WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican hopeful Ron Paul will almost certainly not be the next president of the United States. But the spry septuagenarian has already emerged as the political phenomenon of the 2008 White House race.
Of the 16 presidential candidates from both parties, Paul, 72, has made his mark as the most radical and unorthodox.
A conservative libertarian, he defies convention and all that defines the political mainstream. The former obstetrician supports the decriminalization of marijuana and expresses tolerance for same-sex unions but fiercely opposes abortion.
Insisting on a strict interpretation of the US Constitution, he cites the Second Amendment's right to bear arms in opposing any ban on gun ownership, while rejecting the idea of the United States as the world's policeman.
Representing his Texas district in Congress since 1976, Paul was one of two Republican lawmakers who voted against the war in Iraq.
On foreign policy, the former reservist in the US Air Force calls for reviving the principle of non-intervention as espoused by the founding fathers of the United States, which he sometimes calls an "empire" like anti-globalization leftists.
During his campaign events, he cites his role model Thomas Jefferson, the third American president who warned: "Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none."
And Paul tells audiences: "We can't force our values on other people at the point of a gun."
He calls for the immediate withdrawal of US soldiers deployed in Iraq but also those stationed in South Korea, Japan and Europe.
He wants the United States to quit the United Nations, NATO and the World Trade Organization. He has denounced the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, and favors abolishing the Federal Reserve.
Advocate of a strictly limited federal government, he has consistently voted against budgets for federal agencies like NASA or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He argues for a return to the gold standard and eliminating the income tax.
His goal seems to rally discontent from every quarter. And in a way, it's working.
In recent weeks, he is garnering about five to six percent support in national opinion polls among Republican voters. But the polls also reveal that he attracts a significant segment of the Democratic electorate and particularly those who are not affiliated with either major party.
If he were to stand as an independent in the November 2008 election, Paul could secure up to eight percent of the vote, according to a Rasmussen poll published Wednesday.
In a striking example of his campaign's advance, Paul has managed to raise a sizeable campaign warchest of 8.1 million dollars, to the envy of some of his competitors. And on a single day, November 5, he raised 4.2 million dollars via the Internet from about 37,000 donors.
The Internet serves as the engine for his campaign. His name is the most researched on the web of all the presidential candidates. On YouTube, Paul's videos score more hits than his rivals.
Will this web-based enthusiasm translate into real votes?
His candidacy has taken the pundits by surprise, but his last run for the presidency hardly registered.
In 1988, Paul ran for the White House under the libertarian ticket and finished a distant third with only 432,000 votes for a humble .47 percent.
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