Ron Paul Running Again
Libertarian icon and perennial presidential candidate Ron Paul has launched another quixotic bid for the White House.
National Journal (“Ron Paul Launches Presidential Campaign“):
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, whose outspoken libertarian views and folksy style made him a cult hero during two previous presidential campaigns, will announce on Tuesday that he’s going to try a third time.
Sources close to Paul, who is in his 12th term in the House, said he will unveil an exploratory presidential committee, a key step in gearing up for a White House race. He will also unveil the campaign’s leadership team in Iowa, where the first votes of the presidential election will be cast in caucuses next year.
Paul, 75, ran as the Libertarian Party candidate in 1988, finishing with less than one half a percent of the vote. After more than a decade as a Republican congressman, Paul gave it another shot in the 2008 presidential election, gaining attention for being the only Republican candidate calling for the end to the war in Iraq and for his “money bomb” fundraising strategy, which brought in millions of dollars from online donors in single-day pushes.
Paul took 10 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses and 8 percent in New Hampshire’s primary. He finished second, with 14 percent of the vote, in the Nevada caucuses, and eventually finished fourth in the Republican nominating process with 5.6 percent of the total vote. Paul’s campaign book, The Revolution: A Manifesto also reached No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list in 2008.
This would seem to be an ideal year for Paul: Since the last election, the Republican Party has moved much closer to his view on deficit reduction, which made him an early tea party favorite. All of the party’s top-tier presidential hopefuls are focusing on lowering debt, government spending, and tax rates, issues Paul has long advocated.
Another bonus: With Donald Trump and Michelle Bachmann potentially in the race, too, he won’t seem particularly crazy this go-round. Still, there’s no way in hell he gets the nomination.
Paul’s about as much a Libertarian as Obama is a capitalist. He’s one of the worst porkers in Congress–and a hypocritical one at that. He likes to load down bills with federal earmarks for his district and then vote against the bills–after conveniently making sure the House has 218 or more votes to pass them. His Jim Jones-style cult openly threatens to back third-party candidates so as to help the Dems win if their particular fringe candidates don’t get the nominations. L Ron Paul is nothing short of a doddering loon, and I wish to God Republicans would find a way to get him out of Congress.
You libertarians will vote for your big govervenment social conservative Republican candidates and you WILL like it!
romney and trump won’t last
huckabee and palin won’t run
ron paul has won
Fantastic analysis Guest. I’ve seen the light now.
Depends on your definition of “capitalist”. High finance seems to be doing just fine under Obama — pity about the rest of us.
Paul is a constitutionalist that believes in freedom! that says it all! You are all so ignorant, and i mean it it the proper sense of the word! Take off the blinders and see we have been sold out to the rest of the world.
We are sad… we keep choosing between 2 parties that have never moved any king of energy policy since the 50s, though they keep talking. The 2 parties are a horrible joke. It is time for the change the founding fathers had in mind …. AGAIN. Time for real ideals and principals . Time for real americans … ALL OF US>>>EVERY SINGLE ONE! Freedom and the ideals OF FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!The ideals that should guide us ALL!