Ron Paul Leaving Congress

Ron Paul announced on Tuesday that he won’t seek re-election to Congress while he runs (again) for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Hey wait: Ron Paul is still in Congress? Okay, I knew that. But a lot of Americans may think of him as both something more and something less than a congressman — a free-floating permanent talking head-slash-presidential candidate. So what does this mean? Probably not much. At 75-years-old, Paul probably doesn’t have a whole lot of political mileage left in him anyway. His Galveston, Texas area district is likely to replace him with another conservative Republican. As for his presidential prospects, the Texas Congressman says he’s decided it makes sense to focus on just one race to improve his (extremely long) presidential odds. But it hardly seems that the chief obstacle to Paul’s presidential aspirations has been the distraction of a Congressional re-elect.

In fact, as Paul continues to rate low in GOP presidential polling (though often better than some more “legitimate” candidates, like Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich) it’s worth pausing to marvel at how little he has broadened his appeal since 2008. Paul is, after all, credited as the godfather of the Tea Party movement. Some of his once-fringy economic ideas have gained traction within the GOP, and the ongoing global economic crisis has provided endless new more grist for his apocalyptic financial theories. Republicans even seen to be growing less internationalist and more in line with his neo-isolationist views. But Paul remains a fairly negligible presence in the Republican race, and frankly it’s hard to see how giving up his House seat is going to change that.

I like how this article is riddled with propaganda. How about you stop calling him a "long-shot" or implying he isn't a "legitimate" candidate. Michael Crowley report the news not your biased opinion.

Why shouldn't Ron Paul go for broke in the presidential race? The Republican Party is such a mess and their presidential field is so weak and splintered that he has a real shot at winning the nomination. Paul and his radical theories are just the sort of thing to fire up the far-right Tea Party base that wants to destroy the fundamental structure of government in the United States. So out of touch...

All we Texans like Ron, lots of us say he is a bit left for our taste, Yankees never get the joke. I just hope what's left of Galveston gets us another conservative, they are pretty smart down there, the opted OUT of social security when they had the chance.

If we are simply lazy or ignorant, we should re-learn how to use our ears. Actually *listen* to some Paul words. Do this before we post negatively about any Paul. LISTEN to what they say.