Who is the U.S. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX)?

What is all this hype about Ron Paul? Who exactly is he? I know he is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. President, but I want to know your opinion. I asked a previous question on this forum about who would like to see get the Republican nod for President and overwhelmingly the answer was Ron Paul. I would think Romney, McCain, or Guiliani would get overwhelming support. I don't know much about the Republican race for the party's nomination because I live in a closed primary state and as a registered Democrat can only vote Democrat in the primary (although I ironically support Mr. Romney's presidential aspirations). Please share your thoughts on the Don Quoxite of the Republican Party as most pundits are calling Representative Paul. Thank you in advance.

Public Comments

1. All I know is that he once ran as a libertarian in 1988 I think.... I like most of his views until he gets to foreign policy... he sounds very isolationist and I don't think that's the way our country needs to go... I don't think we need to go attack everybody but I also don't think ignoring the rest of the world is the answer either
2. A libertarian who is running for the Republican nomination. He is a "blame America 1st" isolationist completely out of touch with the republican main stream. He is apparently worshiped by a small fringe.
3. www.ronpaul.org The two answerers above me don't have a clue.
4. In addition to the fact, as mentioned above, that he was the 1988 Libertarian Party nominee, I'll give you some more info. His first election was to the House back in a 1976 special election, early that year. Then later that year, in the general election, he lost. Two years after that, he ran again and won. He won re-election in 1980 and 1982. Then he gave up his seat to run for the Senate in 1984, but lost the Republican primary to Phil Gramm. Four years later he was nominated by the Libertarian Party for President, coming in with only about 1/2 of a percent of all the votes cast nationwide. Then he was out of politics for the next 8 years, until he ran for the House again in 1996 and won. He's been re-elected ever since then. His libertarianism is of such a kind that he isn't wholly loved by the more conservative side of the Republican Party. He is pro-life on abortion, but he is also against banning gay marriage. In all the years he's been in Congress, he has cast the only "no" vote on roll-call votes far more often than anyone else in the House. His basic attitude about voting on legislation is that he believes nothing should be passed as a bill unless it is clearly authorized by the Constitution -- which he interprets much more narrowly than do the others in Congress. Hope that helps some.
5. Read about him and watch his videos.