The 5% strikes back

Over the last couple of months, I've been putting the chance of Ron Paul switching party tracks and running for president as a Libertarian at 95% and up. Turns out the 5% bet was the better one:

I am committed to fighting for our ideas within the Republican party, so there will be no third party run. I do not denigrate third parties -- just the opposite, and I have long worked to remove the ballot-access restrictions on them. But I am a Republican, and I will remain a Republican.

I was wrong -- and I'm glad I was wrong.

Hopefully the Libertarian Party will get back to its abandoned business now. Paul's GOP campaign set us back the better part of a year. I'm not blaming him for that -- I'm blaming us -- but we've got a lot of ground to make up if we want to get into the 2008 presidential fight at even our usual level of inefficacy, let alone in a truly effective fashion for once.

As always, I'll flog my preferred candidate first: Steve Kubby is the obvious choice for the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination if we're serious about being a political party.

If you're not serious (or if you disagree with my judgment as to what constitutes seriousness), the LP's official site maintains a list of all known declared candidates here.

Pick a candidate. Write a check. Get to work.