Below The Beltway

The Politico has an interesting piece today about the impact Ron Paul’s 2008 campaign is having on some 2010 races:

It’s been over a year since Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) energized libertarians with his presidential candidacy, but the movement he inspired continues to ripple across the landscape.

In at least a handful of House, Senate and gubernatorial contests across the country, former Paul supporters have emerged as credible contenders — or possible spoilers — ensuring that his message, once relegated to the fringes of Republican politics, continues to be heard.

Paul began the 2008 presidential campaign as an afterthought but quickly won the attention of a previously dismissive GOP establishment and news media by generating intense grass-roots and online support. He raised a stunning $35 million, largely through the Internet, and set a single-day fundraising record by hauling in $6 million in December 2007.

While he never finished better than a distant second, his supporters remained loyal to him throughout the campaign and Paul even briefly considered a third-party run in the general election.

Now, those supporters are running for office themselves.

I’ve already written about the candidacies of Rand Paul in Kentucky and Peter Schiff in Connecticut, but there are also other candidates coming forward who were influenced by Paul’s 2008 campaign:

The former presidential candidate and congressman, though, has lent his support to Debra Medina, a longtime supporter in his congressional district who is running for the Texas governorship.

Medina, the Wharton County Republican Party chairwoman, served on the board of directors of Campaign for Liberty and has been a regular at many tea party protests throughout the state.

While she placed a distant third in a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, the 3 percent of the vote she is winning could prove to be the difference-maker in the tight GOP primary between Perry and Hutchison.

Paul wrote a glowing letter to his supporters this month on behalf of Medina, stopping just short of an endorsement.“I am proud to call Debra Medina a friend, and as a fellow Texan, I encourage you to get to know her,” Paul wrote. “I am sure we will look to Debra for leadership in my community and across our state for many years to come.”

In California, businessman and former Ron Paul donor Jon del Arroz has a much better shot at winning the GOP House nomination in the 11th District. He ended June with more than $276,000 in the bank — more than any other Republican contender in the district — and is being taken seriously by Republican officials.

“I really liked the fact that [Ron Paul] stood for keeping government out of business, out of Americans’ lives in general — which is what the Republican Party has always been about,” said del Arroz. “I’ve noticed the trend to more government control coming down from Washington, and I want to make a difference.”

Win or lose, these candidacies are a good thing if they help bring more liberty-minded people into the GOP.

I was critical of Paul’s 2008 campaign on more than one occasion, but if that’s the legacy it leaves it will have been a good thing overall.