Ron Paul won’t rule out third-party candidacy

By Shira Schoenberg, Globe Correspondent

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Sunday refused to rule out a third-party run but said, as he has in the past, that he has “no plans” to mount one.

Host David Gregory pressed Paul on the point on NBC’s “Meet the Press.’’

Paul said he was not even thinking about a third-party run, but left the option open.

“I have enough on my plate right now,’’ Paul said. “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.”

Paul ran as a libertarian candidate for president in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008. His views, especially on foreign policy, tend to be more libertarian than the rest of the Republican Party.

At a recent campaign stop in New Hampshire, he said he saw the Republican Party not as his ideological home but as “a vehicle for getting the message out and getting elected,” saying it would be difficult to get into debates or get attention as a third-party candidate.

While Paul, a Texas representative, is unlikely to win the Republican nomination, he has amassed a strong following and has avoided making the standard commitment to endorse the Republican nominee.

Paul has also emerged as a harsh critic of his Republican opponents. On “Meet the Press,’’ he called it immoral” for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to take consulting fees from Freddie Mac, the federal mortgage company that Gingrich now talks about breaking up. “I wouldn’t have taken their money,” Paul said.

Paul said Gingrich and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney “come from the same mold” because both have shifted their positions on issues. Paul said all his Republican opponents “fit into the status quo.”