by James Fryar

It has been said often, that anyone in the US can aspire to be president. Today’s Rasmussen Poll is a clear indication that this is in fact the case.

Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is – virtually dead even.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds.

Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

While I tend to find Paul a quirky character, I find myself more often in agreement with him than against. Apart from his weaknesses in foreign policy, mainly in the area of defense I tend to find him pretty sound. It’s a pity he seems to follow the leftist garbage line that the US is somehow an ‘empire’.

The poll though has him well within any margin of error. I doubt he could maintain the momentum in a real election with the rough and tumble of politics, but it must be a very disquieting time for Democrats when one of the most unlikely guys in Congress can be a threat to them.

It seems clear that if the Republicans can put up a genuinely fiscally conservative socially tolerant libertarian Republican in 2012, Obama is a goner. The slogan, “A second term for Jimmy Carter” will have been realized.

Editor's Note - Jim Fryar is a true Blue Collar Republican. He's an oil rig worker in south central Australia. He's also a member of the Australia Libertarian Society. His blog is Real World Libertarian. He covers the International Libertarian movement.