Ron Paul is in. Ron Paul is a libertarian republican and has an extremely large grassroots following - enough to make things very interesting in 2008. The top GOP brass hates his guts, but the voters don't as he wins year after year in his district, even when it wasn't republican leaning. (He replaced a democrat)
He brings a lot of things to the race and has an interesting political philosophy on his views. His grass roots support across the country, and on the internet could make him a threat to the hyped candidates if there is a strong turnout.
He's pro-2nd amendment and pro-life. He has a non-interventionalist foreign policy - strongly anti-war and also against the UN. He opposes NAFTA/GATT and other foreign treaties. He is against capital punishment.
He's the most fiscal conservative rep in the house. He voted against No Child Left Behind. He's also against pork barrell spending and wants to get rid of the income tax and most cabinent departments.
From the AP (linked above):
Ron Paul, the iconoclastic nine-term congressman from southeast Texas, took the first step Thursday toward launching a second presidential bid in 2008, this time as a Republican.
Paul filed incorporation papers in Texas on Thursday to create a presidential exploratory committee that allows him and his supporters to collect money on behalf of his bid. This will be Paul's second try for the White House; he was the Libertarian nominee for president in 1988.
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 Surfside Beach, 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 House of Representatives by the National Taxpayers Union, a national group advocating low taxes and limited government.
He describes himself as a lifelong Libertarian running as a Republican.
Ron Paul is one of my favorite congressmen. I don't always agree with him, but I agree more often than not. He always takes a principled stance on issues and sticks to them, even when it isn't the most "political' thing to do. We had 400 reps like that, this country would be in much better shape.
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