GordonUnleashed

Ron Paul’s Third Party Weapon

October 5th, 2007 by Steve

Because of my known support for Ron Paul combined with my national Libertarian Party background and work on presidential campaigns, it’s a rare day that I’m not inundated with telephone calls and e-mails inquiring about a possible Ron Paul third party bid.

To begin, Paul has repeatedly stated that he has no intention to run as a third party candidate. However, he hasn’t absolutely ruled out the possibility. For Paul, this is the smart move right now. He’s got to concentrate on winning a Republican primary at the moment and talking about a third party run could cost him some crucial GOP support and media coverage.

However, Paul has an incredible amount of support in both the Libertarian and Constitution Party. He could be nominated by either party, or both parties, even if he doesn’t show at their conventions or indicates an intent to run under a third party banner. Of course, party bylaws would have to change and such, but there is probably enough support for this to happen.

When asked the third party question by Wolf Blitzer, Paul brought up ballot access difficulties. However, with one or more of the more organized alternative political parties cooperating on the issue, getting on the ballot in every state but Oklahoma shouldn’t be that much of an issue.

Right now, National Review is talking about a Rasmussen study that shows a non-specific pro-life third party candidate running against Hillary and Rudy would draw 14 percent of the vote. Paul’s ultimate reach as a third party candidate could be much higher than the pro-life crowd will provide, though.

Perhaps Scott Rasmussen missed the news, but abortion isn’t as hot a political item as it historically has been. Currently, the Iraq War and immigration are leading public issues and Ron Paul can certainly compete with Hillary on anti-war votes or with Rudy on immigration votes.

In addition to being well positioned on the issues, Dr. Paul now has a large enough base of supporters and donors backed with a both a professional and grassroots organization to mount an effective third party campaign, should he choose to do so before sore loser laws in states like Texas kick in.

Ron Paul already has the ability to determine the next president of the United States by selecting to run to the right, or to the left, in the general election as a third party candidate. That’s a powerful political weapon the other candidates don’t have at their disposal.

Even if Paul doesn’t run as a third party candidate (and I’d guess, at this moment, that he won’t), he may receive the nominations of several parties, anyway. Should he receive the GOP nomination and the support of (as opposed to competition from) one or more alternative parties, this would also increase his chance of winning the general election. Republicans should be aware this when considering who they will ultimately support, by the way.

I’ve been asked to do everything from starting a major “Draft Ron Paul” as an LP candidate campaign to working on bylaws changes to enable the LP to support Paul to creating a NOTA campaign for the Libertarian National Convention to talking Ron Paul into running as a LP candidate. For the moment, I’m doing none-of-the-above, but am listening to input and watching with interest as the situation unfolds.

Posted in Ron Paul, National Politics, Libertarian Party, Libertarian Movement

7 Responses to “Ron Paul’s Third Party Weapon”

Michael wrote on 10/5/07 at 7:54 pm :

I still think Ron Paul is being too direct in his statements regarding a 3rd party run. I wish he would be a little more ambiguous, yet still making it clear that he is running for the GOP nomination.

I would wager that Ron Paul would run as a 3rd party candidate, if he had a guarantee that he was able to be on all of the ballots and had a seat at all the national debates. I’m not sure how to accomplish allowing him access to the debates, however, that is the guarantee that we need to get Ron Paul, if he is going to run as a 3rd party.
Craig wrote on 10/5/07 at 11:57 pm :

Unity08 could be a pretty good backup plan, if the first round of primaries don’t go well. I think the Ron Paul Meetups outnumber them handily.

Getting in the debates would only require polling at 15%…. nice threshold, huh?

Let’s win the Republican nomination, and go from there. If Ron Paul hits 10% in the polls, and has 3 times the turnout of the neocons, he could win with 30% of the vote. Since a lot of Republican states are winner-take-all, he might not even have to worry about the other 70% ganging up on him.
D. Greene wrote on 10/6/07 at 12:47 am :

If he and Kucinich could agree on a new federalistic national platform, that would be something.

While I’m dreaming, I’d also like to see Monica Bellucci and Jennifer Love Hewitt make out.
Kevin Houston wrote on 10/6/07 at 6:35 am :

It’s not just being on the ballot and being in the debate. Too many people in America vote the same way they choose their favorite football team. That is, they don’t weigh the merits of each team, they simply cheer the local favorite or the team that they (or their parents) have always cheered.

If Ron Paul runs as a Republican, this works to our advantage. If he runs as a Libertarian, it works to our disadvantage. Dr. Paul won’t even run in his own congressional district as a Libertarian, even though he would still have all the advantages of incumbancy. There is wisdom in this.

As for what the LP should do, I favor the NOTA option if Ron Paul is still in the running come convention time. If he is not in the running, then I favor Christine Smith.

But since I have registered Republican for the purposes of boosting Dr. Paul in the primary, I realize that I have forfieted my ability to be a delegate for Ms. Smith. I know that those who have remained in the LP (shout out to Sean Haugh) will pick the best standard bearer.

Later.
Brad Spangler wrote on 10/6/07 at 9:20 am :

Actually, his smartest third party option would be running as a Green. I don’t advocate electoral politics, but purely as an observation I can’t help but remark that since so much of his support comes from disaffected Dems, he would get a lot of mileage from hyping the notion that his ideas are classical liberalism, which has historically been considered the left. His loss of the GOP primary would allow him to say the severance of classical liberalism from conservatism has been de facto finalized. In the process, he could reclaim the label of “liberal” that has become anathema to the social democrats who prefer the term progressive now. It would also allow him to emphasize that not merely a reduction in government is needed, but a reduction carried out in accordance with a [classical] liberal class awareness — one Knapp and Carson summarize as “cutting taxes from the bottom up and welfare from the top down (corporate welfare)”.

I won’t even go into the potential for a Left Constitutionalist Party to explicitly adopt elements of Murray Bookchin’s doctrine of Libertarian Municipalism as a complementary social buffer in an era of declining federal power driven by their own program.

Again, this is not what I advocate. It’s more of a prediction of what may arise — particularly as anarchist radicals step up the pressure and moderates move in that direction in response.
GordonUnleashed » Blog Archive » CBS News Weighs in on Ron Paul's Third Party Potential wrote on 10/6/07 at 12:35 pm :

[…] Speaking of the potential for Ron Paul to run on the Libertarian Party ticket, CBS News reports: But Paul wants to do more than siphon votes from the bigger candidates in the GOP field. And if he is unable to become a legitimate candidate for the Republican nomination, he could potentially become the most serious and recognized presidential candidate in the history of the Libertarian Party. […]
Jake Porter wrote on 10/7/07 at 2:40 pm :

NOTA is a good way to destroy the Libertarian Party. I have no interest in destroying the LP or helping the Republican Party.

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Ron Paul’s Third Party Weapon

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