Libertarians Target ... Ron Paul. Wuh?

While it's easy to concentrate on that five-seat margin in the Texas House, there's still all those nice offices on the Potomac up for grabs in next year's election.

So far, there's pushing and shoving from Texas Democrats and Republicans over U.S. House primaries. But little real word from either side about District 14 - Ron Paul's stomping ground. Staff for the self-proclaimed Taxpayer's Best Friend (has he trademarked that yet?) monosyllabically confirmed today that, "Yes," he will be running for both Congress and President (totally legal under Texas law), but "No," they don't know when he'll be filing. But he'll definitely be facing one opponent: Libertarian Eugene J. Flynn, who filed yesterday. Explaining his platform, Flynn said, “I agree with Ron Paul about 80% of the time. The problem is the other 20% is the most important to me, that is, immigration.”

Flynn tried to stand against Paul in 2006, but the Libertarian Party of Texas decided to leave the ticket empty rather than run against the most openly libertarian congressman alive. Foreseeing the press scrum (possibly based heavily on morbid curiosity), LPT chair Wes Benedict noted he had been told back in 2006 that the party would be crazy to run against someone they consider one of their own.

"Nevertheless," he added diplomatically, "I respect Mr. Flynn for standing up for his principles."