Longshot Republican presidential contender Ron Paul has failed to win any of some 20 states which have picked their 2012 election standard-bearer, but vows to keep up his quixotic quest for the White House.
The Texas lawmaker seemed to acknowledge that his unorthodox bid for the White House has been a bit like tilting at windmills, but vows to press on all the same.
"Do I believe I can win? Yes. Do I believe the chances are slim? Yes, I do," he told US television broadcaster CBS over the weekend.
The 76-year-old obstetrician's presidential campaign has a loyal and impassioned following which has focused on his stout defense of constitutional principles and individual liberties.
But Paul has said that vying to become the Republican nominee to challenge President Barack Obama is not the only point of his campaign.
After pocketing what he hopes will be a healthy number of delegates, Paul expects to be a key player when the Republican party holds its nominating convention in August.
"I don't care about power, but I care about influence, and the best way you can influence a nation and move a nation is by translating this into political action that is successful," he told US television last weekend.
"If you're in a race to make a point or to promote a cause, the best way to do that is to win," he said to US television last weekend.
Pundits said that thinking is precisely why it is highly unlikely that the somewhat quirky Texas lawmaker will pull out of the race -- despite a winless streak that would have led a different candidate to pull out long ago.
"Ron Paul marches to the beat of his own drummer," longtime Washington pundit Thomas Mann told AFP.
"He doesn't need victories to continue his campaign. He has a band of committed libertarians who will keep his campaign going as long as he chooses," said Mann, an analyst with the Brookings Institution think tank.
As a libertarian -- one of his three White House campaigns was even as the Libertarian Party standard bearer -- Paul says he is committed to reducing the intrusion of government in the daily lives of Americans.
Paul is an obstetrician by training who for two decades has put his practice on hold so that he could represent Texas in the US Congress.
Slightly built, professorial in style, the septuagenarian doesn't exactly look the part of presidential contender, and is given little real chance of winning his party's presidential nod.
By and large, he has ignored the talking points of the other three contenders, who have focused on social issues like religious faith, contraception and immigration.
Instead, Paul has focused largely on the yawning US debt and how in his view big, intrusive government helped create it.
His unlikely policy agenda also includes a return to the gold standard, ending US military interventions around the world, decriminalizing marijuana and cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget in his first year in the White House.
If Paul fails to claim the grand prize of the presidential nomination later this year, he may still have picked up enough delegates to claim a prime convention speech slot or pet plank in the party's presidential platform.
"He's not done. He has a plan and he's sticking to it," William Galston, another political expert at Brookings, told AFP.
"Paul's not running a campaign so much has he is leading a movement," Galston said.
Observers with a conspiratorial bent have suggested that Paul's real aim is to leverage his influence to snag a cabinet seat in a future Mitt Romney administration for his son Rand Paul, a freshman US senator.
Better yet, they say, he is hoping that the Republican frontrunner will offer his son a place on the 2012 ticket as his running mate. Father and son both have rejected the speculation.
Ron Paul received some negative publicity earlier in the campaign after being forced to distance himself from racist statements published under his name 20 years ago, but that controversy blew over and does not appear to have cut into his support.
He is also is a chief critic of President Barack Obama's hallmark health reform program, especially its provision that would require some Americans to buy health insurance or pay a fine -- an issue likely to figure prominently in the general election
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/winless-ron-pauls-quixotic-white-house-quest-162550204.html
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