of the way.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120122/pl_ac/10868991_three_reasons_ron_paul_should_drop_out_of_the_presidential_race

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