If Ron Paul runs 3rd party = lose his congressional seat.

[RonPaulFTFW]

Would any republican vote for a man who helped the democrats win the election?


I doubt it.

[RPTXState]

Would any republican vote for a man who helped the democrats win the election?


I doubt it.

If he really "helped the democrats win", as if they need help vs McCain, it won't matter because he will be reelected before then.

Also, once RP beats his Republican opposition, his name can't be taken off the ballot. Same thing happened to Tom Delay

[RonPaulFTFW]

They might need help with McCain.

Who would have thought this guy would be the front runner by now?

And less talk turkey, the republicans have spoken. They are not anti-war, just anti-losing a war.

[HollyforRP]

Contradictory to your signature.

"Why I Support Ron Paul.
NEVER GIVE UP ON RON PAUL!!

Become a precinct captain!! The only way we can win!"

[noztnac]

He's already probably lost his congressional seat. They are already flooding money to an opponent and running a full scale smear campaign.

A third party run is called for. Instead of the ultimate story being "You cost us the presidency so we took your seat" it will be "You cost me my seat so I will take the presidency."

[JS4Pat]

Would any republican vote for a man who helped the democrats win the election?

:mad: That is the same fvcked up logic that we experience when campaigning for Dr. Paul.

NO candidate who runs a legitimate campaign of ideas that he/she believes in "helps another candidate win" or "causes another candidate to lose". Every candidate must EARN their votes. If RP wins x number of votes as a 3rd Party Candidate - he earned those votes - he did not "steal" them from another candidate. If the GOP nominee loses the election in such a scenario it means that he did not earn enough of the votes. If the Democratic nominee wins the election in such a scenario it means he/she did earn enough of the votes!

[cindy25]

congressional seat will be won or lost in the Texas primary

an independent run would not start until after the primary is over. and even if he agreed to support McCain they would still run the neo-con against him

[rp08orbust]

Would any republican vote for a man who helped the democrats win the election?


I doubt it.

Sorry if this has already been pointed out later in the thread, but the only challenge to Ron Paul in the TX 14th is from the Republican Party. If he wins the nomination, he will run unopposed. Depending on when Ron would announce his independent run, the Democrats wouldn't have a chance to get a Dem on the ballot.

[amy31416]

Sorry if this has already been pointed out later in the thread, but the only challenge to Ron Paul in the TX 14th is from the Republican Party. If he wins the nomination, he will run unopposed. Depending on when Ron would announce his independent run, the Democrats wouldn't have a chance to get a Dem on the ballot.

How is the neocon in the 14th district doing? Do we know anything yet? The greatest tragedy, in my opinion would be for Paul to lose his seat in Congress over a 3rd party run.

Don't get me wrong, I support him and write him in no matter what, but we can't allow him to lose his seat to a neocon. If a third party run hurts his chances of retaining it, then I certainly couldn't support him going 3rd party.

[jason43]

That line of reasoning is why I don't support the third party option. Losing the congressional seat would be the worst thing possible, and it would be more likely if he went third party.

We should focus on getting Rand into congress, or electing others with the same message to congress, not dwelling on what could have been or going third party and losing the election. The press wouldn't cover it, just like they didn't for the primaries, and he will not win, so what is the point of going third party? None.

Its better to keep the message alive in congress and work with Paul to get allies there and develop candidates for the Republican nomination in 2012. IMHO

[Lovecraftian4Paul]

Isn't Ron Paul usually unopposed in his November re-elections? Even if he isn't, it looks like he wins by a landslide. I heard the Dems rarely run against him, or if they do, they just field a token candidate.

The main thing he needs to do is knock out his primary opponent so that neo-con twerp won't continue to oppose him through the campaign. Donate to Dr. Paul's re-election campaign now!

[Lovecraftian4Paul]

Followup: Historical results for the Texas 14th are here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_14th_congressional_district#2004

As you can see, Ron Paul has won by a nice landslide in every race since 1998. If he wins the GOP primary in March, which is almost a given, he shouldn't have to worry about an independent threatening his Congressional seat. Even if the GOP kicked him out, they wouldn't have time to field their own candidate, and we could easily give him a local warchest capable of destroying any potential threats. He would be unopposed by the Dems for sure, and would likely receive more than a few votes from the Republican-hating ones.

[Seadeus]

A 3rd party run will expand the movement to all elections; federal, state, and local.
Running as a Republican will keep the movement limited only to the Presidential race, and when Ron Paul loses the nomination the movement will lose all momentum at once.

Why would we want to limit ourselves to just the Presidential election? This is bigger than Ron Paul and one congressional seat.

[colecrowe]

Would any republican vote for a man who helped the democrats win the election?

I doubt it.



i think it would be a great idea to have Ron in congress again, at this point. with all the RPoliticians up and coming, they would be a force in congress and senate, once we get some of us in the senate as well.

he'd be much more respected, and have new found allies i'd imagine.


Running as an independent means one less Ron Paul Republican in congress. Use you brains people. He is much more valuable to the movement by focusing his efforts on his congressional run. There are other 3rd party candidates who can spread a libertarian message. Ron Paul is needed elsewhere.


Not going to happen. Ron's going to defend his congressional seat.

Yeah, That will be so much better than having a Ron Paul iNDY president in January. Right. 1 out of 435 or whatever it is, who's never gotten a bill past committee. Yeah another 8 years or whatever in the house is so important compared to being president. I maintain it would be a worthy sacrifice. He has to try to win the white house.

[colecrowe]

Go to www.RonPaulWhitehouse.com (http://www.ronpaulwhitehouse.com/) and pledge to show your support for the most amazing statesman this country will have had for who knows how long (JUST IN CASE).

BUT

I admit, and am happy to do so: There is no reason to think we need to go iNDY until we see what happens between now and March 4th. He MIGHT start stomping McCain based on low voter turnout due to apathy since the media has 110% called it for McCain, and based on how horrible a choice McCain is and how much he is getting lambasted in on the air and in print, and at the 'watercooler'. Especially as Iraq of course continues blowing up and the economy gets worse. Here is my proof:

http://lh4.google.com/croweswedding/R6ywAK-LXxI/AAAAAAAAB3I/6idRU4Flu2o/2-8-08ronpauldonation.JPG?imgmax=576

Thank you for your generous donation of $100.00!

Contribution received!

Thank you very much for your donation to the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign.
Your donation will allow us to expand and grow our campaign.
We depend on donors like you to help us spread the message of freedom, peace and prosperity through Ron Paul’s candidacy.
You will receive an email shortly with a confirmation number.


But after March 4th...


I'm out if in a month's time he continues to win 0 states and still has less than 15% support and yet refuses to go iNDY (I'll still write him in and spread the word, make calls, etc., but I probably won't donate anymore, and I'll be very sad).


Well, I can safely say...if donations dry up....Paul will be forced to call it quits, so please continue to DONATE.

http://www.ronpaulwhitehouse.com/

my dad said he'd donate another 500 to Paul (IF he announces 3rd party) (he donated 200 on Dec. 16th--but that was when it seemed like he REALLY could maybe, possibly win the Nom. I would donate 500 the day he declares (even though it will hurt financially), whereas I can't afford to give anymore (I gave just over a 1,100 in Q4 to the cause--so shut up) for his Republican run; and gramps would probably wager another 1776.00

The 2nd and 3rd tier, broader-base of supporters aren't (many or most of them) going to donate MORE--if they already have once--because TO THEM it is obvious or at least nearly certain that he's not going to get the Nom from the Republican party (I'm not saying I believe that--but they DO). However, they would be very willing and enthusiastic about supporting him in an iNDEPENDENT run. Primary Calendar: http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/calendar.asp (http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/calendar.asp)

Month

Date
Feb.

9

Kansas Republican caucus
Louisiana


12
District of Columbia
Maryland
Virginia


19
Washington
Wisconsin

March

4
Ohio
Rhode Island
Texas
Vermont


11
Mississippi
April

22

Pennsylvania
May

6
Indiana
North Carolina

13
Nebraska
West Virginia primary

20
Kentucky
Oregon

27
Idaho Republican primary
June

3
Montana primary
New Mexico Republican primary
South Dakota
August

Aug. 25-28
Democratic National Convention — Denver, CO
September

Sept. 1-4
Republican National Convention — Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

[MN Patriot]

A 3rd party run will expand the movement to all elections; federal, state, and local.
Running as a Republican will keep the movement limited only to the Presidential race, and when Ron Paul loses the nomination the movement will lose all momentum at once.

Why would we want to limit ourselves to just the Presidential election? This is bigger than Ron Paul and one congressional seat.

EXACTLY!!!

If Ron keeps going for the Republican nomination and fails to get it, the revolution will fizzle out.

Ron needs to run as a Libertarian, get a LP congressional candidate running in every district, get as many state legislature LP candidates running, and make the Libertarian Party impossible to ignore.

[colecrowe]

EXACTLY!!!

If Ron keeps going for the Republican nomination and fails to get it, the revolution will fizzle out.

Ron needs to run as a Libertarian, get a LP congressional candidate running in every district, get as many state legislature LP candidates running, and make the Libertarian Party impossible to ignore.


Yeah, sure, if you want to guarantee a ceiling of 10%.

Go iNDY. it's perfect. ask around, would you vote for an independent? and then, would you vote for the Libertarian?

Yeah, NO. drugs, borders, social security.

Just go iNDY, so the voters can declare their independence from the parties, their horrible candidates, special interests and lobbyists, on and on. ..