Ron Paul
Age: 75
Last held public office: U.S. Representative from Texas, 1997-present
One might call Ron Paul the quintessential Tea Party candidate, but he predates the phenomenon by several decades. Long before people affixed tea bags to headgear or Sarah Palin anointed her Mama Grizzlies, Paul had a sizable following of small-government grass-roots supporters. His uncompromising views on monetary policy, foreign intervention and the tax code have made Paul hugely popular among libertarians and a small but devoted subset of Republicans. Should he run again, the Texan's tireless calls to reduce the size of the federal government will resonate loudly in a year that saw the national debt reach an all-time high of over $14 trillion.
Opposed to foreign military intervention and major free-trade deals, Paul's isolationism has put him at odds with the majority of his party. Some of his economic prescriptions, like returning currency to the gold standard and eliminating the Federal Reserve, have proved too extreme for some GOPers. If he launches another presidential campaign, Paul can once again expect to face criticism over the disparaging comments about African Americans and gays that once appeared in his newsletters.
Paul maintains a devout following. After the Tea Party's influence on the 2010 midterm elections, Paul's support from the movement could make a 2012 run his most successful yet. (He ran unsuccessfully as a libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008.) But the Representative's views remain substantially outside the mainstream of Republican and American thought. To date, a skepticism of his views has been reflected at the ballot box.
Representative quote: "I am just absolutely convinced that the best formula for giving us peace and preserving the American way of life is freedom, limited government, and minding our own business overseas."