GordonUnleashed

The Ron Paul Movement’s First Slate of Candidates

December 5th, 2007 by Steve

I’ve been noting that no matter how well or poorly Ron Paul fares in the 2008 presidential elections, there is a new movement afoot, something akin to the Goldwater movement that eventually elected Ronald Reagan and established the so-called Republican Revolution. The fact that Barry Goldwater, Jr. has endorsed Dr. Paul is telling. So is the fact that some people are now calling themselves Ron Paul Republicans.

I had previously noted that a few people are now running for congressional seats as Ron Paul Republicans. I know someone locally who has the same intention, but he hasn’t publicly announced, yet. There’s now a new website up highlighting people running as Ron Paul Republicans, Ron Paul Libertarians, etc. From the site intro:

A Ron Paul Presidency, and by default the American public, will benefit greatly from a Congress filled with Ron Paul Republicans (traditional Republicans), Libertarians, and Ron Paul Independents. Maxed out your contributions to the Paul Campaign? Want true Constitutional representation across the board? Maximize your peace, liberty, & prosperity.

I learned of the Paul Congress site from FreedomDemocrats, who had brought up an interesting situation.

In fact, look at the two candidates they are profiling: Theodore Terbolizard, a Republican running for the 4th District in California, and Dean Santoro, a Republican running for the 21st District in Florida. 21st District in Florida, doesn’t that sound familiar? Yep, it’s the same district where Frank Gonzalez, formerly a libertarian Democrat, ran in 2006 and won over 40% of the vote. Santoro is challenging the incumbent Republican in the primary and has the support of Gonzalez, who still has plans (last I checked) to run in the general election as a Libertarian or Independent.

I know Gonzalez (pictured to the right of Ron Paul) and he’s pretty good on the issues. He’s run as a Libertarian and as a Democrat before, obtaining better election results with each new race.

In 2002, Frank ran for U.S. House his first time as the Libertarian Party candidate in the 5th District of Illinois. He earned 4.5% of the vote with nearly 7,000 supporters.

In 2004, he ran again for U.S. House as the Libertarian Party candidate, this time in the 21st District of Florida. He earned a stunning 27.2% of the vote with nearly 55,000 supporters. He fared even better than the only Democrat ever to oppose the same incumbent just six years earlier. This clearly set the stage for the 2006 campaign.

Ron Paul positioning gave Gonzalez 40.5 percent of the vote as a Democrat in a strong Republican district in 2006. It will be interesting to observe what happens as Santoro challenges the incumbent Lincoln Diaz-Balart while Gonzalez decides whether to run as an independent, Libertarian or Democrat for the seat.

The pro-freedom message will certainly be alive in Florida CD-21, and it’s even remotely possible that voters will have to choose between two Ron Paul surrogates.

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

2 Responses to “The Ron Paul Movement’s First Slate of Candidates”

1. Hector wrote on 12/5/07 at 1:35 am :

   You probably do not live in that District 21 as I do. Therefore, as a resident, I can tell you that there is much more going on in the local politics than what you report. 2006 was a protest vote year so 40% for Frank was a likely outcome. However consider as well that redistricting in the area has also left all of the congressional districts (almost all of them Republican) extremely vulnerable to a sudden shift to activity to Democrats (whose membership dominates the number of registered voters in the area)… in fact it is voter participation that ultimately decides the elections here. I must mention of course that a strong fundraising network has kept the incumbents in their positions. Considering the variables it will probably come down to a money race to decide if the incumbent loses his Republican nomination (particularly in Dean’s case)… In District 21, we might even see another Democrat challenger rise thinking that Frank won’t run or simply thinking that they can do a better job than Frank campaigning. However, I have not seen a democrat (little or big D) campaign personally as strongly as Frank has done. Of course, this is to the dismay and anger of the Democratic Party establishment which did not give any money towards his last election run. Again, this will certainly come down to a money race and only the corruption at the local level is going to stop change once competitive money raising is done. However, the interesting thing I looking forward to is how the expanded Ron Paul movement network will be able to flush the Santoro campaign with funding. See you in the local primary.

2. Steve wrote on 12/5/07 at 2:21 am :

   Hector,

   You are right that I don’t know the district well; I haven’t even been inside the district boundaries for 4 or 5 years.

   I don’t know much about Santoro. What’s his local name recognition like, can he raise money and media awareness locally, does he have much of a chance against an entrenched incumbent?

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