I’m glad I voted for Ron Paul in the 2008 Maryland primary election.

Ron Paul endorsed Constitution Party Presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin in the general election so I voted for Baldwin because I agreed with him & most of the Constitution Party platform.

I’m now the State Vice Chairman of the Constitution Party of Maryland.

Michael Bertocchi
Rockville, Maryland
http://www.constitutionpartyofmaryland.com

It would be too bad thought if he doesn’t run because Rep. Paul did attract a diverse coalition of support around him and I feel he is the glue holding it together. As we saw in the fall of 2008, without him as the central force, everyone goes into their own camps. Nor do I think its given that the rest of the field will try to co-opt Paul’s issues. Maybe on some, but certainly not on foreign policy and that’s where the debate needs to focus. That can only happen if Rep. Paul or Gov. Johnson is in the race (There would no foreign policy debate if Gov. Sanford is in the race, not when he’s saying “I defer to you Newt.”).

While many Republicans would like to put Bush II out of sight and out of mind, it’s not clear to me that they completly reject his policies or that of the neocons. It’s too easy to say “Yeah, I’m against big government and too much spending” when you’re not running anything and all I hear from a lot of Republicans (like Pat Toomey) on Iraq is “Mistakes were made but in the end we needed to invade.” Wonderful, and President Obama gets to clean up your mess. I agree things need to advance precinct to precinct, buut I feel you still need someone out there in front leading the way, otherwise it will all peter out or be co-opted.

On a practical note, Sean. I think if Paul runs in 2010, he should rent a house in say NH and make that his basis: it is also much closer to DC and thus cheaper and faster and he can work on getting acquainted. He should also get a big campaign bus, where journalists can hop on and off for interviews and market the campaign much better in this way. i only saw him in a minivan in 2007/2008, not in a big comfortable campaign bus. (Correct me if I am wrong). And this time, he should have the money to afford such a bus from the very beginning.

Ron Paul should wait until about November next year, or thereafter, to announce a formally entry into the presidential race. The focus on the 2012 race will only be after the results of the mid-term elections. In a sense Paul’s campaigning for others in the 2010 mid-term will essentially also help him and the Liberty movement for 2011/2012. He should also see that he can address universities, also in Ohio, Iowa, NH, Maine, Vermont etc. between now and 2010 especially also after that) as well as some think tanks. A 2012 should be planned very professionally, weeks or months before a formal announcement, e.g. he could even decide whether he wants to run later this year, but keep this decision mainly to himself. When he announces formally, it must be at a national TV show or so.
As you suggest, he needs to have an experienced campaign manager with success like Bill Hillsman and then later also an established GOP person. Hillsman could target the Independents and soft Democrats especially and the established GOP (perhaps someone like Doug Wead, Scott Reed?) could target the established Republicans. He needs to have an adviser team in place much sooner, on economy, foreign policy, but also on military/security. He could streamline his message and make it more targeted for a specific audience. He could also make more use of incrementalism with radical change, instead of radical change in all aspects at once. (IMHO he should NOT for instance call for a total pullout of the UN all at once, but rather suggest ways to reform it, e.g. like an incremental approach to eventually dissolve it, but keep it as a diplomatic and humanitarian forum. The UN in its charter actually does support the sovereignty of each country and prohibits the entanglement into the internal affairs of its members. Paul mentions the issue to go to war war on UN command: well that clause was brought about by the USA faction, and he should remember France and Germany were strictly AGAINST attacking Iraq). On security he should say the same but in part in different words with a bit different approach, that would appeal more to Republicans, exactly as Rand Paul is doing. He should go into more detail about the difference between a non-interventionist foreign policy and isolationism and demonstrate that the neocon philosophy actually lead to more isolationism. He should position himself – as he has already done – as the wise third option in foreign policy, that is not a hawkish attack stance but also no naive “appeasement”, but rather a dialogue based on military but also moral strength. He should go the step by step approach, instead of overnight just abolishing many agencies. He should say if he wants to abolish the federal department of education, he wants to give the power for public school to the state board of education, or reduce the Federal Dept of Education drastically (instead of eliminating it) with the role of simply coordinating – or regulating – the state education boards in a certain sense. In Germany education are also mainly handles by the different states (Bundeslaender) and there curricula can differ from state to state. This competition is healthy.
His books The Revolution: a Manifesto as well as End the Fed should help a lot, along with his previous books. Perhaps he should blog a few articles, also at Huffingtonpost, Human Events (not sure that National review may give him a platform) to spread his ideas further than Capign for Liberty. If HR 1207 can be adopted, it will also be a huge success to his role in DC and demonstrate his bipartisan appeal on an important issue, especially where Republicans are in the minority and most GOP bills would probably never be passed. If he can then also get one or two of his bills, say like about hemp etc. passed, it would also help even more. I think his diplomatic approach is going to show fruits. Also: for a 2012 run apart from Barry Goldwater Jr., he needs people like Gary Johnson also actively campaigning with him, also with the endorsement of a few GOP senators and governors. On the economic front, James Grant is a very good person to have as well. On foreign policy, maybe he can also get say principled left wing Democrats disillusioned with Obama on civil liberties, spreading of the wars, special powers of the president etc. to act as advisers as well (Glenn Greenwald, Katrina van den Heuvel etc.). Ann Coulter, who has said not only this year, but also last year that he agrees with everything with him on domestic and economic policy, and probably also partly foreign policy (critical of the UN etc.) could also help to convince many. If Paul can make more inroads into established GOP radio hosts. He should be more on supporters like Brian Wilson’s show. Some of Paul’s senior staff should contact her eventually. Yes, she makes at time outrageous statements, but she is still well respected within the conservative wing of the GOP. Among the moderate wing of the GOP, Paul’s diplomacy and kind way of handling, as well as positions with regard to civil liberties, medical marjiuana etc., closing of Gitmo etc. should also be attractive. Paul basically offers something for literally everybody. Not all with agree with everything, but even many critics will say they can live with a lot that he is saying. The message should just be communicated more effectively and there should be a highly alert “debunking squad”, that can fight the smears. I feel Paul has improved a lot in his speeches and ways to communicate and he is very articulate. He just needs to talk slower at times, and lets his ideas and arguments sink in and make more use of space between sentences and say a few things with a bit more emotion. I think he can debate very well in detail and there are so many issues he can roll over an opponent like Obama. Paul definitely has more confidence than before. It is good that he is and will never be arrogant and overconfident.

Mark Sanford and Gary Johnson are not waiting on Dr. Paul’s blessing before considering their own prospects for 2012. For his part, Paul is doing the right thing by concentrating on education and building up the grassroots rather than running a perpetual presidential campaign. Political capital is best invested at the local level: the revolution has to be won precinct by precinct.