Texas Congressman Ron Paul has done something that he rarely did in his 2008 campaign: go after a major candidate directly. In 2008 he sparred in debates but for the most part his campaign was a well financed attempt at libertarian proselytizing as opposed to a serious presidential bid. His ad, shown below, is a striking change of pace for him

Paul stumbled at times in the last debate, often rambling in detail on finer and obscure policy points. His off-the-cuff speaking style is endearing and off-putting at the same time during debates that are chock full of well rehearsed talking points. His positions are attractive to a sizable portion of the GOP electorate but if he is to expand this base he needs to clean up his presentation of himself. The grandfatherly libertarian Paul is great when it comes to retail politicking but it just won't work in a televised debate, especially in a debate that features polished pols like Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.

If Paul's media investments are to pay off he needs to step up his debate performance in this and future debates, otherwise his legions of supporters are wasting their money and falsely getting their hopes up. Of course this assumes the goal, this time, is to actually elect Ron Paul as president and not just spread his message of free markets and non-interventionist foreign policy to as many people as possible.