On this Sunday's Meet the Press, after being badgered by David Gregory on whether or not he would consider a third party run in the 2012 presidential election or not, Rep. Ron Paul told Gregory it's not something his campaign is concentrating on and that it would be a distraction, but also said he would not rule it out completely.
I'm really curious how the Villagers in the media are going to react if Ron Paul actually ends up winning Iowa. That would probably be as enjoyable to watch as how they handle it if he does decide to throw his hat in later as a Libertarian candidate if the Republican primaries don't go well for him.
Transcript via:
MR. GREGORY: Before you go, congressman, let me ask you about the strength of your following. Mitt Romney acknowledged it last night, saying everywhere he goes in Iowa your supporters are there. And he respects that. If you don't prevail in Iowa or don't prevail to get the nomination, will you endorse?
REP. PAUL: Oh, I have no idea. I'll wait and see about that. It depends on how the platform works out; and, you know, I was bragging a little bit last night when they asked us about our opponents up there, and I was very pleased that some of them are starting to use a little bit of the language that I use. We'll wait and see how things go and, and--since they are willing to change their positions and have in the past. So I'll keep my fingers crossed and see what happens. But my main goal is to look to January 3rd and January 10th, and we're doing well. So it's premature for me to be talking about what I'm going to do after January 10th until we find out exactly how this plays out.
MR. GREGORY: You have endorsed in the past a libertarian candidate, somebody outside the two-party system. Are you ruling out a third party run at any point?
REP. PAUL: I have, I have no plans to do that.
MR. GREGORY: Are you ruling it out?
REP. PAUL: I'm not going to rule anything out or any--anything in. I don't talk in absolutes. And I stated to my position that we really have a very nice campaign going on, and there--and people are recognizing this. And we have thousands of young people now that are campaigning for us.
MR. GREGORY: Well...
REP. PAUL: And the turnouts are just fantastic.
MR. GREGORY: Well, to that point, though...
REP. PAUL: For me to be distracted...
MR. GREGORY: Well, to that point, are you open...
REP. PAUL: For me to be distracted about...
MR. GREGORY: Are you open to a third party run?
REP. PAUL: I am not even thinking about it.
MR. GREGORY: But you won't rule it out completely?
REP. PAUL: Because I have enough on my plate right now. I mean, we, we have a lot of campaigning to do, and, and we're going to be very, very busy in these next couple of weeks. That is what I'm concentrating on, and we're going to see what happens.
MR. GREGORY: All right. Congressman Paul, we will be following the debate very closely. Thank you so much.
REP. PAUL: You're welcome.
