Only if they decide to take their ball and go home.
A 3rd party will ensure an Obama victory..... we cant afford that man!
That's not how the process works.
I Dr. Paul gathers enough delegates, he will have a lot of bargaining power over the platform committee and with the potential nominee who wants those delegates.
This hasn't been about winning the nomination from day one.
OK at this early stage, 72 delegates are committed. Paul has 4. Santorum leads him by 3.5:1 Gingrich by better than 5:1 and Romney by just over 8:1.
It is not likely that Paul's campaign will gather any steam in Florida and the rest of the states will just accept him as the crotchety old guy with a few great ideas, who would be really terrifying as President.
His bargaining power will be negligible at the convention, but I do see his value in the debates. Some of his positions are sound and people will demand whoever does win the nomination work towards implementing them.