(Kitco News) – Although the camp that supports the reestablishment of a gold standard just lost two of its biggest proponents, one major player still remains.
With the results of the Iowa caucus all tallied up, the Republican field has narrowed with presidential candidates former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Senator Rand Paul dropping out of the race.
Huckabee announced Monday evening on twitter that he was suspending his nomination campaign. Paul declared Wednesday morning that he was officially dropping his bid as well.
“It’s been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House. Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty,” Paul said in a statement. “Although, today I will suspend my campaign for president, the fight is far from over. I will continue to carry the torch for Liberty in the United States Senate and I look forward to earning the privilege to represent the people of Kentucky for another term.”
Huckabee and Paul were two of only five candidates who have supported the idea of returning the U.S.’s monetary policy back to a gold standard.
During a debate in October, Huckabee said that the dwindling middle class is the result of the Federal Reserve “manipulating” the dollar. “What we need to do is to make sure that they tie the monetary standard to something that makes sense, rather than to their own whims,” he said.
In an interview with Kitco News, in 2013, Paul said that he would like to establish a commission to study the possibility of establishing a new gold standard. Paul also introduced a bill to audit the Fed, which the senate rejected at the start of the year. His father and former congressman Ron Paul was also a big advocate of returning to a gold standard.
But there is still some hope for supporters of a gold standard as one major supporter still remains, and he is leading in the polls.
Senator Ted Cruz has brought up the idea of developing a gold standard in two debates leading up to start of the caucus votes; however, despite his support and comments, most analysts, even those in favor of developing a fixed-asset policy, say there is little political will in Washington to adopt a system.
Cruz surprised pundits Tuesday after he beat front-runner Donald Trump, winning eight delegates with 28% of the vote. Trump won seven delegates with 24% of the vote. Rand had one delegate with 4% of the vote and Huckabee only earned 2% of the votes and no delegates.
Other gold standard supporters, Ben Carlson and Chris Christie are also still in the race for the Republican nomination.
By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com
Follow Neils Christensen @neils_C