Ron Paul all but ends presidential campaign, continues delegate strategy

— -- Ron Paul announced Monday that his campaign will no longer spend money on presidential nominating contests due to lack of funds, effectively ending his campaign for the Republican nomination.

Paul wrote the following in an open letter to supporters:

Paul, the only Republican presidential candidate actively campaigning against frontrunner Mitt Romney, encouraged his supporters to continue their involvement in the presidential race as well as downballot races across the country to spread his message of lower spending and the protection of individual liberties. He stressed that he will continue working to win delegates.

"In the coming days, my campaign leadership will lay out to you our delegate strategy and what you can do to help, so please stay tuned," Paul wrote. He stopped short of an outright suspension, an option all of his fellow competitors (besides Romney) have chosen.

Two weeks ago, Paul and his supporters  cheered Paul's delegate wins in Maine and Nevada. But as Yahoo News reported, those wins didn't necessarily move Paul any closer to winning his party's nomination.

Paul has long touted a strategy to rack up delegates as a way to become a part of this summer's convention process, absent an outright win.

Paul currently has 104 delegates and Romney has 966, according to the Associated Press.

In recent weeks, Paul supporters have been increasingly vocal in their attacks on establishment Republicans, accusing them of employing "dirty tricks" to benefit Romney over Paul.

Paul's campaign Sunday attempted to quash the most recent attack Sunday by defending the Republican National Committee and chairman Reince Priebus against accusations the party is violating Rule #11, which bans favoritism, by creating a joint fundraising committee with Romney in April.

Paul Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton reconfirmed in a statement Sunday that the Paul campaign was also invited by the RNC to set up a joint committee and declined.

"The RNC offered to set up a joint fundraising committee with the Paul campaign and were very clear that if Dr. Paul became the nominee, the Victory Operation would be behind him 100 percent," Benton said. "They also were clear that they would hold off if our campaign objected. I gave my full consent for the RNC to move forward."

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