Why Ron Paul won't go rogue on the Republican Party
Ron Paul hasn't flatly said he won't make an independent run for president. But Ron Paul's best reason for staying with the GOP is Rand Paul.
Sen. Rand Paul (R) of Kentucky is the son of Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. Shown here in Concord, N.H., earlier this month.
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
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.
Read on at .
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