Candidate Ron Paul thinks GOP, nation moving closer to his libertarian views


By Jordan Fabian - 06/10/11 06:00 AM ET

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is running a different presidential campaign in 2012 than he did in 2008, sensing that the evolving politics of the GOP could give him a better chance at building a wave of support and contending for his party’s nomination.

The last time Paul sought the presidency, he was a little-known libertarian back-bencher in Congress, largely dismissed at debates and by party insiders as nothing more than a fringe candidate.

But just three years later, Paul is faced with a Republican Party that is more receptive to his small-government, anti-war attitudes, fueled in part by the rise of the Tea Party. He’s also begun to reach out to mainstream conservative voices in an effort to spread his message beyond his hardcore supporters.

With the experience of one presidential campaign under his belt, Paul is building a more streamlined and formal campaign apparatus that gives him a better chance of competing in key early primary states.

Paul has a better chance in New Hampshire than in Iowa, but the congressman is not counting out any early states. He told The Hill last week that his campaign is focused on all the early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

Paul, who announced last month on Sean Hannity’s Fox News program that he would form an exploratory committee, disputed the notion that he is running a different kind of campaign from 2008.

Pressed on whether Hannity would have invited him on his show a few years ago, Paul responded that more people are questioning U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and the role of the Federal Reserve than they were three years ago.

“During the last campaign, I knew what was happening,â€