devil21
02-29-2008, 02:44 AM
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/issue/story?oid=oid%3A597231
They were the two presidential campaigns meant to motivate the disenchanted and the unaffiliated. But the rallies held over the weekend by Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Rep. Ron Paul highlighted the differences between their policies, their crowds, and their successes.
BIG PARAGRAPH ABOUT OBAMA AND HIS CELEB STATUS OMITTED
It was also by the shores of Lady Bird Lake that Paul held one of his early high-profile campaign events. At his Austin Tea Party last December, an estimated 3,000 supporters watched as his campaign staff threw crates marked "IRS" into the water. But on the steps of UT's Main Mall on Saturday afternoon, Paul's campaign was met with a mix of fervent support and dismissive booing. Escorted by bikers instead of police outriders, Paul clanged a replica of the Liberty Bell his staff was towing around between two tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments. His continued support for ending the war in Iraq and the War on Drugs received universal support from this mostly student audience. But his opposition to Social Security and his suggestion that 9/11 would have never happened if America had "a better understanding of the Second Amendment" caused immediate and obvious division in the crowd. That's not the only division he faces this year: The erstwhile Libertarian faces a primary challenge in his own congressional district, from Friendswood council member and conservative Christian Chris Peden.
They were the two presidential campaigns meant to motivate the disenchanted and the unaffiliated. But the rallies held over the weekend by Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Rep. Ron Paul highlighted the differences between their policies, their crowds, and their successes.
BIG PARAGRAPH ABOUT OBAMA AND HIS CELEB STATUS OMITTED
It was also by the shores of Lady Bird Lake that Paul held one of his early high-profile campaign events. At his Austin Tea Party last December, an estimated 3,000 supporters watched as his campaign staff threw crates marked "IRS" into the water. But on the steps of UT's Main Mall on Saturday afternoon, Paul's campaign was met with a mix of fervent support and dismissive booing. Escorted by bikers instead of police outriders, Paul clanged a replica of the Liberty Bell his staff was towing around between two tablets engraved with the Ten Commandments. His continued support for ending the war in Iraq and the War on Drugs received universal support from this mostly student audience. But his opposition to Social Security and his suggestion that 9/11 would have never happened if America had "a better understanding of the Second Amendment" caused immediate and obvious division in the crowd. That's not the only division he faces this year: The erstwhile Libertarian faces a primary challenge in his own congressional district, from Friendswood council member and conservative Christian Chris Peden.