Writes Texas CPA and libertarian political analyst Mike Holmes: “Here is my brief take on Ron Paul and the third party option. First, as we both know, third parties suck. Their leadership is poor generally and even the best of the lot, the LP, will have to spend millions to get on all 50 state ballots. Ron has a decent chance of cobbling together a run on the LP or the LP and others, including independent candidacy, but a lot of resources go down the ballot access rat hole and other legal obstacles.
“Second, third party candidates get no respect. Even Perot and John Anderson, while given more attention then they deserved, ultimately were given freak show treatment. With a possible Bloomberg independent effort, some fourth candidate would be left in Siberia.
“Third, Ron and his ideas get far more mainstream attention and respect as a GOP primary candidate. In the big picture, long view of things, libertarians have to leave the ghetto and step up to the Big Leagues. While the GOP is hardly more than a collection of addled gangsters, it is nonetheless a major step forward for us to hear Ron Paul in GOP debates and campaign venues advance these ideas as a Republican. The exposure is better and the perceived impact is far greater.
“Fourth and finally, the Romney flake-out signals a new correlation of forces. Ron
