July
14th 2011
Posted under Constitution Party & Election 2012 & Libertarian Party & Republican Party & Ron Paul
Judge Napolitano asked Ron Paul directly about a potential third party run yesterday on Freedom Watch. Surprisingly, Paul did not dismiss it out of hand. He commented about how sore loser laws might keep him off the ballot in certain states, and spent a lot of time talking about the unfairness of our current two party system.
Cross posted at Independent Political Report.
RedPhillips on 14 Jul 2011 at 8:08 pm #
See the IPR thread re. sore loser laws. Apparently they don’t apply to Presidential races.
It’s kind of surprising Paul would repeat bad info. This probably suggests his people really haven’t explored the issue that closely.
That said, I’m surprised Paul didn’t downplay the question more than he did. Being seen as potentially flirting with a third party or independent run generally hurts you in a partisan primary. Paul spoke up pretty strongly on behalf of more fairness in the process, and this is good for us all. (This is from memory because I can’t watch the video on the computer I’m on.)
Patroon on 14 Jul 2011 at 11:04 pm #
It going to depend how the campaign turns out. If he finishes fifth in many primaries a non-major party bid would be laughed at. But let’s say he did well but still lost out on the nomination through dirty trick or some sort, then you could see him going in this fashion.
But again it should be to form an actual party, not just a one-shot wonder.