I’m still hungover from the South Carolina results, then again seven big cans of Foster’s Premium Ale before bed last night might be a contributing factor in how I’m feeling right now. Regardless, I’m still pretty pissed off about the stupidity of 87 percent of South Carolinians and am hoping that Florida, my home state, gives us some better results. Unfortunately, Gingrich is killing it in the polls right now but at least Rick Santorum is in last place and not Ron Paul. However, as with all these pivotal stops on the campaign trail, the numbers will shift and things will change. I just hope that my state shows Ron Paul as much love as New Hampshire did. Where I live locally, I have seen more Paul signs than any other candidate, especially in front of big local businesses. A well-known seafood joint in town has huge Paul banners in front of it and since it is on a major road and probably feeds over a thousand people per week, hopefully these loyal regulars will jump on board. Then again, my pocket of Florida certainly doesn’t represent the whole state and I do know that some of the local Tea Party leaders are endorsing everyone but Paul. That just goes to show how shit the whole Tea Party thing has become, at least in Southwest Florida.

Apparently the Paul fans are out in droves, which is always a good thing if you actually love liberty. Just yesterday they bumrushed a Rick Santorum event in Coral Springs, turning it into a sign waving war. Why anyone would want to go to a Santorum event other than to antagonize him is beyond me. The Daily Caller did a good job of covering the event, as most of the mainstream media ignored it. In their story, they quoted a Paul supporter who said, “I would have stayed in the same spot if it wasn’t for people coming up right in front of me and putting their signs in front of me. I wasn’t really going for anything specific. I just wanted to vocalize and say — ’cause I knew there would be other conservative here — I wanted to make sure they knew that Ron Paul was still in the running.” One of the seven irritated Santorum supporters interrupted the interview and said exactly what you’d think an uneducated Bible-thumping Santorum supporter would say, “(Ron Paul supporters) are usually known as being somewhat on the fringe, a little bit on the nutty side just like Ron Paul himself.” Wow, what a jab! What is this, 2008?! The only reason a Santorum fan can call Ron Paul nuts is because you’d have to be certifiably insane to be behind Santorum. Santorumites are like crazies locked up in the asylum trying to convince the doctors that they’re the ones who are nuts.

Mitt Romney, who lost some steam after Iowans re-tallied their votes and took away his victory and after losing to Gingrich in South Carolina, came out and suggested that Newt Gingrich was a criminal. Now considering that Newt has been all over Mitt regarding the whole lame ass Bain Capital issue, it is only natural for Romney to put Gingrich on blast for his involvement with Freddie Mac, who caused the housing crisis. With the media saying that unemployment and immigration will be the big issues for Florida, Mitt’s pushing of the Newt-Freddie Mac alliance could shift the discussion towards the bursting of the housing bubble. Since Florida was one of the biggest states hit by the crisis, tapping into this issue right now might prove successful for Romney and detrimental for Gingrich. Then again, both of the weasily bastards have been so dastardly the last few weeks that this all may just backfire. It could blow up in Romney’s face or it could just turn into pointless bickering between the two and open the door for Ron Paul (fingers crossed). With Gingrich pressing the issue about Romney not releasing his tax info, Romney returning and asking Gingrich to release the info on his dealings with Freddie Mac is completely justified, in my honest opinion. In the end, Gingrich can’t run and hide from this if he is accusing Romney of the same thing. Now if Newt does drop the info and there is nothing incriminating, Mitt will have to release his tax info or face extreme scrutiny from the other candidates and the media, which will in turn bring a strong level of distrust in the voter. Politics is a fucking game and these guys are taking some pretty big risks but it’s crunch time! Truthfully, I don’t trust either of them as far as I could kick them.

Now Ron Paul has come under some scrutiny, which is understandable, about not being in Florida on the night when the primary is decided. I find it disheartening to a degree that the guy I’ve supported and donated a lot of money to won’t be on hand, somewhere in the Sunshine State, to give another fabulous post-primary speech but when looking at how Florida operates, I don’t really disagree with Paul’s decision. First of all, it is incredibly expensive to run a statewide campaign in Florida without a real payoff unless you finish first. You see, Florida has the strange rule where the “winner takes all” in regards to delegates. Basically, if you come in second, even if you are just a few votes behind, you are awarded zero delegates! It’s a pretty fucked up way of doing business in my opinion. Also, Florida is the first state on this journey that has closed primaries. Therefore, only Republicans can vote in the primary. Unlike Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Ron Paul can’t pull in the votes he’d get from either independents or Democrats who may be sick of Obama. In all honesty, this is the only reason why my voter registration card says “REP” on it. In a few weeks, I’m switching it back to the Libertarian Party. The bright side of this situation is that Paul will indeed increase the amount of votes he got in the state just four years ago. In 2008, he only walked away with 3 percent of the votes in Florida. As with all the other states that have voted thus far, it can pretty much be expected that Ron Paul’s numbers will multiply significantly and in the end, this race is about the message. As long as Paul stays in the hunt, the message will grow.

As with every stop on the campaign trail, Florida will be really interesting to watch. I hope my state does the right thing and votes for the guy who truly represents what conservatism is supposed to be about. Most likely the state will hand their delegates over to Gingrich or Romney. I just hope my guy gets a strong finish in second but will probably wind up in third place. If Paul ends up getting in the fourth and final spot, not only is this country doomed but his chances of recovering will be incredibly hard. If Florida fails, Paul’s best chance at shocking the world will come on Super Tuesday in March.