In reply to this comment by jimnms:
Ron Paul has a lot of good "common since" ideas about most things, but there are some things I don't agree with. He says he wants to get rid of social security and Medicare, but I haven't heard his plan for what's going to happen to all of the people who rely on social security and Medicare. Private insurance companies are not the answer, private insurance companies are a rip off. I'm all for a working national healthcare system, healthy citizens = a healthy nation.

Insurance companies only care about making money for their investors, not providing care for their customers. Insurance companies should not be telling doctors what they can or can not do. When I was seriously injured in a car wreck years ago, my insurance company would only pay for so many days of ICU, so when that was up, I was kicked out to a regular hospital before I was even stable. Then they only covered so many days in a hospital, and once again when that was up I was kicked out. I didn't have any say in the matter because I was still in and out of consciousness.

It wasn't just my insurance company either. The accident wasn't my fault, and at fault driver's insurance tried to weasel out of paying for anything. I had to get a lawyer and it took over a year just to get them to pay their share of the bills.

Then to add insult to injury (literally) when it came time to renew my policy, they denied me. Nobody should have to go through that just to get the medical care they need. I'm sure if the insurance companies had any more control than they do, they would have just let me die so they could save money.

I think government does stick it's nose in a lot of things where it doesn't belong, but healthcare for it's citizens isn't one of them.

Totally agree here. His platform is the war in Iraq and national security.

You'll notice when the moderator asks him about getting rid of the IRS, federal reserve, CIA, FBI, etc., he immediately refocuses the question on security. That's because he knows his libertarian platform of privatizing everything and relying the free market doesn't ring true to most people.

This is what worries me most about Ron Paul -- people hear the Iraq stuff (which I personally agree with), but don't here the equally important stuff about what he plans to do with the federal gov't (eliminate as much as possible).

So while this makes Paul a nice story, he is not a candidate I would support, because his classical conservatism is so extreme. My vote is still going to a Democrat, for better or for worse.

Once again, corporate America doing anything they can to make a short buck. You guys suck.

The only list of states I can find is: California, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. That's less than the 8 states he mentions (but doesn't list) in the above article.

I don't think he's going to get very far. Granted he's got the media spotlight at the moment, but fame in the media is very fleeting and it's a long way until the primaries. At which point I see him going the way of Howard Dean and showing up at third place in Iowa and New Hampshire.

I'm agreeing with amxcbvc that sure he's a fresh face which is needed in contrast to the old horses in politics, but I don't see him as a man of substance yet. To his credit, he has a speech at the DNC, two years as senator and a book and that's it.

I really shouldn't throw overbroad rhetorical bombs out there. I do think that the "use it or lose it" and "google bomb" initiatives are valuable in that they invite the media to cover things that would not otherwise be covered.

"Net roots" may yield results in 10-15 years, but there were no real accomplishments in 2004 and it doesn't look like progressives will make a leap forward in 2006. If Dems prevail in a few days, I think that you will see wins from Dems who act like Republicans but do not act like religious nutjob Republicans (i.e. James Webb in VA; Ben Cardin in MD; Lieberman in CT; Tester in MT).

The problem is that affluent white men and women aged 18-29 (the core of the net roots movement) are predominantly urban and have little connection or feel for rural areas. Merely Dean-dropping the kids into Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and the West will always be a recipe for disaster.

The ideological progressive purity demanded by the Kos and his ilk will only ever yield that intensely great and beautiful man, Dennis Kucinich. It will not produce a person who can ever hope to be elected on a nationwide basis.