what if Paul holds the balance of delegates?

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Gingrich-Romney becomes a marathon slog, both seriously injured, and Paul is able to accrue enough delegates through obscure caucus victories to be the mathematical kingmaker.  write the rest of the story.

If Newt wins FL, I don't see how Romney can make it a long race.  After all, the 10% of Santorum supporters will start to jump ship after FL and they're unlikely to favor Romney.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

The Republicans do their best 1968 Democratic Convention impression.

The caucus system is abolished in 2016.

Suits me.  The whole primary system abolished as well, hopefully.

the jmfcsts would never allow the primary system to be abolished

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

write the rest of the story.

Mitt Romney agrees to release his delegates and they vote for Ron Paul, who is nominated as GOP candidate.  After a heated general election campaign, the people of the United States elect Ron Paul the president in November.  Half the bureaucracy of the government disappears within six months of President Paul's inauguration.  Military troops are brought home from all over the world.  Trade sanctions with, and travel restrictions to, Cuba end abruptly.  The federal reserve board is dismantled.  Tax burdens maintained long enough to pay off the federal debt then reduced dramatically.  Commerce rebounds.  The unemployment rate falls.  Peace and prosperity ensues, at first only on the North American continent, but eventually, as the example of liberty catches on, all over the world.  Famine, war, hunger, poverty, and strife become a thing of the past.  

…with US Navy no longer ensuring open sea lanes:  Russia annexes the Sea of Okhotsk, Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, Kara Sea, northern Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Bering Sea…China annexes East and South China Sea, Philippine Sea…Iran annexes Persian Gulf…Egypt closes Suez Canal to vessels bound for the West…Drug Lords close Panama Canal.

…and the world suddenly becomes a much safer and prosperous place in accordance to the utopian ideas of the great and all-knowing Ron Paul.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Because the rest of the world (that which isn't controlled by or allied with the US) is filled with cartoonishly evil supervillains who hate making their people prosperous and would prefer engaging in piracy, 18th century style.

the 20th Century examples of Germany and Japan work just as well.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

How would doing such things not advance the interests of those nations? You overestimate the value of material wealth and underestimate nationalism- and that's not to say dominating trade in those regions would harm the economies of those nations.

what was Germany's rational for WWII?  What was Japan's rational for WWII?

Germany and Japan are NOT historical anomalies.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

You overestimate the value of material wealth and underestimate nationalism

Not really.  Take the jmfcst examples:  Japan attacked us because we were sanctioning them because they were occupying and terrorizing the Chinese.  Okay, that's an oversimplified version, but bear with me:  The Japs were addicted to oil.  We had the oil.  We supplied the oil.  We cut them off.  They attacked us.  

so, basically, you're saying:  "[it's the US fault it was attacked, we should have just carried on while Japan systematically killed 10 million civilians, and we should just carried on while Germany did likewise.]"

thank you, Ron Paul, now please go back to your Tower Seven theories and allow the adults to talk.