2012 Candidate Cheat Sheet: Ron Paul

« Back to all posts in PoliticOlogy

2012 Candidate Cheat Sheet: Ron Paul

On Aug 07, 2011

Losing track of all the candidates in the 2012 election? Keep forgetting who stand where on which issues and why? Don't worry, PoliticOlogy's got your back with our recurring feature, the 2012 Candidate Cheat Sheet. We'll give you a little background on each candidate, what they love, what they hate, and hopefully a few funny facts that you can steal to make yourself look cool at parties. Don't worry, we don't mind. Enjoy!

Cheat Sheet: Herman Cain

Cheat Sheet: Michele Bachmann

Cheat Sheet: Mitt Romney

Who He Is: Current Texas Representative Ron Paul has been a soldier, an obstetrician, and an author several times over. He has campaigned for the presidency twice already, as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008, both times with moderate if underwhelming success. He is also a member of many financially significant committees in the House of Representatives. As an author, most of his writings have focused on Libertarian policies, particularly with regards to the economy.

Why He'll Win:

Paul is often referred to as the intellectual father of the Tea Party movement. He's been spreading the Libertarian word long before it was popular, so he certainly has the credentials to earn Tea Partiers' support.
Ron comes from a large state and has a reputation in Congress for being very smart on the economy. With the debt crisis and recent downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating, the 2012 election may be shaping up as one driven by economic issues and spending cuts, and no candidate in the race is better qualified in those areas than Paul.
For being an older guy who rambles on about economics a lot, Ron Paul also has their weird cult of personality about him. Ron Paul supporters often don't just support him, they seem to actively love him. A dedicated base like that, along with name recognition from his '08 campaign, could make for a very strong grassroots effort.

Why He'll Lose:

While Paul can speak for hours and hours on the economic side of Tea Party politics, he doesn't have the social conservative background of other candidates. He'll have a tough time winning the Republican primary if he doesn't start making a name for himself on a broader swath of issues.
Ron is sometimes a little too smart for the room. Being able to talk economics is one thing, being able to campaign on economics is entirely different. When you add in his weakness on more accessible issues in the socially conservative arena, Ron Paul may have a tough time gaining the mass appeal he'd need to win.
He's really more of a Libertarian than a Republican. Paul's unwillingness to fall in with the party line is part of why his supporters love him, but it also keeps him from posting the Romney-esque fundraising numbers. There's not really a good way around this - either he stays on the fringe and gets fundraised out of the race, or he falls in lockstep and loses his credibility.

SumOlogy: Paul can raise the level of economic discourse in the primaries, but he's going to have trouble carrying a whole election. His best bet is to stay vocal, threaten to steal votes, and get other candidates to adopt his economic principles.

Want to connect with other PoliticOlogists? Join the discussion over on My.Ology.com!

Follow Jonathan Moormann on Twitter: @HeedTheWalrus.

Check Out More: