Time’s “Swampland” blog is floating the best indication yet that Rep. Ron Paul could be willing to cut a deal with Mitt Romney (or, presumably, Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich). What’s been missing for a long time is the price for Paul’s endorsement/pulling out of the race. Time tallies it like this:
Aides say if Paul can’t win the nomination, four legislative priorities would top the Texas Representative’s wish list: deep spending cuts that lead to a balanced budget; the restoration of civil liberties; a commitment to reclaim the legislative branch’s right to declare war, which it abdicated to the executive branch in recent decades; and reforms that shore up the U.S. monetary system, such an audit of the Federal Reserve or competing-currency legislation. The Texas Representative might also be enticed, says campaign chairman Jesse Benton, by the prospect of serving as a presidential adviser, a Cabinet position for someone in his orbit or “perhaps a vice presidency.”
Not for himself, but rather his son. Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky and a Tea Party icon, is expected to launch his own White House bid in 2016. Being on the ticket now – or even being mentioned for it – would be a helpful step. Says one Paul adviser: “If you’re talking about putting Rand on the ticket, of course that would be worth delivering our people to Romney.”
Very interesting. And I can already here the cries of “Judas!” rising in certain quarters.
But let’s be blunt: Paul isn’t going to be the nominee. He is lagging far behind the rest of the field in delegates and his strategy of focusing on caucuses over primaries has largely failed. If a deal is on the table to get him out of the contest, and behind another candidacy, that should not come as a surprise.
The question becomes whether anyone would be willing to pay his price. Personally, a vice president Paul (Ron or Rand) would be extremely intriguing, though it would likely result in a massive case of the vapors amongst the Republican nomenklatura (not to mention an epic meltdown in the conservative commentariat). Delicate flowers, all.
As for the policy items listed…they can be given lip service, meaning places inside a party platform which will be little read and promptly forgotten after the Tampa convention.
So…would you take the deal?
