Ron Paul's double digit support in Iowa has shocked establishment media figures who have long derided the Congressman as an insignificant candidate with just 2 or 3 per cent of the vote. Even Fox News' own talking heads now agree that Paul should not be excluded from the upcoming presidential forum as campaign momentum builds.

Dr. Paul blew "national frontrunner" Rudy Giuliani out of the water, who got just 4% of the vote, and is handily placed behind McCain and Thompson heading into New Hampshire.

The Congressman's strong showing has led to new calls for Fox News to reverse the decision to exclude him from the January 6th presidential forum, not from Ron Paul supporters but from Fox News' own flagship hosts.

"Ten per cent is not insignificant - that's a huge number," said Fox's Greta van Susteren, appearing with host Shep Smith last night. Smith noted that Paul had more than doubled Giuliani's total.

"Should Fox News reconsider?" asked Smith, to which Susteren responded, "I'm not sure why he's out of it (the forum)."

"Here you have a candidate that 10 per cent of the people caucused in his party really want him and it's not like he's an insignificant player," she added.

"He didn't just drop in yesterday to the process, he has been running for president for a long time, and certainly many of the issues he's raised are rather provocative and certainly stimulate the debate, that's not a bad thing - and why not pull up another chair?" Susteren concluded.


CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Larry King also noted Paul's double digit finish during a discussion last night.

"Ron Paul I think is gonna be a factor in New Hampshire on the Republican side much more than he was in Iowa given all the Independents there so let's not neglect Ron Paul when we're talking about this," remarked Blitzer.

(Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet, Friday, January 4, 2008)

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