By Edward Luce in Washington and Andrew Ward in Ohio
Published: September 10 2008 03:49 | Last updated: September 10 2008 03:49
Ron Paul, the fringe Republican candidate who out-raised most of his opponents in the US presidential election, including John McCain, is to hold a joint event in Washington on Wednesday with all the other third party candidates, including Ralph Nader.
Tuesday’s announcement for an event that will also include Bob Barr, the Libertarian party candidate, Cynthia McKinney, the Green party candidate and Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution party’s candidate, has raised speculation that Mr Paul may be about to repudiate Mr McCain.
McCain officials have reportedly reached out to Mr Paul in search of his endorsement – or at least to avoid his outright opposition. But Mr Paul has so far offered no public support for the Republican nominee, even though he remains a member of the party.
A spokesman for Mr Nader, who has polled up to 6 per cent public support according to one poll earlier in the summer, said that Mr Paul shared a large number of common positions with the third party candidates. But the spokesman refused to be drawn on whether Mr Paul would either join a third party ticket or explicitly endorse Mr Nader or another candidate.
The spokesman said that Mr Nader and Mr Paul shared a common revulsion for the US’s “illegal wars”, the “multi-billion bail-out of corporations”, the “trashing of the US constitution by both parties”, restrictions on civil liberties and the “illegal wire-tapping” of American phones and e-mail.
But their biggest area of agreement was disdain for the US’s two-party system. “People used to joke that in Communist Russia candidates would get 98 per cent Yes votes because there was only one candidate,” said Toby Heaps, Mr Nader’s spokesman.
“But it’s really no different in the US where, because of gerrymandering, 95 per cent of incumbent congressmen get re-elected. Both Nader and Paul share a revulsion for a presidential system that boils down to the choice of a few million swing voters in a few swing states.”
Although the “Ron Paul Army” was a highly vocal and visible presence on the campaign trail and although it raised tens of millions of dollars – mostly over the internet – Mr Paul was limited to low single-digit support in most states.
Mr Paul and Mr McCain clashed repeatedly during the Republican primary debates over their starkly differing views on the war, with the Arizona senator often failing to disguise his contempt for the Texas congressman.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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