MJ,

Rather than answer your question, I'm just going to say that I don't think Ron Paul is even in the running as the answer ... not because of the racism thing (although that's certainly of concern), but becaue he isn't promoting libertarianism.

Ron Paul is running as a conservative. That's what he calls himself, and that's how he portrays his positions. Even when he takes a thoroughgoingly libertarian position (as on foreign policy), he gives it a different label (in the case of foreign policy, he refers to it as a Taftian conservative Republican policy).

And outside of foreign policy, he leans toward promoting one of the big issues on which he is conservative rather than libertarian (immigration). He wasn't even willing to budge toward libertarianism on "don't ask, don't tell." He's playing a pretty much fully conservative hand here.

Even if there's Coca-Cola inside the bottle, if the bottle bears a Pepsi label, it is Pepsi which is being promoted.

Regards,
Tom Knapp