Rudy is indeed a lot like Clinton, and in more fundamental respects than mere policy... he is capable, intelligent, and evil. Assuming the last is a given, I would prefer to do without the former two. Heck, I'll take Ron Paul over Rudy.
On the up-and-up, if Ron Paul winds up running as a third party, he's going to draw off an awful lot of the Democrat vote. Or, to be more accurate, he will draw off an awful lot of the formerly Republican vote. As far as that goes, I say he's a great candidate to have around. ;)
Do you really think any Democrats will vote for Paul because of his anti-war stance, in spite of the fact that everything else he stands for is diametrically opposed to the Democrats' socialist agenda? Dems are stupid, I grant you that, but are they THAT stupid???
If Paul runs 3rd-party, I fear he'd draw more conservatives who will hold their noses about the anti-war part, than he'd draw liberals who will hold their noses about everything else he thinks.
On the other hand, Paul's impossible blend of far-right and far-left positions may mean that NOBODY will vote for him except a few Paulistinians to whom that blend makes some sort of sense.