Yer so full of shit. Paul will not run independent. He will lose all power. He is best to stay in the party and return as the most powerful force in Congress if the nomination is not his.. Anything other than the nomination for US Presidency is to de-nut the movement and RP. Get this through your thick young skull and shut down the autoblither thrid party software please.
THX
Randy.
Think of it this way: Ron Paul is 72, and he still hasn't retired. Now, maybe he won't retire until he hits 100, but how sure are you that he really wants to keep fighting his one-man fight in Congress anyway? Perhaps he does, and if so, all the more power to him. However, for all we know, he could have decided, "Alright, I want to retire, but...this country is going to hell. Maybe I should give a shot at running for President before calling it quits?" If so, Ron Paul could doom the Republicans to a guaranteed loss in the general election by running third party (as if they wouldn't already lose!), and that actually gives him a lot of leverage: If he were so inclined, and if he could get around all of the sore loser laws, Ron Paul could then flat-out tell the Republican Party, "Look, I'm running, like it or not. So guess what? You have two choices: Either drop out of the race and let me beat Hillary, since only I can, or let Hillary become President." Blackmail. Such a stunt could also send the Republican Party into disarray and do some damage to two-party dominance. (This is all assuming Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, of course).
Of course, such blackmail wouldn't work if the Republicans
want Hillary to win...and the cynic inside me is saying that could be the case. After all, the status quo seems to be, "Let one party do a whole bunch of damage to the US. Then the other party can act all indignant and get elected by desperate voters. Then that party can do a whole bunch of damage to the US....and so on."
