On the pro-peanuts side, they are indeed edible raw (hat tip to Todd Moody for revealing this long ago in this listserv), and you don't even need a sharp stick, and therefore Paleo by the definition in Ray's book, NeanderThin, and they are believed to descend from African wild groundnuts, which today include such varieties as the bambara groundnut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bambara_groundnut), the fruit pod seeds of which however reportedly "must be cooked before being eaten" (http://books.google.com/books?id=JTr-ouCbL2AC&pg=PA358&lpg=PA358&dq=hausa+groundnut&source=bl&ots=11U0kdbbxc&sig=-T56Etq6q2B6Xq5ziwWevwuq2Qs&hl=en&ei=AU6RTb6BOcLAtgesnLF2&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&sqi=2&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=hausa%20groundnut&f=false), and the Hausa groundnut. Some scientists believe that Australopithecines ate groundnuts (http://news.discovery.com/human/human-ancestor-diet-nuts.html), which would have been raw, of course.

The tubers of at least some groundnuts are also edible (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Region's+wild+groundnut+ranks+among+its+incredible+edibles.-a0169584561) and some can be eaten raw, as with other African wild legume tubers, though it is usually recommended that they be cooked (ibid and http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/groundnt.html). The American groundnut's tubers can be eaten raw (http://www.wildflowers-and-weeds.com/The_Forager/hopniss.htm).

I recently heard a Paleo diet podcaster (I forget which, sorry) hypothesize that the main problem with peanuts may be the modern forms of processing them (high-heat frying and high-heat dry roasting, rather than traditional boiling or eating raw).

On the anti-peanuts side, they are legume seeds that contain enough lectins and other plant proteins to be potentially problematic in any form for people like me with sensitive immune systems.