Rep. Ron Paul admits delegate tally is ‘not enough’ to win

GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) on Wednesday acknowledged to supporters that he lacked enough delegates to capture the party’s nomination.

In a statement, Paul said the campaign would “send 200 bound delegates” to the Republican National Convention to be held in Tampa, Fla., in August. “This number shatters the predictions of the pundits and talking heads and shows the seriousness of our movement,” he added.

{mosads}The Texas lawmaker, however, admitted to his backers that tally was “not enough to win the nomination.”

Paul predicted that overall he would have about 500 supporters at the convention, including many Romney-bound delegates whom he said agreed with his policy positions.

Paul thanked his supporters for their “hard work and diligence,” saying the delegate total “puts us in a tremendous position to grow our movement and shape the future of the GOP.”

His campaign, last month, announced that it would no longer spend resources on contesting upcoming GOP primaries, but would continue to fight to win delegates to the convention, where Paul hopes to have a prominent role. 

In a memo released in May, Paul’s campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said, “Dr. Paul is not ending his campaign,” arguing that the focus would be on ensuring “our delegates can still make a major impact at the national convention and beyond.”

“We have never had this kind of opportunity,” said Paul in his Wednesday statement. “There will be hundreds of your fellow supporters in Tampa who will be ready and willing to push the Republican Party back to its limited-government, liberty roots.

“Stand up for what we believe in. Be respectful. And let the establishment know that we are the future of the party and of the country. Our revolution is just getting started. You’ll be hearing plenty from me as we approach Tampa and the fall elections,” he added.

Last month, a Paul spokesman said it was not “likely” that the congressman would endorse presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney and that any talk of Paul publicly backing the former Massachusetts governor was “premature.”