Ron Paul gaining R-E-S-P-E-C-T?

More slowly than the phenomenon warrants, Ron Paul is gradually getting a little attention from mainstream and quasi-mainstream outlets. Patrick Ruffini, over at Hugh Hewitt's blog, predicted last week that "Ron Paul Will Place Second at Ames." That's the GOP straw poll in August that may or may not tell us much about the outcome of the Iowa caucuses next year (McCain and Giuliani say they're not contesting it) but will say a little about early support in Iowa.

Ruffini's reasoning? Ron "leads the second tier in cash-on-hand. He was able to get 1,200 people out to the Hy-Vee [the "debate" from which he was excluded] (has any candidate done something that big on their own, not at an RPI event?)."

Ruffini notes that Ron is up to 3 percent in a Gallup poll, ahead of Huckabee and Brownback. He makes a completely unnecessary comparison to Lyndon La Rouche (Ron Paul has been elected and reelected to Congress and LaRouche has never been elected to anything) but wouldn't be surprised if Ron becomes a factor if not a winner.