First, he's not as savvy at manipulating the media with soundbytes as people like John McCain and Newt Gingrich. He always has a provocative answer to questions, though, so he's a regular on some news shows.

Second, his supporters are extemely loyal, but he's not that influential in his own party. In Republican presidential primaries, he rarely rose above 10% of the vote. His supporters lean libertarian and haven't traditionally been able to elect their candidates like the social conservatives and business conservatives have. He's probably not in the top 20 most influential people in his own party. Just off the top of my head, he's behind Limbaugh, Hannity, McConnell, Boehner, Cantor, O'Reilly, Perry, Cruz, Rubio, Gingrich, Santorum, Jindal, Rand Paul (his son), and Cornyn. He's probably also less influential than folks most people have never heard of like John Thune, Jim Lankford, Roy Blunt, Jan Brewer, Reince Preibus, Rick Scott, Sam Brownback, and John Kasich.

Third, his newsletters from the 80's and 90's are pretty racist and nasty. (The newsletters called Martin Luther King Jr. a pedophile among other things.) He has said lately that he didn't write or review those newsletters and has disavowed them.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/98883/ron-paul-i...

Edit: I meant Roy Blunt the U.S. Senator, not Roy Blount the humorist.