Ron Paul Collecting Fans, Big Money
WASHINGTON (AP) - Those who dismissed Rep. Ron Paul as a joke in the Republican presidential primary campaign aren't laughing so hard these days.
The Texas libertarian's rise in the polls and in fundraising proves that a small but passionate number of Americans can be drawn to an advocate of unorthodox proposals such as returning to the gold standard and abolishing the income tax, CIA and Federal Reserve.
The Texas libertarian's rise in the polls and in fundraising proves that a small but passionate number of Americans can be drawn to an advocate of unorthodox proposals such as returning to the gold standard and abolishing the income tax, CIA and Federal Reserve.
posted by BP News Bureau | 12:25 PM
2 Comments:
If Rep. Ron Paul's recent comments to U.S. News & World Report have gotten wide play, I apologize for missing it. This would seem to be rather important for the 2008 race, however:
Would Paul consider a third-party run? “It doesn’t interest me at all,” he says. “I've refiled for my congressional seat. That’s Plan B.”
There are many sprawling scenarios and conspiracy theories, on both Right and Left political sites, dedicated to the idea that Paul is going to run as a Libertarian or independent in 2008, thus delivering the presidency to Hillary Clinton (or so they pretty much all conclude). Apparently, he’s not interested.
Dr. Paul has already accomplished much of what he entered the race for to begin with. He has forced the GOP candidates to take firm positions on the war, federal spending, and both parties' egregious violations of constitutional limits on the authority and responsibility of Congress and the Executive. With Dr. Paul in the race, they cannot hide behind half answers and empty rhetoric. They can resort to treating him like a flake, but they have to take a position to do so.
If he loses in the primary and decides to run as a Libertarian or independent, he would be facing two sides of the same coin. I can't think of a single reason he would want to be caught in a crossfire like that. Since the actual positions of the Republican and Democrat nominees will be virtually indistinguishable, the campaign will come down to cosmetics and one-liners. I don't blame him for passing up that situation.
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