As I noted yesterday, sending Phil Gramm to ask Ron Paul for his endorsement doesn’t seem like a very smart move by the McCain camp.

Today in the Wall Street Journal’s Political Diary, John Fund observes the same thing:

No Cigar

The McCain campaign could have picked a better ambassador to convince GOP Rep. Ron Paul to endorse the ticket.

Mr. Paul, who won some two million votes during the Republican presidential primaries, held a news conference yesterday in Washington to announce he would not support the McCain-Palin ticket and instead urge his followers to vote for any of an eclectic group of third-party candidates. These ranged from Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate, to consumer advocate Ralph Nader.

During the news conference, Mr. Paul revealed that the McCain campaign had gotten former Texas Senator Phil Gramm to call him and urge him to back the GOP ticket. Mr. Paul said he told Mr. Gramm such a move would alienate many of his core supporters and he wouldn’t do it. Mr. Paul didn’t have to add that he and Mr. Gramm fought a bitter primary for the U.S. Senate in Texas back in 1984. Mr. Gramm won, forcing Mr. Paul to give up his House seat. Mr. Paul didn’t return to Congress until a dozen years later.

Even though Mr. Paul has clear disagreements with Senator McCain on the Iraq War and civil liberties issues, he seems more forgiving towards his running mate Sarah Palin. “She said nice things about me on MTV,” he told me at last week’s GOP convention. “I hear nice things about her from my supporters in Alaska.”

Mr. Paul is referring to an MTV interview in which Mrs. Palin referred to Mr. Paul as “a good guy” who was “independent of any party machine” — much as she was during her own climb from the Wasilla City Council to the governor’s office in Juneau.

Even though Mr. Paul has spurned the GOP ticket, I suspect a fair number of his voters will plump for McCain-Palin in the fall. So far, she has shown the rare ability to attract support from all strands of the GOP coalition — from social conservatives to the more libertarian acolytes of Mr. Paul. It’s quite a hat trick, and we’ll see if she can maintain the enthusiasm all the way to November.

– John Fund