Ron Paul - too intellectual and clear sighted?

When TV news here in Germany talk about the republican candidates of this years US presidential election, they usually refer to Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. And the only interesting "issue" with these two guys seems to be their religious background.

Rarely mentioned here is republican candidate Ron Paul who seems to be getting a lot of buzz from the Internet crowd in the US. Paul was able to raise a lot of money for his campaign for supporters.

It is the first time I feel there is a presidential candidate does not need a spin doctor to tell him what to say on TV screen. He is not scared of public statements that people may not like to hear - and at the same time looking to solve issues by looking at the monetary issue.

Two selections from a public debate on ABC television early January 2008:

Interview at Google in July 2007:

Here is speech almost 25 years ago where Ron Paul about the dilemma with paper money vs. gold... and the habit of creating purchasing power out of thin air:

This ultimately leads to his critizism of the Federal Reserve system:

Here is a interview with Ron Paul in Aaron Russo's documentary "From freedom to facism" that addresses this topic:

Update:

I found this interesting clip of a US soldier on YouTube on a skirmish between Huckabee and Paul about Iraq: