How did the rallies in N.C. go today?

[Tratzman]

I haven't heard any word yet. Does anyone have info on the attendance or a YouTube video of the speech?

Chad

[Jason726]

I was wondering the same. I haven't heard anything yet.

[Tratzman]

The Tarheel and Dukie contingents must be studying for finals.

Come on guys, you are really slow today. What's up??

[coffeewithchess]

I attended the UNC rally and taped part of it. His speech was great and BJ Lawson(running for Congress in NC) was able to introduce Dr. Paul and BJ gave a great short speech as well. The speech is uploading to Google right now. I'll edit and add the link when it's finished.

[ItsTime]

who many peeps?

[Verad]

From my posts at the campaign blog:


I was in the front row for his speech at Carolina. It was interesting because I was surrounded by many people I knew, but had not known were also supporters. I was also lucky enough to be on the front row! (: I did get to shake his hand and have him sign my copy of The Revolution, and I thanked him for running and getting his message out there. We turned out many more people than we had thought we would get at the beginning (~450), but I’m not sure how many people did come. About 1300 or so were listed as coming, but there is as of yet no official number.

And:


All ages seemed to be pretty well represented except for seniors (our Achilles heel, go figure). He was generally well received, but the guy running for superintendent who spoke prior to him (before BJ Lawson) wasn’t too well received when he said that illegal immigrants’ children should not be entitled to a public education. BJ Lawson was very well received, which was a good thing, especially when he talked about getting government to follow it’s own rules (the Constitution).

Ron Paul gave practically the same speech he gives everywhere he goes (the message never changes), but there were a few things that he seemed to word a bit differently than elsewhere. He hit foreign policy really hard, and even mentioned Domino Theory in regards to communism, and how the opposite of those fears had become the reality. He hit the war on drugs too, but didn’t spend a whole lot of time on it. He talked about monetary policy and returning to the gold standard, but wasn’t too well received on the gold standard. I think this is probably because one of our most popular econ teachers is against it, but his best argument is that it is “silly to dig gold out of the ground in one place, and store it in underground vaults in other places, only to exchange receipts of ownership,” which misses the point entirely. Paul did also hit on social security.

He did not mention the second amendment, which may have been pretty wise, seeing as that our student body president was recently shot and killed (even though freedom wins this argument, it would serve no good to turn people off to liberty before they can hear the full argument for it). He hit the increasing debt pretty hard (and especially the IRS and Fed and especially the income tax), as well as national sovereignty and getting out of the UN and other international organizations that limit our sovereignty. Curiously, he hit on one thing I had not heard him say previously: that in a free society, individuals are supposed to be Sovereigns, I happened to like that particular bit.

A couple of things he did not hit on were racism as collectivism (probably wise, UNC is famously liberal), home schooling (there is actually a strong bias here for public schools and against home schooling), but a previous speaker did hit on that one. Another curiosity was that he didn’t hit on the arguments for freedom in energy or for protecting the environment, so far as I can remember.

Sadly, I don’t think the crowd had a significant showing of people who were not already for Ron Paul, so while most of the stuff he hit on was well-received, it comes as no surprise.

Anyhow, sorry for not giving these details earlier; I’m just kind of scatterbrained since I’m in the middle of finals right now, and I was forced to pull an all-nighter.

[wgadget]

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/254/story/312592.html

Candidate Ron Paul still attracts a crowd
By THOMAS GOLDSMITH - The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) --
Related Content



CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --
Undaunted by the long odds against Ron Paul’s campaign for the presidency, some 600 of his supporters showed plenty of fire today for his message of smaller government and personal liberties.

Paul, 72, the iconoclastic Texas Republican, gets less national attention these days than when he raised his profile — and millions in contributions — as a GOP contender.

But Paul followers from the Triangle and beyond packed several sections of bleachers at UNC-Chapel Hill's Carmichael Auditorium at a 3 p.m. campaign event today. He also is scheduled for a speech in Durham, N.C., this evening.

"The response has been miraculous — the message is powerful!" Paul told cheering, sign-waving followers during his 45-minute speech.

Paul also told the crowd: "We need a lot less government and a lot more personal freedom!"

Ben Agner, 20, of Cherryville, N.C., said he drove for three hours to hear Paul in person after spending several years getting acquainted with his message.

"He's the only one who will vote for not spending money," Agner said.

Some supporters advanced a scenario in which Paul would come to the aid of the party if Sen. John McCain, the GOP's presumptive nominee, should melt down at the convention.

Before the event, Paul said that wasn't likely.

"I've always thought if you have enthusiasm building and there are volunteers and there’s money in the bank and we haven't had a nomination yet, we should keep campaigning," he told the Carmichael crowd.

The Durham appearance is at 6:30 p.m. in Reynolds Theater on the campus of Duke University. Some 600 free tickets have already been passed out and no more were available, organizers said earlier today.

Paul's name remains on the Republican presidential primary ballot in North Carolina, a reminder that Tar Heel voters will have several choices beyond those billed as front-runners.

Under state law, the heads of the state Democratic and Republican parties determine which presidential candidates are on North Carolina's ballot. Party officials have said they included all "generally recognized" candidates on the ballot.

Voters will be allowed to choose among Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Mike Gravel or "no preference" on the Democratic side, and among John McCain, Paul, Alan Keyes or Mike Huckabee on the GOP side.

[Verad]

The Tarheel and Dukie contingents must be studying for finals.

Come on guys, you are really slow today. What's up??

Some are also in the process of moving out for the summer. I'm stuck at UNC all summer for summer school (in a triple room, no less -_-).

Sadly, because of the timing of the rallies, it seemed that there weren't so many students there that were not already supporters, and folks folks that obviously weren't students seemed to be almost as strong in number as the students themselves.

One touch that I forgot to mention that Paul added and interesting idea to his speech. First he said that we had about 10% of folks on our side. The he said that it doesn't take a majority of 51% to have a revolution, but rather that only 5% are needed in order to lead everyone else into a new direction. That seemed to excite the crowd. (:

[sunshine05]

I just came from his rally at Duke. He did GREAT. It was a full auditorium, 600 seats filled. His speech was inspiring. Afterward, he was outside signing books. It was great to meet him in person and have my book signed by him in person:)

I heard while standing in line that they had about 1500 people at UNC.

[rancher89]

I just got back from that rally and let me tell you there were at least 1200 people there. (we counted seats in a section and did the math)

It was a young crowd, mixed as usual, and very enthusiastic! This particular speech seemed to us to be a little longer than the ones we had seen in SC and had bits and pieces about the present state of the economy --- one thing he said that he hadn't said in previous speeches I've seen, was a comment about using the constitution as the rule book for our country. I know, he's been all around that statement for years, but this was the first time I'd heard him put it that way. Of course, we were in the UNC Chapel Hill basketball arena.....the crowd ate it up. I'm tired, and have a busy day tomorrow trying to nab an executive committee at large seat in my district and I'll post more later..

It was a GOOD day!!!!

[JMann]

local story

http://www.nbc17.com/content/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-05-02-0023.html