Sen. Rand Paul's (R., Ky.) campaign is "officially on death watch," CNN panelist and The Atlantic reporter Molly Ball said on Inside Politics Sunday morning, citing Paul's poor fundraising numbers and low enthusiasm for his candidacy.
"That's never a good look for your campaign when every interview with the Des Moines Register starts with, 'So, are you dropping out?'" Ball said. "That's what happened to him this week. Disappointing fundraising numbers, he's not going to be able to keep up the pace of spending that he previously had. He's not getting very big crowds."
Paul raised only $2.5 million for his presidential campaign over the past three months, far behind his leading Republican rivals, and he is only at 2.3 percent in Real Clear Politics polling averages, putting in doubt whether he will make the main stage for the GOP's CNBC debate on Oct. 28.
"I would say [there's] a lot of nervous donors, but there's not actually that many donors left," Ball said. "One of the big problems that Paul has had is that a lot of the big names and libertarian money that he thought were going to come through for him didn't come through ... It's looking very dicey for him."
"Money tends to follow performance, and he hasn't performed," CNN host John King said.
The Des Moines Register referred to the "death watch" for Paul's campaign earlier this week, but Paul told the newspaper that he was "absolutely not" considering dropping out of the race and that he was "in it to win it."