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RON PAUL’S PASSIONATE FOLLOWERS

If they gave out awards for best passion by devotees of a presidential candidate, this year’s honor would have to go to those who still stand by Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican congressman from Texas who continues to run for president, even months after Senator John McCain has essentially sewn up the nomination.

I saw that passion first hand while covering the New Hampshire Primary. Walking the streets of Manchester, Paul supporters and their super-sized banners lined the sidewalks… a couple were so determined they stepped up and tried to become the backdrop of every on-the-street TV interview, forcing their signs into the camera lens, then becoming indignant when we stopped taping. Their methods were irritating to those of us trying to do our jobs, but I had to admire their dedication to their cause.

That was in January. Now we’re at the end of May and their fervor remains strong. Earlier this month – in Kentucky – about 12-hundred Paulites greeted their candidate like a rock star when he walked on stage at a rally at the ornate Louisville Palace Theater. The New York Times writes: “He wore a crisp dress shirt the color of mint ice cream and a color-coordinated tie, which made him look like an insurance claims adjustor.”

He told them: “The war on drugs has wasted $300 billion and has undermined our civil liberties!” The Times report says: “People in the crowd, many under 30, if not 25, rose to their feet and thundered in applause, even if they looked as if they had stumbled into a Republican rally on their way to the Coachella rock festival. In many cases, hair was aggressive, clothing artfully tattered. Beards seemed to have a mind of their own.”

MUCH MORE THAN JUST A MEMORY

Sure, Ron Paul was supposed to have been a memory by now. But in the Oregon primary two weeks back, he won 15 percent of the vote, and his campaign appears to be growing into something beyond a conventional protest movement. Some supporters have helped turn the outspoken congressman’s campaign into a colorful, loud sideshow with their guerrilla marketing tactics — self-penned Ron Paul anthems on YouTube, a Ron Paul blimp, even T-shirts that portray Paul as a icon akin to Che Guevara.

In Idaho, which held its primary this past Tuesday, Paul won almost a quarter of the vote -- his best percentage so far this year. Final returns give McCain 70 percent support from Idaho Republicans – actually not that impressive for a man who has been the presumptive party nominee since February. Paul, who has made it clear that he does not intend to endorse McCain, took 24 percent.

Attendance at some Paul campaign stops is back to the levels he enjoyed prior to Super Tuesday. Some supporters plan to start Paulville, a gated community in West Texas, where believers can pursue the candidate’s libertarian ideals as a cooperative lifestyle. Paul’s book, “The Revolution: A Manifesto,” rocketed to No. 1 on a New York Times best-seller list in mid-May. And a group of supporters talk of staging yippie-style disruptions at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September with the idea of giving Paul and his campaign some fresh face time.

His supporters will tell you all this is the spark of what they consider a “revolution,” and not the final gasp of a failed political campaign. This revolution, as the candidate himself expresses it, involves turning back what he sees as 200 years of creeping expansion of federal power, dissolving the Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service, returning to the gold standard, bringing the troops home, not just from Iraq, but from everywhere — and yes, legalizing pot, at least for medical purposes.

THE RON PAUL VOTER

Paul’s voters tend to be younger and angrier than most Republicans. Exit polls in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan show those who vote for him strongly disapprove of the Iraq war, and hold a far more negative opinion of the Bush administration than other Republican voters do.

While Paul has received relatively few votes in his insurgent bid for the Republican nomination, his extraordinarily dedicated following has flooded his campaign coffers with more than $30 million in donations.

Like him or not, it’s hard to ignore Ron Paul – and his diehard followers. Tell me what you think of him, his people and their passion.

I’ll be back with another THIS POLITICAL WEEK on Fri Jun 6… and by then, this long long primary season will be history and may, just maybe, so will the fight for the Democratic nomination.

Cheers, Bob

Bob_Tarlau's Blog

THIS POLITICAL WEEK

Bob_Tarlau

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