You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
alternatehistory.com
In OTL it took eight years of GWB to give "small l" libertarianism a boost within the Republican Party. This was helped along by the candidacy of Representative Ron Paul which was a rallying point for those new libertarians. In the past two presidential cycles he has done better as a candidate than anyone believed a libertarian could do in the primaries.
But my question is what if Gore had won? Would we see that same faction emerge within the Republican party? Paul was supposedly on the fence about running in 2007 and 2008, so it's possible that he wouldn't be the libertarian candidate in 2004 or 2008 in an ATL. On the other hand, Gary Johnson would be a more formidible candidate in 2004 as he was just coming off a very successful governorship that ended in 2002. And there might be others as well.
Or would there even be that impulse in the party without the malgovernance of the Bush years? I have a difficult time imagining there being that discontent with the Republican establishment if it hadn't so bungled everything for eight years. So maybe it never develops at all?