Paul Phillips did well in ROTR polling, but came up short in his primary battle today. Internal polling showed Chris Peden besting Congressman Ron Paul, but the news just came in that Paul defeated Peden in the primary for TX-14. The problem is name recognition during a national election. I firmly believe that many voters went to the polls and cast a vote for the familiar, and in TX-14, that meant an incumbent. In OH-18, that meant a man who spent years upon years serving the country, in a wide variety of different roles. I'll chalk this up as a lesson to me when analyzing primaries this cycle and in cycles onward. I'm calling it the Phillips-Peden Conundrum.

Ron Paul is facing an uphill climb if he wants to win his party's nomination. No, I'm not talking about his Presidential bid, I'm talking about his Congressional race. The FDH Lounge has the big news. Paul's getting out:

Troubled by internal polls showing insurgent challenger Chris Peden having pulled ahead shockingly in the Texas 14th congressional district, Congressman Ron Paul will be pulling out of the Republican presidential race in advance of his home state's March 4 primary, The FDH Lounge blog has learned.

My own source backs this up. Paul's campaign is looking at internal numbers showing Peden with a 43-32 lead over Paul, with the primary just weeks away. Conservatives have been rallying to Peden, including the folks at RedState, in an attempt to oust the anti-war flamethrower. 11 points with three weeks to go. You have to like those odds. Peden has been added to my slatecard of candidates to support, so throw him some love if you despise the Ron Paul anti-Republican contingent as much as the rest of us.