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Ron Paul won a special election in 1976 for a Texas House seat, lost by 0.2% that November, but came back in 1978 and would remain in the house until 1984. Let's say he gets reelected in 1976 here and thus isn't really a freshman congressman when 1980 comes around.

Eugene McCarthy ran an independent 1976 campaign and in 1980 would support Libertarian candidate Ed Clark before ultimately endorsing Reagan (mostly on the grounds that he liked Reagan personally and hated Carter's guts).

What if Ron Paul and Eugene McCarthy had run as the Libertarian ticket in 1980?



Paul McCartney would likely be very confused that year.
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