In his column at the Chicago Tribune, Clarence Page writes that it's about time that Ron Paul received a turn as the GOP's favorite presidential candidate. While few supporters expect him to be elected, they are pleased to see him at the top. But the real contender will remain former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
So now it's Ron Paul's turn to be a top-tier Republican presidential candidate? It's about time. He deserves it. The Grand Old Party's 2012 contest is driven heavily by tea party politics. It is appropriate that GOP voters give rise to an original tea partier, even if he sounds a little cracked.
After all, as some of his many younger fans like to say, the aging Texas congressman and physician is to the tea party what Snoop Dogg is to hip-hop, an "original gangsta": He's got his mind on your money and your money on his mind, especially if he can keep it away from tax collectors.
But few of his supporters expect him to be elected. Like Chicago Cubs fans, the Paulistas don't like to be disappointed, but after two failed runs, they have grown accustomed to it.
Paul's rise comes partly out of desperation as the GOP's conservative "Anybody But Mitt" faction runs out of alternatives to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the party establishment's odds-on favorite. A half-dozen other hopefuls soared and flamed out. Paul will fail, too, I predict, as his curmudgeonly pronouncements remind voters why they didn't support him sooner.
Read Clarence Page's complete column at the Chicago Tribune.