As Ron Paul makes hit counters spin and online polls surge, his
campaign faces a crossroads. Clearly something is in the water. The
influx of small and big L libertarians into the GOP to support Paul
resembles the Greens who backed Dennis Kucinich in 2004. Only this
group is less digestible, and highly unlikely to support any of the
other Republicans. And just as clearly, Paul's libertarian outlook
won't gather a majority in the context of the current GOP. Thus we see
the odd phenomenon of a candidate who is simultaneously a sitting
Republican member of Congress and a former third-party nominee. Ron
Paul was one of the Libertarian's more successful national ticket
leaders, winning half a percent of the vote against Bush Sr. and
Dukakis in 1988. The Libertarian Party has, to date, eschewed the type
of celebrity candidacies that won the Reform Party victory with Jesse
Ventura and the Greens' notoriety with Ralph Nader. They've preferred
to nominate unknown party activists like their current crop of
candidates. But with Paul becoming a famous-for-the-Internet persona,
will the third party give him a second chance? And what would that do
to his seat in Congress?

Labels: Dennis_Kucinich, Ron Paul