Last in a series of preview posts regarding the 2008 U.S. presidential election.  Previous entries can be seen here: Evan Bayh, Sam Brownback, Barack Obama, Chuck Hagel, Rudy Giuliani, Mr. Meddler, Professor Crybaby, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Recurring Nightmare, Al Gore, Michael Bloomberg, John Edwards (Part 1), John Edwards (Part 2), Mitt Romney and John McCain.

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Attack of the Clones

Mr. Paul seems to be a man of principle. He has one of the most consistent voting records in the House of Representatives and seems to lean right-libertarian. If Barry Goldwater were running for president today, he would most likely be Ron Paul.

Of all the candidates running for president in 2008, Mr. Paul’s political positions are quite voluminous. We know what Mr. Paul isn’t for. He’s rabidly against the federal income tax, he’s voted no on the Patriot Act and he’s for gun control. He claims to be a champion of states’ rights although he hews to the orthodox Republican platform of being anti-abortion, against separation of church and state and anti-affirmative action.

He opposed SCOTUS’ ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, is for DADT, spoke in support of DOMA and voted against legislation relating to same-sex adoption.

On the issue of gay rights, he’s no different from any of the current slate of Republican candidates. That alone is enough for me to write him off into the circular file.

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In the 1992 presidential election, a fellow Texan with big ears received 18.9% of the popular vote though he won no electoral votes. History records that election being handily won by Bill Clinton. I expect that Mr. Paul will not win the Republican nomination and will instead run on a third-party platform. This will, in effect, siphon off votes from the nominee, be it McCain or Romney.

History might end up repeating itself. Still early though. We should all take a page from Margo Channing and relax, cuz it’s gonna be a bumpy ride till November.