No, Ron Paul can only succeed ideologically by having his ideas become mainstream in the Republican Party and running as an independent would mess up the goodwill he's managed to build over the last four years.
What goodwill? He's often called a crank by the mainstream media.
I think he might as well, if it's a last shot I don't think he'd really care about his son's political future (he's still against insiders I'm assuming). I'd hope it be independent, I don't know much about Americans Elect. Would he win states? Maybe, anything is possible but probably not, think Ross Perot numbers.
