Ron Paul Snaps At Piers Morgan About Dropping Out: Don't 'Pester Me With Silly Questions'

Ron Paul is tired of telling people he's not dropping out of the Republican presidential race.

The Texas congressman, who lags a distant fourth in the polls, snapped back at Piers Morgan on CNN Monday night after the host asked him why he was still campaigning in an already unusually long contest.

If I was prescribing some medicine for you right now, congressman, Morgan asked, I'd say the situation is looking pretty terminal for you. ... Why don't you just do the decent thing and just pull out?

Paul, a physician, quickly responded, Why don't you do the decent thing and not pester me with silly questions?

A recent Gallup poll has the Texas libertarian with a rating of just 10 percent and The Associated Press has Paul's delegate count at a mere 50, compared to Mitt Romney's 568 and Rick Santorum's 273.

Despite the low numbers, Paul and his supporters remain optimistic about caucuses that have yet to officially announce their results. The congressmen tends to do the best in the caucus system; with only 87 percent of precincts reporting in Maine, Ron Paul has earned 34.9 percent to Romney's 39 percent. In Missouri, which won't have official results for quite a few months, the Paul campaign announced that it had taken the most delegates in St. Louis and Jackson (Kansas City) counties.

What about the states that are still working through the process, like Maine, and right now we're doing very well in the state of Washington, and excellent now in Nevada, and even in Missouri, some really good news came out there for us, Paul said.

Still, catching up to his rivals in delegates is highly unlikely for Paul at this point.

Many big-name Republicans, most recently former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, have endorsed the former Massachusetts governor and encouraged their party to coalesce around the front-runner. However, Romney still hasn't garnered enough support to wrap up what has turned into a very long campaign. With at least 20 more state contests to go, Romney is still far away from the 1,144 delegates need to secure the nomination.

Paul echoed a sentiment that has been repeated by presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, two candidates that also deflecting increasing pressure to drop out of the campaign.

It's way too soon for you to write anybody off, Paul said.