Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul said Sunday that he does not have any plans to run as an independent candidate.
“I’m not an absolutist,” the Texas congressman said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday” program. “Everyone knows I have no intention of doing that. It would be a bit of a burden.”
Mr. Paul, who continues to trail former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the latest polls, has struggled to regain momentum after taking third place in Tuesday’s Iowa caucus. Separate polls released January 6 by NBC News and Suffolk University found Mr. Paul in second place, and more than 20 percentage points behind Mr. Romney.
Speculation over a potential third-party bid by Mr. Paul has been rampant in recent months. The Texas Republican said in late 2011 that he was not considering entering the 2012 race as an independent candidate, despite the likelihood of a loss in Iowa.
“I have enough on my plate right now,” Mr. Paul said in a mid-December interview with “Meet The Press.” “We have a lot of campaigning to do. We’re going to be very busy the next couple of weeks. That’s what I’m concentrating on, and we’ll see what happens.”
Still, speaking Sunday, Mr. Paul conceded that he may have to seek a more unconventional path as part of getting his message to voters.
“I have no plans of doing that [running for a third party]… We’re going to see what happens, but I have no intention of doing that. No plans, and no desire. Flat out, I don’t want to,” said Mr. Paul.
