The GOP is making Ron Paul feel right at home at this year’s National Convention, or at least that is how the Paul campaign tells it. Since amassing a plurality of delegates in at least five states, Paul should be able to speak to the convention and is looking to have one of his most talked about subjects put into the party platform. While the GOP doesn’t seem to have an issue with Paul speaking at the convention, the Paul campaign thinks Team Romney might.
The Paul campaign has been mostly ignored by the establishment GOP and even the media, but his success has greatly improved and most people don’t realize just how much. Not only did Ron Paul gain a plurality of delegates in several states, but he also led a movement in which several members of the Liberty Caucus of the Republican Party are now state chairs.
According to Paul spokesman Jess Benton, “They’ve (The GOP) just treated us like a friend and like a coalition. They have been honest brokers in working with us and treated us with respect.”
USA Today reports,
In an interview with the Fox Business network last week, Paul — who is no longer actively campaigning for president but has not officially suspended his bid — said he had “not made a decision” whether he’ll vote for Romney in November.
Benton said Paul’s movement has matured enough to remain relevant well past the primary contests. For instance, the congressman said in June that he expects to have about 500 delegates and alternates in the convention hall out of the total of about 4,400. “Our success brings us some clout,” Benton said.
So what will Ron Paul be promoting for the GOP platform? Well it could be any number of excellent policies that he has not wavered on. But Business Insider reports,
A GOP source tells Business Insider that the Republican Party is seriously considering including support for an audit of the Federal Reserve in the party’s platform this year, a move that would enshrine Paul’s signature policy in the Republican Party doctrine for at least the next four years.
According to the source, the possibility of including Paul’s position on auditing the Fed in the party platform came up during a recent meeting between Republican nominee Mitt Romney and Paul’s son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, whose positions generally align with those of his father. The source told Business Insider that Romney expressed support for including the “Audit the Fed” plan into the platform, and that the Paul camp is working on specific language to present at the Republican National Convention in Tampa next month.
While BI claims that the issue of the Federal Reserve is a top issue among many Republicans and could be an issue that would bring Paul supporters over to Romney’s side, that has yet to be seen. Ron Paul has not even decided to support Mitt Romney, but he does support the Constitution and the ideas he has expressed. A majority of his supporters have a similar mindset.
In an interview on Fox Business with Neil Cavuto, Paul said, “I think the Romney campaign organization is very insecure.”
“They (the Romney campaign) want this thing to go smoothly,” he said. “But all conventions are like that. And this is the one thing that annoys me a bit. If they want this thing to go smoothly and be a big media event, and it costs the taxpayers $18 million, and they don’t want a discussion, why can’t we have a little debate?”
Paul said he would think that if someone “had a base where there’s individuals like the young people who would like to come into the party,” it would make sense to let that person speak.
“It‘s not like I’m preaching socialism, I’m preaching and doing the things and getting credit for doing exactly what Republicans claim they believe in,” Paul continued. “It’s sort of ironic, ‘Oh we don’t like these Ron Paul people because they don’t vote to raise the national debt when we need to.’”
That interview also allowed Paul to express his views on the flood of rumors in regards to Condoleezza Rice being picked as a possible vice president. He said that he would be “pretty amazed if she were to be picked.”
“I can understand philosophically why she might…it wouldn’t help the Ron Paul supporters, they would like a different foreign policy,” Paul answered.
“I don’t dictate anything to anybody,” Paul said in regards to how his supporters might respond.
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