Ron Paul comes in second in Nevada caucuses

While Mitt Romney should appreciate his victory in the Nevada Caucus, the bigger story not being fully covered by the mainstream is Ron Paul’s second place finish. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, the results from the Nevada Republican caucus are below (provided by CNN):

Romney – 51% 
Ron Paul – 14% 
John McCain – 13% 
Mike Huckabee – 8% 
Fred Thompson – 8% 
Rudy Guiliani – 4% 
Duncan Hunter – 2% 
Tom Tancredo – 0% 

Paul just barely beat McCain by 184 votes but will serve as inspiration to Paul supporters who were dispirited after an unexpected fifth-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, where it was expected that the state’s large proportion of independents would come out to vote for Paul. However, Nevada independents came out for Paul with a CNN entrance poll showing Paul’s support by party ideology running 51 percent independent and 7 percent Republican. Paul’s strong showing amongst independents makes him somewhat of a dark horse in this campaign because in the event that Paul does not win the Republican nomination, his supporters will be strongly courted by the Republican nominee and may be persuaded to support Paul if he runs as an Independent. With this victory, the Paul campaign may have received enough momentum to make surprises on Super Tuesday, when 24 states will hold either primaries or caucuses.