Ron Paul, the Texas Republican Representative with his hat in the ring for the party’s presidential nomination was along a handful of Republicans at a special interest forum recently held in Florida. The party’s leading candidates, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and John McCain were absent from the event, called the Values Voter Political Debate, which was marked more for the agreement among the participants than any real debate.
Paul, the most anti-government candidate in the current election field, agreed with the group’s notion that no government funding should be available to any company or organization that has anything to do with abortion rights. He also joined in the chorus to keep from forming a government operated universal health care system.
Some claim this a slight bend in the road for Paul, as they point out he has previously said that he is personally against abortion rights, but any regulation should be in the hands of the individual states. He is one of the candidates that push for more regulation being done on the state level, touting the need for less interference by the federal government.
Many of the so-called leaders gave the excuse that scheduling conflicts prevented their appearance at the event, despite at least of them being in Florida at the time.
Paul’s message, mainly promoted by internet bloggers and his grass roots attempts for government change, has him ranking at about two percent in the majority of voter polls, including Florida where, according to the numbers at www.usaelectionpolls.com, he is listed at only one and a half percent.
