page_title: Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign
section_title: Background and pre-campaign events
hierarchical_section_title: Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign / Background and pre-campaign events
caption_attribution_description: Ron Paul speaking to supporters at a townhall in Le Mars, Iowa. Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.
context_page_description: The 2012 presidential campaign of Ron Paul, U.S. Representative of Texas, began officially in 2011 when Paul announced his candidacy for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for the U.S. Presidency.
  On April 14, 2011, Paul announced the formation of a "testing-the-waters" account, and had stated that he would decide whether he would enter the race by at least early May. Paul announced the formation of an exploratory committee on April 26, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa. He declared his candidacy for President of the United States on May 13, 2011 in Exeter, New Hampshire.
  On July 12, 2011, Paul announced that he would not seek another term as the Representative of Texas's 14th District to focus on his presidential campaign. By April 2012, the campaign had raised more than $38 million.
  On May 14, 2012, Paul announced that he would end active campaigning for the remaining primary states and instead focus on delegate selection conventions at the state level. On July 14, 2012, Paul failed to win a plurality of delegates at the final convention in the state of Nebraska, which ended his ability to ensure a speaking spot at the Republican National Convention.
context_section_description: Heavily speculated as a possible Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election, Paul appeared in the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll. Paul won the poll, defeating Mitt Romney, who had won it the previous three years. Paul also won the 2011 CPAC straw poll with 30 percent of the vote. Following that, he also won the paid, online Arizona Tea Party Patriots straw poll on February 28, 2011 with 49% of the vote.
  In February 2011, Paul asked supporters to donate to his Liberty Political Action Committee to fund trips to Iowa and elsewhere to explore a possible 2012 presidential candidacy. On February 21, a Presidents' Day money bomb raised around $400,000 in 24 hours. Liberty PAC raised more than $700,000 during its February relaunch. By the end of March, Liberty PAC had raised more than $1 million.
  On April 14, 2011, it was announced that Paul had formed a "testing-the-waters" organization, similar to Newt Gingrich's efforts in exploring his potential candidacy. Paul's spokesman, Jesse Benton was quoted as saying, "He remains undecided on what his plans will be, but as a final decision draws closer, his team has put the pieces in place for him to flip a switch and hit the ground running if he decides to run for president." Paul announced the formation of an exploratory committee in Des Moines, Iowa on April 26 in preparation for a potential bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
  On May 5, Paul participated in a debate in Greenville, South Carolina among only five candidates. A moneybomb was scheduled for the same day, which raised over $1 million for Paul's campaign.
caption: Ron Paul at a townhall in Le Mars, Iowa on December 30, 2011
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