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Ron Paul: The Saga Continues
www.longislandexchange.com

Let the hate mail commence.
Joe Wallace
December 09, 2007 7:52 PM Eastern

After the huge outpouring of e-mail over my last column about Ron Paul, I tried an experiment. I deliberately stayed away from actively researching Paul's campaign. I wanted to play Joe American and see if perhaps my earlier views of Paul as a presidential no-hoper were wrong.

"What the hell," I said to myself, "There could be a shift from grass-roots to mainstream curiosity about this guy. Maybe he's NOT the Ross Perot of 2008, and really does stand a chance."


My idea was to see if Paul surged into the national conciousness of the campaign, for lack of a beter phrase. Would I suddenly find the Sunday morning pundits asking the hard questions about Ron Paul the way they are currently grilling Mitt Romney? Or Fred Thompson?

Weeks went by. I'd tune into CNN, NPR, even that bastion of careful journalistic integrity, the Drudge Report. What did I get?

Hillary Clinton playing dragon lady, Romney's Mormonism vs. JFK's Catholicism, Fred Thompson-the barely there campaigner, and some nonsense about christian fundamentalists endorsing Guiliani. Yeah, whatever. The day the average citizen seriously cares about what Pat Robertson has to say about anything at all is the day I apply for Canadian citizenship.

In all my casual, nonscientific observation, Ron Paul did NOT rise into my field of political vision, as it were. Except for a few cries of foul over some apparent censorship or cold-shouldering of Paul as a serious
candidate, there was nothing.

Sure, I could have missed plenty. I was going about my business, trying to earn a living as a professional writer (you didn't think writing one column pays the bills, did you? Hah!) and being a recent convert to 30 Rock as one of the funniest shows on TV.

But my observations don't seem to be TOTAL bunk. The 12/8/07 count from USAElectionPolls.com has Paul at pitiful three percent. He's behind the non-campaigner Fred Thompson, and Mitt "Mormon Question" Romney. Paul, the poor guy, is in single digits in EVERY STATE with a poll result on USAElectionPolls.com. Not that this particular website should be considered a crystal ball, it's just a random tool I plucked out of the air to see if I need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows. (Thanks, Bob Dylan. Don't sue me.)

Fred Thompson, a presidential no-hoper if there ever was one, at least has double digit results to his name. Yes, it's still early, but in my view unless Ron Paul suddenly sprouts an extra head that talks exclusively about foreign policy while Paul's "control head" is busy campaigning for the blue collar worker here at home, he's going to fade as a serious Republican contender when it's time for the primaries. The appeal of a two-headed Prez trumps anything these other bozos have to offer.

After all, Fred Thompson is the Law And Order guy, he's had so much free publicity that Andy Warhol may have to come back from the grave to revise his fifteen minutes of fame estimation. If Ron Paul can't hold his own
against Mr. Law And Order, how's he going to edge out Giuiliani, who is still remembered for his handling of 9/11?

The real burning question on my mind is this: Will Paul try to run a Quixotic independent presidential campaign after he washes out of the primaries? Or will he throw his support to someone else? Who would that be? I am dying to know who Ron Paul would tell his supporters to vote for when he gives up the ghost on the campaign trail. Call it morbid curiosity. Or maybe I've got a bookie giving me odds and I want to hedge.

All that aside, unless something radical happens between now and crunch time at the polls, I can think of a UK saying that applies to Ron Paul: he's got two kinds of hope. Bob Hope, and No Hope.