Jim Antle assesses what's next for the scrappy libertarian:
Paul's caucus strategy for delegate maximization clearly isn't panning out as hoped (even granting the Paul campaign's contention that conventional counts are missing a lot of the delegates they are picking up behind the scenes). Given Paul's improved numbers almost everywhere, one wonders in retrospect if they might have been better served by trying to gain momentum by running up their popular vote in key contests.
What happened in Virginia is nevertheless a pretty good example of what might have been for Paul: he was able to pull a sizeable anti-Romney vote.
As the second-best campaign organization, it was not unreasonable to assume a Romney-Paul race at some point, and perhaps one will still occur while a significant bloc of delegates remains at stake. But super PACs and Gingrich's ego have kept other non-Romneys with higher mainstream movement profiles and less divergent foreign policy views in the mix much longer. Still, don't expect Paul to drop out before the others do.
Grace Wyler adds:
Sources close to the campaign tell Business Insider that there is growing pressure, internally and from supporters/donors, to start delivering tangible victories. But Super Tuesday was not all bad for Paul, with the Texas Congressman pulling off surprisingly strong second-place finishes in Vermont and Virginia, Romney strongholds in which Paul succeeded in winning over a significant number of independent voters.
Earlier coverage of Paul's long game here.
The Dish 