We have been told that in order for the Republican party to be able to retain the presidency we must nominate a candidate who, according to the news media, can win Although there are eight candidates in the race, they only consider five of them; Rudy Guliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Fred Thompson.
No thought has been given to the three candidates who are the most conservative: Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, and Alan Keyes.
Of the true conservatives, the only candidate who has the recources to win is Ron Paul. Paul's campaign has, in the fourth quarter alone, taken in nearly $20 Million (0ver $19,500,000. as of 11PM est 12/31/07) and has a strong campaign force in fifty states.
Ron Paul is not going away, and the biggest concern the Republican party has is that if he doesn't get the nomination that he will run on a third party ticket. This is a real concern, and the Republican "powers that be" should question why it is. Obviously, if Paul decides to run as a third party candidate, he will siphon away many voters from the Republican party who now support him. The reason they are behind Ron Paul is that he represents the only hope for a change in the way things are now being done. He would take some votes from the more right side of the Democrats as well, the slightly left of center, not the dyed in the wool liberals.
The threat of getting Hillary or Obama (or God help us Al Gore) as president is not going to convince Ron Paul backers to vote for any of the "top tier" RINO's. The only Republican who can win in November 2008 is in reality, Ron Paul. Ron Paul backers are tired of voting for the lesser of two evils.
Which candidate, other than Paul can take a large portion of the Republican votes with him, if he ran as a third party candidate? None!! Which candidate has the loyalty from their supporters that Ron Paul has? None!!!
Even with the lack of media attention, his campaign fundraising is still increasing, and this without a lot of effort by Ron Paul's staff, it is grassroots. Ron Paul is not going away. He will be in the primary races and in the caucuses until the end, and with any luck, the Republican party will recognize that the only hope they have of holding on to the the Oval Office is with Ron Paul. If not, and Paul chooses to run as a third party candidate, Republicans can kiss this presidency goodbye.