Doherty estimated that perhaps a third of Paul’s supporters would ultimately vote for Romney in November, though a larger percentage would back the GOP “whenever Republicans give them someone they could in good conscience vote for.”
Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico, is openly campaigning for the Paul vote. To a much lesser extent, so is Constitution Party standard-bearer Virgil Goode, a former GOP congressman from Virginia who served with Paul.
Rand Paul has endorsed Romney for president. His father hasn’t followed suit, but he has pointedly declined to throw his weight behind any of the third party alternatives.
To succeed, the Ron Paul movement needs both the activists working within the Republican Party and the “radical pincers” outside it, Doherty argued.
That theory is about to be tested in the hot Florida sun on national television.
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