Ron Paul On The Verge Of Going 3rd Party
By Eric Dondero
January 8, 2008
Page 2 of 4
Ron Paul and I had tickets in hand and a schedule mapped out for a New England swing. Then Buchanan called Paul up the night before our trip and asked him to drop out. Buchanan wanted to run himself. Paul agreed.
Murray Rothbard, writing in the Rothbard-Rockwell Report (RRR), wrote at the time:
As if our prayers were swiftly answered by Heaven, we now have that candidate and that leader: Pat Buchanan.
One might well ask: what about Ron Paul? In November, we called for Ron Paul to enter the Republican primaries, and we joined an exploratory committee to test the waters for that race. We generated an enormous amount of interest from libertarians and conservatives, and from the media, starved for some kind of contest in what had looked like a torpid and boring Bush coronation in 1992. Ron was determined that Bush would not go unchallenged, but he was not anxious for personal reasons to make the race. When Pat phoned him, without hesitation, Ron welcomed Pat's entry into the race, and pledged his support to the Buchanan effort. Unlike most libertarians, Ron Paul understands the real world of politics, and he realizes that in Pat Buchanan we have an unprecedented opportunity to forge a powerful coalition, to create a new libertarian-conservative, Old Right movement.
The Paul effort quickly morphed into Pat Buchanan for President. Our New Hampshire Coordinator Chris Tremblay became Buchanan's top Personal Aide throughout the presidential campaign. Blumert, Rockwell and Rothbard solicited funds for Buchanan's campaign. Raimondo and Garris became leaders in the "Buchanan Brigades" on the grass roots level. Raimondo famously became the champion for "Gays for Buchanan" and even made a couple national TV appearances for his role. Young paleo-libertarians got into the Republican National Convention that August under the auspices of the "Buchanan Brigades."
Over $80,000 was raised for the 1992 Paul for President Exploratory Committee. After Blumert closed up shop, a few vague promises were made to donors promising to spend the money on Ron Paul projects or a PAC supporting Ron Paul style candidates, but nothing ever materialized. Paul, out of Congress since 1985, went on to win a Texas Congressional seat in 1996, again with major fundraising assistance by Blumert and Rockwell.
2008 a replay of what was to be for 1992?
The general plan for Paul '92 was to make a big splash in New Hampshire and possibly other early primary states. This was a modified strategy that we used from the 1988 Libertarian presidential efforts when we campaigned extensively in both Iowa during the caucuses and New Hampshire during the primary.
The loosely conceived 1992 plan was to utilize the ballot access of the minor constitutional parties as a fall back after losing the Republican primaries. Howard Phillips and his US Taxpayer's Party were organizing. Other various smaller 3rd parties like the American Party and the rump of George Wallace's American Independent Party had ballot status as well, most notably in California. Phillips had balked on supporting Paul on the Libertarian ticket in '88 but was behind the scenes encouraging Paul to run Taxpayer's Party for '92.
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