[stefan]

Hey guys..
This may sound ridiculously ignorant.. But I'm in Canada trying to understand the US election trend. How come support for Ron Paul is so low? I checked out his platform and it sounds relatively solid, and really promising compared to other candidates. Is there some massive loophole I'm missing?

Just curious on this.. Not trying to be offensive or anything here.

[SCA1]

He's kind of a cranky, quirky old guy, so his personality doesn't really play well with the American voters. He also doesn't have much financial backing to run a serious campaign. If he had either things he could make a better run, but with neither he has no chance.

[Chop79]

I don't think a Libertarian will ever be taken seriously... unfortunately.

[Jumpman]

Actually from a grass roots perspective there is a lot of support for Ron Paul, but national media will not give him air time. See, in our country the media picks the handful of candidates they think will play ball with major corporate interests and calls them "electable", while everyone else is "not electable".

Most U.S. citizens don't know how or don't care enough to learn about candidates on their own, so they just believe whatever they see on the major network TV news channels.

BTW, I am not a "Ron Paul supporter", although I think he's very intelligent and would do a much better job than the remaining candidates. My first choice was Dennis Kucinich.

[Nixon]

Because he lost the nomination -- just like Hillary?

[chriscecc914]

Originally Posted by stefan

Hey guys..
This may sound ridiculously ignorant.. But I'm in Canada trying to understand the US election trend. How come support for Ron Paul is so low? I checked out his platform and it sounds relatively solid, and really promising compared to other candidates. Is there some massive loophole I'm missing?

Just curious on this.. Not trying to be offensive or anything here.

because politicians here rarely do anything they say while campaigning like this big "CHANGE" Obama is going to bring. It may sound solid and promising but its mostly garbage.

[stefan]

Interesting.. the whole American election is really confusing to me.. the primaries and what not. In Canada its a little more straight forward.

[Sugarphreak]

Yes occasioanlly when the prime minister feels lucky with the voters he calls an election (or when enough opposite party members topple a vote resulting in a non-confidence motion) and we all emerge out of our ilgoos and place one fish in the bucket with the name of the prime minster we want.... the one with the most fish wins and we all have a big feast

[imported_saturn]

Rational people don't get elected because rational people don't vote. The squeaky wheel gets the grease and in this country, the far left and far right fanatics are the ones constantly barking at one another. So, yes, presidents in America are decided by the most fanatical and crazy of us.

And don't get me wrong -- I'm not downing America. I enjoy the unbridled optimism coupled with unsurpassed craziness. Keeps things interesting.

[Madjack]

I think the media dictates who is going to be popular and electable. Unfortunately, Ron Paul did not get any press time when he was running for the nomination. He is actually closer to a true Republican than McCain.

[WhiteOne]

When Ron Paul talks what he says goes right over the average Americans head. They do not understand, so they make fun of him.