In a game of Texas Hold ‘Em the way to scare off your competition is to put all your money in on a hand after the last card is dealt (or even before if the up cards are looking pretty good). It is also a pretty good way of making a bundle on a good hand if your bet is met. It is also a good way to go broke.
Well today, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas’ 14th district is “All in” on his bid for presidency. The 75-year old congressman announced today that he would not seek re-election as congressman, putting all of his campaign effort into the big enchilada.
He won’t win, you know. There is not even a snowball’s chance in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks that Ron Paul can win in even an unfair election against Barack Obama. Michele Bachmann might outpoll Ron Paul in the 2012 election, and that is saying something. So it is either Ron Paul is delusional and genuinely thinks that he has a dog in this hunt, or it’s that this is his swan song and a great way to end a long career in politics.
The latter, I think.
It’s also a great way to shake things up.
Democrats haven’t a chance in CD-14 which, under its present boundaries, went for the Republican presidential candidate by 66 to 33%, 66 to 34% and 64 to 36% in the last three presidential elections. No reason to believe that this district will be appreciably changed after the redistricting.
So the shakeup will all be on the GOP. Politico identified 3 possible candidates who might make the run for the nomination: State Senator Mike Jackson, State Reps Dennis Bonnen and Larry Taylor. Of the three, of course Jackson’s district encompasses more of CD-14 than either state reps districts do.
The upshot, I think, is that no matter who they run, the winner is surely going to run things a little differently than the folks in CD-14 are used to. For all his crazy libertarian ideologies, and for all of his No votes cast in support of those ideologies, at least Ron Paul was an ideologue. A wacky ideologue, but an ideologue.
Paul’s successor will be a blood-sucking, in it for me politician where cronyism is king compared to what they have now.
No, unfortunately the only way out for CD-14 voters is to elect a democrat to this seat. Unfortunate in that there is no way in the world that will ever happen.
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