Liberty in America
columnist: rtbohan

Topic: Presidential Campaign 2008
Spoilers? Hillary Clinton and Ron Paul

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As the conventions approach, two candidates who will not be nominated continue to challenge the front runners

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by rtbohan
(Libertarian)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Democratic and Rephblican parties have nearly completed their selection of delegates to their national convention. The primaries are nearly over. No more televised candidate debates are scheduled, thank the Lord. And yet two candidates who are not going to win the nomination continue to campaign and seek delegates. What are Hillary Clinton and Ron Paul up to?

The two front runners, Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain, are becoming impatient, and attacking each other as though the nomination was already theirs.  By November, the voters will probably be as tired of them as they already are of the primaries and state conventions.  The Republican Party establishment, which never wanted Representative Paul in the race at all, is engaged in name-calling and political chicanery to minimize--or eliminate-- any attention to him during the convention and the fall campaign. The Democratic Party establishment, which had planned the primary season to give Clinton an insurmountable lead after Super Tuesday, to be followed, after five months of planning, with a coronation ball, regards her now as an embarassing reminder that they were wrong.  They regard her continued campaign as an ego trip which may ruin the Party's chances for a victory in November. 

Both these candidates remain in the race because each had a particular movtive in entering the race, and each is still dedicated to reaching that goal 

Hillary Clinton has been running because of a sense of entitlement, a belief that she has somehow earned the nomination and the presidency.  Exactly what she has done other than create a failed health care program and serve as a false alabi for a cheating husband is not clear.  Putting up with years or marriage to a fourflusher like Bill Clinton certainly deserves some reward--maybe a separate chapter in the Book of Martyrs--but not the Presidency. She has said, and proven, that she will do "whatever it takes" to win the nomination.  She has not said, but will, pursue that goal for as long as it takes, which may be another twelve years.  After all, age has not stopped John McCain. This year she will take the fight all the way to the convention floor, still claiming that she actually won and was somewhow cheated out of her merited reward.

Ron Paul began his campaign for the Presidency because of the message he has been trying to get across in Congress.  The country and the Republican Party need to return to the principles of limited government and personal freedom which were written into the constituion.  He began the campaign with no expectation tha he would win the nomination, but with the belief that he must get the message out.  He was as surprised by the response to his campaign as Senator Clinton was b;y the response to hers.  Representative Paul's message, while it did not create a movement in the majority of Republican voters received strong support, particularly from younger voters.  This support translated itself into a flood of small contribution, an army of volunteers, and a rapidly developing political shrewdness.  Representative Paul has said that he will continue his campaign for the Republican nomination as long as his supporters continue to turn out, which means all the way to the Convention.

Some of the more fanatical supporters of Ron Paul and of Hillary Clinton are urging the candidates to abandon their parties and run an indepndeent campaign for the presidency after the convention.  The fanatical advocates of this course of action, in both cases, argue, incorrectly, that the majority of voters support their candidate and an indpendent run will lead to the white house.  The calmer ones argue, with some validity, that such a candidacy will guarantee the punishment of the party that rejected their candidate.

But neither of these two candidates will run an independent campaign.  If Hillary Clilnton does not win the nomination this year--and it is still possible, if unlikely, that she will-- she intends to be the next Democratic nominee for President in either four or eight years.  She thinks she deserves the Presidency, and she knows that the only way she can win it is as the Democratic nominee.  If she does not win the nomination this year, she will endorse Senator Obama and at least go through the motions of supporting his campaign.  Covertly, she will be doing as much damage as she can, to bring the next opportunity to run more quickly.  Ron Paul has said he will not run as an independent candidate.  His main pupose in entering the campaign this year was to win Republican voters back to the party's original position of libertarianism and constitutionalism, and to built a conservative and libertarian group among the Republican members of Congress.  He can do neither of these if he abandons the party.  He has said that he probably will not endorse Senator McCain for President, which is perfectly consistent with the ideas he has stood for as  a candidate.  But neither will he deliberately try to hurt the Republican Party by running an independent campaign or endorsing another candidate.

Senator Clinton and Representative Paul will remain true to their party, but will not give whole hearted support to their party's nominee.  Both are on a mission which they consider far more important than petty revenge.  They will be continuing to advance those missions for the rest of this year and beyond.

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2008 rtbohan, all rights reserved.
Published: Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Last modified: Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of rtbohan only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. rtbohan is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

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