"This is the beginning of a long, hard Slog," Ron Paul says, pointing out that very few of the delegates—less than 2% he says—have been assigned.

He's wearing a blue sweater. Looks like a history professor, but not in a bad way, for once. Paul says he earned four to five times the amount of South Carolina votes he won four years ago. "We can't depend on the government to take care of us, cradle to grave, he says, because we're broke. He brings up his one trillion dollar budget cut again, saying he's argued for "the last thirty years" that we need "a sound dollar" by reigning in "the Federal Reserve system." "What could be more ridiculous" than printing our own money on our own printing press, Paul says. He argues against "fiat money," which he says was foisted off on the next generation. "We are the next generation," the nearly 80-year-old Ron Paul says, and a crowd of twenty-somethings goes wild...

"We will restore the Constitution and we will restore liberty," Paul says.

"This is becoming an opportunity for us to explore what made America great," Paul says. Then he goes on a Scrooge McDuck-worthy tear on money and why it's so important for us to have it. If I had a nickel for every time Paul said the word "money" during this speech, I'd have...a lot of money. Like a couple bucks or something. Now we're on to the Patriot Act, which he wants to repeal. Paul says the people in his room are internet savvy—I was hoping he'd call it the Information Superhighway—and he mentions SOPA and PIPA without calling them SOPA or PIPA. "I got a lot of criticism from the media, and you know I care a lot about that," Paul says, giggling, pointing out that he voted against a raise in the debt ceiling. "We had the largest middle class," Paul says, but now, due to foreign debt, we no longer have a vibrant middle class. "Why don't we put money back in this country? That's what we need," he says, after railing against China. "The momentum is growing. Did you ever notice the other candidates going up and down and up and down?" He says his campaign has shown "steady growth." "There is a great need for it," he says. "We have the message, we have the talent, we have the determination, and we will win this battle for peace and prosperity." And he's out. Paul seemed more subdued than in his previous two speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire. Reports are that he went home earlier this week and barely campaigned in South Carolina at all. While his campaign may have shown "steady growth," his enthusiasm seems to wane even further every time I see him.