Recently, Ron Paul Campaign Manager Jesse Benton indicated to the press that Ron Paul will be running for president in 2012. It has been met with excitement by Ron Paul supporters.
Benton went on to discuss what the 2012 Ron Paul Campaign goals would be leading up to the first Presidential debate of the season, in the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, www.goupstate.com. Paul made his first move toward a campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday. He hopes to broaden his appeal and to gain support beyond his core group of loyal supporters. It is hoped that Paul himself will officially make the announcement soon and end all the speculation.
Paul, a Texas Republican and anti-war libertarian, announced in the early voting state of Iowa that he was forming a presidential exploratory committee, the first formal move toward establishing a campaign. Paul is running for U.S. president for the third time in his political career. Let’s hope the third time is the charm, as the old adage goes.
Forming an exploratory committee allows Paul to raise campaign cash while he tests the political waters. “I do intend to make a firm decision (about a race) in the not-too-distant future. The country is already quite different – millions of more people are concerned about the things I talked about four years ago. Conditions are deteriorating,” Paul said at the event. “It will be a much, much more significant campaign,” he told Reuters.com
Paul ran unsuccessfully in 2008 against Sen. John McCain who ended up clinching the GOP nomination only to lose the election to Democrat Barack Obama. Many in the GOP think Paul will have a better shot at beating Obama than former Alaska Gov. Sara Palin should she decide to run. The Republican 2012 field is slowing taking shape; so far former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty are the most prominent Republicans officially planning their campaigns. More GOP contenders are expected to make their plans known very soon.
Amid a horrendous recession and anger about the country’s enormous US$14 trillion nation debt, political observers think Paul’s core messages like, smaller government and reducing the deficit could translate to larger numbers of Republican primary voters.
“The dialogue has moved towards Ron Paul,” Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said Tuesday to the winnipegfreepress.com. “For the past 25 years he’s been consistently worried about the money supply, deficits, debts and the Federal Reserve. He was all alone for a very long time, but now lots of people in the Republican Party and beyond are concerned about those very issues.”
“Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas, agreed.” He represents the kind of fiscal prudence that not only appeals to the Tea Party, but also the broader Republican base right now,” Buchanan said. “If he acquires the kind of funding that he had last time, and the kind of grassroots support, he could do very well. And if the field turns out to be sparse, and people like Sarah Palin don’t run, he could pick up a big chunk of their supporters.”
Brandonsun.com points out that Paul opposes the Federal Reserve’s ability to print money; he victoriously got Congress to pass a bill that forced it to open its records.
He wants get rid of income tax, wants to eliminate the Department of Education and voted against raising the debt ceiling. Republicans, he argues, should have allowed the government to shut down in their ongoing fight with Democrats over budget cuts.
“He has railed against what he calls “welfarism” at home and militarism abroad, and believes the U.S. should stop sending troops to meddle in foreign conflicts like the one playing out in Libya. His anti-military bend might not fly with some Republicans, but other stances cause the party to smile upon him.”
He opposes gun control, and even believes pilots should carry firearms in cockpits. He’s also strongly pro-life and has called himself an “unshakeable foe” of abortion, although he doesn’t think the federal government should dictate abortion policy. Paul is also opposed to universal health-care, critical of President Obama’s health-care legislation due to its scale and scope. But he’s also said he’d be willing to “prop up” Medicare and Medicaid with money saved by bringing troops home from foreign bases in places like South Korea.” The 75-year-old Republican isn’t getting any younger; so many Paul supporters feel it is now or never. Carpe diem!
