JCR Blog

Ron Paul, GOP congressman from Texas, filed his papers Thursday. It's not his first try for the White House; he ran as the Libertarian Candidate in 1988 before joining the Republican Party:

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 U.S. House by the National Taxpayers Union, a group advocating low taxes and limited government.

If I may be allowed to coin a new Caucus Coolerism, could Paul be a CFCA (Credible Fiscally Conservative Alternative)? He's certainly a credible fiscal conservative, but I'd be shocked if he could rally the money and organization needed to compete with the big guns (or even the medium guns). I know there is a small core of Libertarian activists (I was once one of them) who Paul could rely on in Ames and Iowa City if he made a stand here in Iowa. My guess is that Paul will enter the Cooler Line somewhere between Duncan Hunter and Chuck Hagel, say 250-1.