Ron Paul running on a separate ticket for President

Ron Paul ran as a republican last time and continued as a republican even after he lost the nomination. As for splitting the votes, I don't know about you, but I'm not voting the GOP into the white house. I'm voting for the candidate I think is best for the job. Frankly, if it came down to Perry vs. Obama (and Ron Paul or Gary Johnson don't make the write in ticket), I just plain wouldn't vote. This whole "back the electable candidate" happened back in '08, as well. If memory serves, that didn't work out so well. Why would anyone expect it to work this time? I'd rather not be one of the mindless drones who thinks beating the incumbent is the ultimate goal. It's not. The goal is electing someone who represents your interests and ideals for the country. "Not Obama" is not a good reason to elect someone.

He ran on the libertarian ticket the first time. The republican ticket the second time and this time. He has said he will not run third party. As for supporting who ever wins the primary. Why should he. Why support someone who does not believe in or stand for his principles? He did not support mccain for a reason. I personally do not care if he did support romney or Perry if one of them win the primary. I still will not vote for either of them. If Paul or Johnson do not win the primary I will either vote third party or do a write in. I won't vote for someone I so not believe in. Period

I don't think he went under another party in the 2008 election, after not having large success in the 2008 election. The last time he ran, which was 1988, if I remember from his entry on Wikipeida, it was Republican, but can't recall beyond that. IMO, if he doesn't gain sufficient for the GOP, then he should STILL try to run, if he so desires. How is it *NOT* good to "split" the GOP vote? The elections should be about getting the best candidate in, not focusing in on the 2 main parties. I think, just as an example, if he chose to go Libertarian, he should do so. It should not be looked at as harm being done to one party or the other, but in allowing the vast majority of votes to help decide who should run. If anything, I'd hope it encourages a "split" in BOTH Reps and Dems, who've shown that they basically follow the same path: neither side has made any real efforts to ending Iraq; each seems content to keep their top-notch health-care; each has their scandals. I hope that it brings attention to the overall system of how the government runs, and not just "who has the ball now." Even if he doesn't win, if he can get more people interested in actually DOING something, then he's done more than ANY politician of any level--local - fed--in more years than I can think!

He actually is running on the GOP ticket. However I am not sure that he will ever gain enough support to actually win the nomination. In some ways he is too far out there for the Republican base. Plus he is not doing that well in the polls, though part of that is the media coverage that seems for the most part to go to either Romney or Perry. So no, I do not think he will try to split the GOP votes except in the primary. I cannot say if he would support whomever the nominee was or not, but if he doesn't then I could not blame him.....as long as he sticks with his principals to vote.

Actually, after losing the Republican nomination in 2008, Ron Paul gave his official endorsement to Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution party. But he didn't run as an independent or "3rd party" candidate himself. I don't see the GOP winning in itself as "critical". In all honesty, there really isn't any difference. I keep trying to tell people the only difference between the two is the parts of your life they want the government intruding in and the enemies the throw up to make us go running to them for protection from. What is important is the right person winning...not the right party, and the GOP standard is no more good for the country than the Dem standard. There is no lesser evil...this is an illusion.

If he loves Amercia as much as he says he does, he will not split the ticket and if he doesn't get the nomination he will support whoever does get it. Maybe they can put him in charge of financial policy or finding the waste in the federal budget. Or maybe he could be in charge of looking into which government agencies are no longer serving a useful purpose.