Posted on 01/11/2007 6:06:07 PM PST by Rodney King
Texas Congressman Ron Paul files for GOP presidential bid
HOUSTON -- Ron Paul, the iconoclastic nine-term congressman from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward launching a second presidential bid in 2008, this time as a Republican.
Paul filed incorporation papers in Texas on Thursday to create a presidential exploratory committee that allows him and his supporters to collect money on behalf of his bid. This will be Paul's second try for the White House; he was the Libertarian nominee for president in 1988.
Kent Snyder, the chairman of Paul's exploratory committee and a former staffer on Paul's Libertarian campaign, said the congressman knows he's a long shot.
"There's no question that it's an uphill battle, and that Dr. Paul is an underdog," Snyder said. "But we think it's well worth doing and we'll let the voters decide."
Paul, of Lake Jackson, acknowledges that the national GOP has never fully embraced him despite his nine terms in office under its banner. He gets little money from the GOP's large traditional donors, but benefits from individual conservative and Libertarian donors outside Texas. He bills himself as "The Taxpayers' Best Friend," and is routinely ranked either first or second in the House of Representatives by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government.
He describes himself as a lifelong Libertarian running as a Republican.
Paul was not available for comment Thursday, Snyder said.
But he said the campaign will test its ability to attract financial and political support before deciding whether to launch a full-fledged campaign. Snyder said Paul is not running just to make a point or to try to ensure that his issues are addressed, but to win.
Paul is expected to formally announce his bid in the next week or two, Snyder said.
Snyder said Paul and his supporters are not intimidated by the presence of nationally known and better-financed candidates such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona or former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts.
"This is going to be a grassroots American campaign," he said. "For us, it's either going to happen at the grassroots level or it's not."
Paul limits his view of the role of the federal government to those duties laid out in the U.S. Constitution. As a result, he sometimes casts votes that appear at odds with his constituents and other Republicans. He was the only Republican congressman to vote against Department of Defense appropriations for fiscal year 2007.
The vote against the defense appropriations bill, he said, was because of his opposition to the war in Iraq, which he said was "not necessary for our actual security."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not b
Why would you pee on a guy who would eliminate the income tax when you could pee on Hillary Clinton?
LOL --
Tagline for you: Ron Paul -- finally a TRUE conservative Sheehan can embrace
Not only will I get my checkbook out, I cannot find it in my conscience to vote for anyone else, except maybe Newt Gingrich.
Not only will I get my checkbook out, I cannot find it in my conscience to vote for anyone else, except maybe Newt Gingrich.
do ya'll think this article deserves a more prominent position on FR? (sidebar, breaking news)
It doesn't exactly take a translation program to understand the word surrender...Paul has that one down pat.
LOL! Good one, Chief!
Seriously, I prefer many of his positions to those of the 'mainstream' candidates but, like you, I just can not get past his desire to surrender on the WoT. His statements on the War sound like they came directly from the DNC.
Having Ron Paul in the race would make Ron Reagan look like a liberal.
Hell, Hillary has bigger stones then your guy.
He pulled 60.2% of the vote in his district during a bad year for Republicans.. Considering that mainstream Republicans don't support him with finances and he doesn't bring back any "pork" money, i'd say he's pretty secure as long as he wants to serve.
Don't let it spoil your fantasy life though. LOL
President Reagan did withdraw our troops from Lebanon, but he never surrendered.
No lecture. Just a comment that I saw the headline and thought it was Scrappleface. But I see the DC waters have inflated another ego.
They come from the Cindy Sheehan wing of the conservative caucus.
All the more reason to bring them home rather than try to fight with half-assed rules of engagment, and "political considerations".
Don't worry...I think any opponent who runs against him will have no shortage of funding next time around. Of course who knows how much MoveOn and Sheehans people will contribute to his campaign.
Sheehan and her commie backers would certainly embrace RP's cut and run stance in Iraq and his military isolationism in general, but his position on guns, taxes, border security, and the welfare state would positively horrify them.
Heck, even Al Qeda would support his position on the war. They don't worry about the other stuff too much.
LOL
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.