Ron Paul for president?

Here is a name that until now was unfamiliar to me: Ron Paul, who on monday raised a record $4.2 million for his campaign for the US presidency. By most measures that should make him a serious contender for the Republican nomination next year.

What does he stand for? Among other things: smaller government, an end to the income tax, return to the gold standard, a noninterventionist foreign policy and withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Read this speech for further details. Is Paul a threat to the other Republican candidates, including frontrunner Rudolf Giuliani? Probably not, unless he becomes a third-party candidate, thereby siphoning off Republican votes and inadvertently helping the Democrats.

Here's one indicator of Paul's distance from the mainstream of his own party: "Paul backers tied their Nov. 5 fundraising effort to Guy Fawkes Day – which commemorates the day in 1605 when the British mercenary tried to blow up Parliament and kill the king." Taking a would-be regicide as one's model will likely do nothing to help his candidacy, despite his full-to-overflowing coffers.