Republican Rebuffed
Ron Paul, the former Republican candidate for president who still holds sway with a huge number of libertarian-leaning voters, said the McCain campaign asked for his endorsement on Tuesday, an overture that he rebuffed.
“It was a bit of a surprise,” Paul said at the National Press Club on Wednesday. “The idea was that I endorse John McCain today.”
But he turned them down, saying he “didn’t like the idea of getting 2 or 3 million people angry at me,” referring to his supporters.
The McCain camp’s argument? “That [McCain] would do a little less harm than the others,” said Paul.
Paul said the conversation ended by the campaign representative telling him, “If you change your mind, call me back.”
He said he has no plans to endorse a candidate “at this time.”
Paul assembled the event to bring together the major third-party candidates — Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr — to agitate for more open debates.
Paul’s supporters were out in force, offering a standing ovation when he took the podium and applauding his first few comments. This didn’t sit well with him. “We didn’t want to do this as a rally,” he chided. “We want to do it as a press conference, so hold back a little bit on that.”
He went on to say that he and the candidates “represent the majority of the American people,” who view the two parties as the lesser of two evils. That said, Paul is still running for reelection as a Republican. “I don’t have an opponent,” he said. “I may after today.”
Making common cause with Paul, Nader said, “The American people want to view the debates as something other than an antidote to insomnia.”
The only one missing was Barr, who created some drama by no-showing, and then holding his own press conference down the hall not even an hour later.
In a statement posted online, Dan Rasmussen of Paul’s Campaign for Liberty organization said Barr initially agreed to come, then “had his campaign manager call us minutes before it started to tell us that Bob thinks ‘it just isn’t worth it.’”
“I am deeply disappointed by Bob Barr’s decision not to participate in today’s press conference just as I have been disappointed with the Barr campaign throughout this election cycle,” said Rasmussen.
Barr said he was disappointed that Paul won’t endorse a specific candidate. “We need today, now, 55 days before this election, bold, focused, specific leadership and that is not the amorphous kind that says any of the above or none of the above,” Barr said.
