Founded in 1991, the Republican Liberty Caucus works to advance the principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty within the Republican Party.

According to CQ Politics, investor and financial commentator Peter Schiff is doing polling in Connecticut to gauge support for a potential Republican Senate run. Schiff has signed on prominent Republican polling firm Wilton Research Strategies to survey the state, his brother and spokesman Andrew Schiff told CQ Politics.

“Peter is a non-traditional candidate,” said Andrew Schiff of his brother, an outspoken libertarian who has gained attention for correctly predicting the collapse of the mortgage industry despite mockery from other industry analysis. “We’re attracting a lot of very fervent believers. The question is whether or not this will all resonate with the voters of Connecticut.”

Indeed, Schiff was not considering a Senate run against five-term Sen. Christopher J. Dodd until he became the subject of an aggressive drafting campaign this past winter. Schiff’s first brush with politics was as an economic adviser to Republican Ron Paul’s presidential campaign. That role linked him into a network of Paul supporters who have urged Schiff to run for office — Andrew Schiff said his brother has been “bombarded with emails and phone calls” over the last several months.

What remains unclear is whether Schiff has a legitimate shot of taking on more traditional politicians like former Rep. Rob Simmons and state Sen. Sam Caligiuri in the Republican primary and Dodd in a general election.

“We do think there’s certainly room for the fiscally conservative, libertarian wing of the party to attract a lot of attention in the Northeast,” Andrew said, adding that Peter is prepared to develop a policy portfolio not just on finance and monetary policy, his speciality, but also on hot-button issue like health care and energy. But economics will remain is major focus.

“We’re leaning towards a run,” he said, however, “Peter doesn’t want to spend a lot of time and money if there’s really no chance.”

The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
  • http://www.rlc.org/2009/06/29/schiff-polling/ Reginald Templeton

    Dear Mr. Schiff,

    I researched the cost of a Metro North Station Billboard “Draft Peter Schiff” campaign for the CT contingent of the Campaign for Liberty, so needless to say, I am strenuously in favor of Peter Schiff run for the Senate!

    Best regards,

    Reggie Templeton

  • http://riverstoneimages.com Robin B.

    Peter Schiff has 100% of mine and my husband’s support!

  • M. King

    Not in your district but we need more liberatarian support in our federal legislative (as well as judicial and executive). Go for it

  • http://LibertySpan.com Patrick

    Peter Schiff would make a great senator. Very bright & knowledgeable about economy and business. Problem is that … so far … he has spoken too realistically, (and correclt downbeat) and has not spoken out enough about what he will actually DO for people. Today, too many Americans are soft and want government to solve all their problems. They want to be pandered to?

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