After Iowa, Republican Party finally figures out the fit has hit the shan, wants desperately not to get "Perot'd" by Ron Paul and his supporters. In fact, there are hints Republican operatives actually _understand_ Paul and his supporters as NOT "kooks." The key comment: "Paul agrees with us 85 percent of the time," said the operative, "and his supporters are earnest conservatives and libertarians who have no reason to support Obama in 2012 unless they're stepped on by our team."

A Gallup Poll released on August 24 in which Republican and Republican-leaning Independents nationwide were asked to choose which candidate they supported for the 2012 GOP Presidential nomination showed Rick Perry in the lead with 29% of the votes, followed by Mitt Romney with 17%, Ron Paul with 13%, and Michele Bachmann with 10%. No other candidate managed to poll more than 4%.

Johnson will be included in Thursday’s Fox News debate in Orlando.