Ron Paul: Kingmaker?

A reader writes:

I was reading your posts about Ron Paul's candidacy [YouTube Paul convert here], and I had an idea that I'm surprised nobody else has thought of (to my knowledge). Paul isn't going to win the Republican nomination. But I believe he is poised to become the most significant third-party candidate in 2008. Other potential independents -- Michael Bloomberg in particular -- seem to want to run as independents just because neither major party will have them. That's true of Paul, too. But Paul, unlike Bloomberg, will have the support of a party: the Libertarian Party.

The Libertarian Party nominated Ron Paul for President in 1988. He ran his campaign while maintaining good relations with the Republican Party. Since then the need for a credible Libertarian candidate has grown significantly, as the Republican Party leaders have abandoned libertarianism, and Paul's views have become heretical. Now, thanks to the shock value of his "heresy", he's already become far better-known than most Libertarian Presidential candidates ever get. The Libertarians would be fools not to nominate him. And if they do, he and his supporters will be even more vocal, from now until November 2008. In a tight three-way race, this could put him in an excellent kingmaker position.

Why not run again as a libertarian? Many of us are dreading the possible choice next year. Paul as a third party candidate would cheer us up no end.