[borism]

The point is that as long as Ron Paul is out there on the political flank of plausible candidates with a small committed support base, the more centrist candidates will tack towards his position to try and capture some of his support.

do you have any example to support this claim? Ron Paul isn't running for the first time. Which of his positions got anywhere close to mainstream candidate's agenda previously?

Witness how Santorum pulled Romney towards more socially conservative positions just by existing.

Santorum was Romney's runner-up if not outrunning him during several moments.

[tlianza]

Here's a random example from one of the debates... http://vote4reason.com/2011/12/11/ron-paul-wins-iowa-abc-gop...

"In closing, Rick Perry said he has most learned from Ron Paul’s effort to end the Federal Reserve, and why it matters."

In later debates, Gingrich seemed to make similar moves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCC0vokYHnY

Not saying Paul was completely transformative, but his take on the Federal Reserve which I think was largely considered "extreme" started to become more of a mainstream GOP topic.

[borism]

Rick Perry? oh boy...

anyway, criticism of Fed from GOP is nothing new http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Federal_Reserve_...

I'm skeptical Ron Paul had any particular role in reigniting it.