Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann were there. So was Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. But Ron Paul stole the show at the Value Voters Summit.
Paul quoted from the Bible effortlessly moving in and out of scriptural texts to make his points. The speech was constantly interrupted by standing ovations.
Paul's victory underscores his near statistical tie with Michele Bachmann in the Iowa Straw Poll last August in Ames. Sixty percent of the caucus-goers in Iowa are born-again Christians. If Paul can win with this crowd, he can win in Iowa.
This author is a born-again Christian. Many of us are moving to Ron Paul because we realize that the best way to protect our religious liberties is to get back to the Constitution and protect everybody else's liberties as well.
While Herman Cain's much-ballyhooed Florida victory won him headlines and major media attention last week, it is not likely that this event will get much media play.
Paul's first place victory only days before in California, a much bigger state than Florida, was virtually ignored.
Paul's exposure of the Federal Reserve and its interest-free loans to elitist companies and insider billionaires has not won him any friends among the executives of the television networks. But you can be sure that they are deeply worried by the events of this day.
If Ron Paul has resonance among born-again Christians, who make up 48 percent of the nation's population, then the GOP nomination is finally a possibility and the recent Rasmussen poll showing him beating Barack Obama in a head-to-head contest is suddenly relevant.
Here are the final results:
Paul 37%
Cain 23%
Santorum 16%
Perry 8%
Bachmann 8%
Romney 4%
Gingrich 3%
Huntsman 0%
Undecided 1%
Doug Wead is a New York Times best-selling author and a former adviser to two American presidents. He is senior adviser to the Ron Paul presidential campaign.
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