"People ask me if I think about it, and I do," Ron Paul says, talking about the possibility of making another presidential run in 2012. "I haven’t decided. It is going to be several months before I need to, or expect to, make a decision like that."
As he mulls his options, the 75-year-old Texas congressman finds himself – not for the first time – in a peculiar situation. Last time out, in 2008, his campaign was roundly mocked by media commentators and Beltway insiders, but in the end he bested several supposedly more serious candidates, notably erstwhile New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson.
Admittedly, Paul was never within reach of capturing the GOP nomination – but he also proved himself to be much more than a punchline to the pundits’ jokes. He racked up ten second-place finishes (it helped that he refused to drop out even after every other aspirant had conceded to John McCain) and seventeen third-places in primary contests, and his campaign raised more than $30 million, powered by fierce grassroots enthusiasm.
November 25, 2010
