Originally posted by: daniel49
though I don't agree with a lot of libetarian ideas. Paul, certainly is no friend to the present administration. I do think some of the libetarian ideas however are good and should be brought into the discussion. I think working for a change in the two major parties is a better vehicle to accomplish change at this point then running as a loosatarian 3rd party candidate.
Discuss:
? House Contrarian Ron Paul (news, bio, voting record) Mulls White House Bid. Nearly two decades after he was the Libertarian Party?s nominee for president, maverick Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul is weighing another White House bid ? this time for the GOP nod in 2008.
Paul on Thursday filed paperwork with the Texas Secretary of State establishing a nonprofit corporation, the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Exploratory Committee, which can accept funds Paul can use to ?test the waters? for a full-fledged bid.
Should he decide to forge ahead with a campaign, Paul would file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Paul intends to elaborate on his intentions in a couple of weeks, said Kent Snyder, who is chairing Paul?s exploratory effort.
Paul is well-known on Capitol Hill for his frequent lone ?no? votes on many spending bills and other legislation, much of which wins overwhelming support among both Republicans and Democrats alike.
This a voting pattern that has earned the obstetrician-turned-politician the nickname of ?Dr. No.? Paul explains that he votes only for measures he views as specifically authorized by the Constitution.
In 2006, Paul voted against the Bush administration?s stated position 64 percent of the time, more than any House Republican. His highest-profile departure from President Bush is on the Iraq war, which the congressman vigorously opposes.
In 2002, Paul was among just six House Republicans who voted against giving Bush authority to wage war in Iraq. Paul opposed the resolution for numerous reasons ? including his position that it was an unconstitutional transfer, from Congress to the executive branch, of the power to declare war.
In a Jan. 5 speech on the House floor, Paul also criticized the administration?s then-tentative plans to increase troop levels in Iraq, which Bush confirmed in a speech to the nation Wednesday.
Paul has served in the House for nearly 17 years, but in three separate tenures. He started out on the wrong foot, losing badly in 1974 to Democratic Rep. Bob Casey, but rebounded to win an April 1976 special election after Casey resigned to accept an appointment to the Federal Maritime Commission.
That tour in Congress was brief for Paul. The Democrat whom he defeated in the special election, Bob Gammage, exacted revenge in the November 1976 contest for a full House term. But Paul won their personal rubber match, ousting Gammage in the 1978 election.
Paul left his House seat open in 1984 to pursue a bid for the Republican Senate nomination that failed. He then strayed briefly from the GOP fold, leading to his third-party campaign for president: As the 1988 Libertarian nominee for president, he won about 432,000 votes nationally ? roughly 0.5 percent of the total in a race won by fellow Texan, Republican George H.W. Bush.
Paul returned to the Republican Party, then returned to the House in 1996 after unseating Rep. Greg Laughlin ? who had switched from the Democratic Party after the GOP?s 1994 House takeover ? in the Republican primary.
His mainly conservative constituents in the 14th District, which includes Victoria, Galveston and a 200-mile border with the Gulf of Mexico, are Republican loyalists for president: George W. Bush took 67 percent of the district?s votes in 2004. But Paul?s contrariness evidently plays well at home: He ran unopposed in 2004 and was re-elected with 60 percent last November
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