Ron Paul looking to South Carolina after New Hampshire

Despite the sniping that went on early Sunday between rivals on the debate stage, Ron Paul didn’t mention a single one of his opponents for the GOP presidential nomination by name. Or even by inference. At a town hall meeting in a lakeside resort hotel in the afternoon, Ron Paul maintained his singular focus on his vision of a perfect, libertarian society. And the crowd, as always, ate it up.

While many of his competitors have faced harsh inquisitions here in the Granite State, Paul’s crowd was respectful and even a little worshipful as they hear him spin his view of the universe as it would be under a Ron Paul presidency.

On Planet Paul, the troops will come home, the “military industrial complex” will be put on notice, the Federal Reserve will be abolished, the United States will stop sending money to Israel, the government will get out of the health insurance business, there will be no federal department of education, zillionaire bankers will “stop ripping us off” and the United States would never have unilaterally breached Pakistan’s borders to kill Osama bin Laden.

It’s an appealing message to the legions of Paul supporters who understand full well that the Texas congressman will probably never secure the GOP presidential nomination, despite his penchant for raising large sums of money and for inspiring passion among his fans, many of whom are disenchanted with Washington’s dysfunction.

“I am feeling very hopeless about any president succeeding right now because of the way Congress doesn’t work together,” said Aleka Munroe, 52, an unemployed special education teacher who identified herself as an independent voter. “How will you handle the competion and fighting between the two sides?”

“With difficulty,” replied Paul, “but with a new approach. I have such a strange new idea -- obeying the Constitution.”

Afterwards, Munroe said she was pleased by Paul’s answer. She said she admires Paul’s stance on killing off the Department of Education and said she paid $200 so she would not have to belong to a teachers union. And even though she understands that Paul will probably not win the nomination, she said, “It’s an important symbolic vote. The primary is about going for the person you think is most important. Voters need to start demanding more.”

After his appearance in the packed ballroom of the Church Landing at Mill Falls, Paul spoke with reporters briefly. When asked exactly what he envisions as his path to the Republican presidential nomination, the 76-year-old physician, who was introduced by his son, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, almost seemed surprised by the query.

“I guess I’m not very good at answering questions like that because I keep thinking, I do the same thing over and over again,” said Paul. “My job is to understand the issues, understand the philosophy, understand American history, understand economic policy and explain it to people so they know what to expect and get them to join in with what I am doing by voting for me and electing me for whatever office I run for.”

Paul said he plans to be on the ground in South Carolina, where the next primary takes place on Jan. 21, within 12 hours of knowing the results of Tuesday’s contest in New Hampshire.

“South Carolina will be a nice test for us, because it’s a bigger state and if we do well there, that will encourage the fundraising and it alerts other people to the message. They’ll say ‘What’s he talking about? Maybe he does have some answers.’”