"Ron Paul is actually helping Romney," said Craig Robinson, editor of the Iowa Republican website and former political director of the Iowa Republican Party. "Ron Paul is Romney's greatest ally."
Gingrich did criticize Paul in an interview this week with CNN, saying he wouldn't vote for Paul if he were the party's nominee. "It's very difficult to see how you would engage in dealing with Ron Paul as a nominee," the former House speaker said.
And Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) hammered Paul's isolationist approach to foreign policy during an Iowa debate Dec. 15.
But neither is backing up those charges with paid advertising. The ads from candidates and groups that support them barely acknowledge Paul.
'63 years'
The only ad now airing that remotely attacks Paul does it obliquely, showing his picture alongside pictures of Bachmann, Gingrich, and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania without naming any one of them individually.
"If Washington's the problem, why trust a congressman to fix it?" says the ad, from Perry, the Texas governor. "Among them, they've spent 63 years in Congress, leaving us with debt, earmarks, and bailouts."
It's not that Paul isn't a threat to win Iowa.
Two new polls Wednesday found him neck and neck with Romney atop the field.
One, from Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, showed Paul with the support of 24 percent of likely caucus attendees, Romney with 20 percent, and Gingrich with 13 percent.
Another, from CNN, showed Romney with 25 percent, Paul with 22 percent, Santorum with 16 percent, and Gingrich with 14 percent.
Also, Paul has a deep statewide organization to get people to take part in the caucuses, town-hall-like meetings in which it's crucial to know the rules.
His rivals might be hoping that the news media will do the work for them.
'The calculation'
