Call it the real Repub convention.

Ron Paul has become a pill to the RNC.

Ron Paul took the stage on Tuesday night at his counterconvention to the piercing sound of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down." Yet the Texas Republican is not even officially running for president anymore, and his Campaign for Liberty merely exists to keep the spirit of his presidential bid alive.

On the other hand, Paul has a loyal following, awesome fundraising prowess, and a strong message. Could he play a spoiler role? "I think he's going to draw voters away from both [Barack] Obama and [John] McCain," said Frank Bown of Seattle, who was part of Paul's audience of 10,000.

"Third parties can make a huge difference. Ralph Nader made a huge difference in 2000 with a very small percentage of the electorate," notes George Edwards III, a political scientist at Texas A&M University. But the Paul voters would have to launch a write-in campaign. And Edwards points out that no write-in candidate has ever swayed a presidential election. "Having said that, if it's really organized in one state, a small number of votes could really make a difference. In Florida, 1,000 votes might make a difference."

Paul did not mention McCain or Obama during his speech, referring instead to "counterfeit candidates." He declared that "the candidates out there, the major parties, don't have real difference in their foreign policy. They both want more troops in Afghanistan. They really want to maintain bases in the Middle East for a long time."

Paul's push for fiscal conservatism and a much smaller federal government makes him appealing to quite a few fellow Republicans. Steve Rogers, a Paul delegate from Minnesota, says, "I've talked to plenty of Republicans here who aren't happy with McCain."
Read on.