The Highs and Lows of Ron Paul’s Appeal
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Ron Paul defied pundits twice this month with strong performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, something that they might not have predicted several months ago. KUT’s Emily Donahue spoke with Evan Smith, CEO and editor of KUT’s political reporting partner the Texas Tribune, about whether the Houston-area congressman ever really had a chance at the nomination.
Ron Paul is the latest in a long line of people who have run for office at the federal level who have been mainly movement candidates. They have not been able to win, but they take with them along the way an awful lot of people who feel disenfranchised, who are aggrieved at the existing order, at the establishment in politics and at the world around them, and they want to register a protest. Ron Paul is ultimately a protest-vote candidate. He is no more than that because he cannot run up enough votes to win.
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