To be sure, sitting President Barack Obama bested Paul with a 49,480 to 2,273 tally, but that Ron Paul placed so highly in rank tells us a few things. First, nearly twenty-three hundred New Hampshire voters got out and drove to a polling station, knowing they were going to cast a write-in vote, knowing that it was in a primary where no delegates could be assigned to write-in votes, but as a straight protest vote.

Second, Ron Paul is the second most popular candidate among Democrat voters in NH. This will be crucially important when the general election rolls around. Ron Paul already won 50% of the Independent vote in the Republican primary. The ability to build consensus and pull in Independent and other-party voters is essential to achieve a victory in the general election. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama are all alumni of the #2 spot in their respective New Hampshire primaries.