Why Ron Paul won't go rogue on the Republican Party
| Washington
President Obama has got two bulletproof insurance policies against Mitt Romney a future GOP challenger. One is a a steep drop in the unemployment rate. The other is Ron Paul running an independent campaign for president.
But the second one just isn鈥檛 going to happen, as BuzzFeed鈥檚 .
After this presidential run, [Ron Paul鈥檚] campaign has said he鈥檒l retire. And when he does, a generation of loyalists will need a leader.
鈥淚 think [Ron鈥檚 son and Kentucky Senator] Rand could be a wonderful president,鈥� said Jesse Benton, the Paul campaign chairman and husband of Rand Paul鈥檚 niece.
In the meantime, the family鈥檚 dreams for Rand have created something else: A hostage. Terrified Republican leaders worry that Ron Paul will take his rowdy mix of Republicans and independents and run a spoiler third party campaign he hasn鈥檛 quite ruled out. Ron Paul, they are making clear, has nothing to lose 鈥� but his son鈥檚 career.
鈥淭he question of Rand鈥檚 future hangs over the 2012 race in a real way,鈥� said John McCain鈥檚 2008 campaign manager, Steve Schmidt.鈥淚f [Ron Paul] were to leave the GOP it would have a crushing effect on his son鈥檚 political career in the Republican Party and would be ruinous to any chance of a serious national campaign under the Republican banner.鈥�
And while Ron Paul hasn鈥檛 ruled out a third party bid, his aides insist it won鈥檛 happen. Inside the Paul clan, Rand鈥檚 generation is rising, and the dream is a new kind of Paul campaign: One that鈥檚 dead serious, a tick or two closer to the mainstream, and one that wins.
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