First, get your facts straight, AE is probably not shutting down. It looks like they're going to re-evaluate the requirements and move the primary. This is AE's official press release:
http://www.americanselect.org/news/5-2012/statement-americans-elect-ceo-kahlil-byrd
The most important thing to take from the press release is this:
There is, however, an almost universal desire among delegates, leadership and millions of Americans who have supported AE to see a credible candidate emerge from this process.
One of my friends has a national position in AE, and I've talked to other volunteers. They've worked too hard to give up now, and they know that the chances for a third party upset are as good as they've ever been. They just got overzealous drawing the daft requirements over half a year ago, which is understandable, given this is the first time anyone has done something like this. It's hard to get everyone on the internet on board with something like this. It's not easy to pick a candidate, because candidates are usually chosen for us. Don't forget, in 2007, it was a relatively small group of folks who convinced Dr. Paul to run.
Secondly, there is nothing wrong with pushing Ron on this website. For those of us who aren't state delegates, we can be AE delegates for Paul without losing focus on the GOP strategy (it just takes a few minutes to sign up, and less than a minute to draft a candidate). And angelatc is right about the GOP strategy, many people who are delegates right now will fall out of the party over the next year, giving power back to the establishment. I can speak from experience here. It is torture to go to a monthly county GOP meeting. It's like living in Fox News. I eventually stopped going, which I'm sure hurt my credibility amongst the more dedicated "party warriors". Thankfully, my colleagues in liberty had more resolve than me and stuck it out. Now the county chair is a 100% Paul supporter, one of my friends from way back in '07. So I do see the GOP strategy working, in the long run, but it's highly doubtful we'll have majority power in the national party by 2016.
Take away point is this: yes the GOP strategy is a great long term strategy, but getting a good candidate the AE nod could get us immediate results in November. People want a legit third party, and a likeable, marketable guy could fill that void. I'd say Ron Paul is probably the best choice for that guy, but there are other good choices to if he doesn't want (he probably doesn't want it).