If Ron Paul remains in the GOP race through the convention in Tampa this August, he will not be allowed to have his name on the general election ballot in the vast majority of states. One way to possibly remedy this situation is to get him on the Americans Elect ballot.
Right now Ron Paul has the most supporters on Americans Elect's web page.
Ron Paul is not a declared candidate but over 7000 people are trying to draft him. In order to qualify for nomination he has to have 1000 supporters in each of at least 10 states vote for him. One has to join the site before one may vote for a candidate. As of today here are the top 10 states supporting Ron Paul and the current number of supporters who have voted to draft him as a candidate for Americans Elect:
California 706
Texas 552
Florida 441
New York 353
Pennsylvania 307
Ohio 293
Michigan 245
Washington 245
Virginia 231
North Carolina 225
If Ron Paul qualifies he may choose whether to have his name in the Americans Elect nomination through an online convention. If he decides to declare his candidacy for Americans Elect, he may or may not win. Given the enthusiasm of Ron Paul's online supporters, it should be easy to get those 1000 votes in each of 10 states and he would definitely be competitive in the online convention.
I have been very critical of delegate strategy currently pursued by Ron Paul's campaign. I hope and pray that I am proven wrong in my prediction that he will finish no better than second in the delegate count and that the GOP will not allow his name to be on the ticket for either president or vice president no matter how many votes he gets on the convention floor.
My criticism of the current strategy aside, participating in the Americans Elect campaign will not interfere with anything the Ron Paul campaign is doing now. It provides a backup option should Paul fail to be nominated by the GOP.
If he were to win Americans Elect's nomination he would have to choose a running mate from among Democrats. Some of Ron Paul's supporters will not be willing to support a transpartisan ticket; however, it may be Ron Paul's best option should he not win the GOP nomination. He could run a write-in campaign and no doubt do well but I think it is fair to say that he would do a whole lot better if his name were actually on the ballot in all states and territories.
No need for me to rehash the list of my preferred Democratic candidates but my 3 favorites would be: Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Should Ron Paul run on a nationwide ticket with a progressive, I believe he could be elected. The election of a libertarian/progressive P and VP would be truly revolutionary and give the American people a fighting chance to be reclaimed our government.
There is one caveat to all of this. No one can say for sure how honest Americans Elect is. Some critics are arguing that the Americans elect board of directors may not agree to follow the will of the people and will instead put their preferred candidates on the ballot. If they do, they will fail miserably and be totally discredited by the American people.
If Ron Paul fails to win the GOP nomination and Americans Elect rejects him, he can still run a write-in campaign or endorse the Libertarian Party candidate. There is really nothing to lose by signing up to Americans Elect and attempting to get him that nomination. I would love to hear from anybody a good reason for not pursuing this alternative.
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