With the 2012 election right around the corner, one candidate stands like a lone wolf among a herd of elephants.

That man is Ron Paul, a republican congressmen and doctor from Texas, although we won’t hold that against him.

At this point in the game, it looks like the match has already been called for him, and that greatly saddens me.

Ron Paul’s ideas, though they could be considered somewhat radical, are received poorly by the GOP, who considers him to lean too liberal.

Still, the party could use a breath of fresh air with his set of fresh ideas.

It is surprising that someone who has been in the game as long as Ron Paul could be the most controversial of all his congressional peers.

Ron Paul himself is an on and off member of congress and the disillusioned game of politics, and at the age of 76 he is no spring chicken.

Despite his age, Ron Paul has a way of keeping his mind open and his ideas new, making him the prime choice for office with college students over the better part of a decade.

As a member of congress, Ron Paul has taken a difficult stand on difficult issues.

Issues like dissolving the war on drugs, mostly in part to try and end the related violence.

He also advocates stopping America from acting as world police in matters of foreign affairs, stating that “[We] can’t spread goodness through the barrel of a gun.”

Ron Paul’s ideas are a double-edged sword for him and his popularity with his party.

What other Republican candidate supports completely equal rights for homosexuals and heterosexuals?

Or thinks evolution should not only be taught in school, but can peacefully co-exist with the idea of creationism?

Or voted for the legalization of medical marijuana, and believes that we should eliminate the death penalty?

What other elected official would vote to cut his own salary, so much so that, if elected president, he would earn as much as a well-paid teacher?

Of all the candidates in the running, Ron Paul seems to have his finger on the pulse of the national character.

He isn’t so detached from the common American working class that he might as well be living on the moon, and he isn’t so hung up on ideology and conservative doctrine that he should be seen in a literal plastic bubble.

As far as 2012 goes, you can count Ron Paul down, but don’t count him out.

When it’s all said and done this is not the end.

Ron Paul is doing better than he did in the 2008 election and, with any luck, he’ll run again.

He may not overtake the White House in a grand blitzkrieg, but for those of us looking for a new face with new ideas we can only hope for a slow, but strongly persistent crawl for the presidency all in due time because there’s still hope for 2016.