James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Ron Paul phenomenon

Tonight, I’m planning to go and see Mitt Romney and Barack Obama’s big pre-caucus rallies but before that I’m going to pop in on a Ron Paul event.  Paul is running for the Republican nomination as an anti-war, libertarian. He has garnered an unbelievably devoted following and has been raising money hand over fist–$20 million in the last quarter alone which is almost certainly more than any other Republican.

Paul won’t win the nomination but there’s a very good chance that he could beat some of the big name candidates both here and in New Hampshire. Disgracefully there are moves afoot to keep him out of one of the TV debates in New Hampshire; if Paul is excluded it will be an outrage. There’s little doubt that Paul represents an important strain of Republican thinking and his standing in the polls, he consistently draws around 4% support nationally and between 5 and 10% in New Hampshire, means that he deserves to be heard.

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