transistor
09-20-2007, 10:46 AM
http://www.wesleyanargus.com/article/5263
Supporters of GOP's Ron Paul test Wesleyan's political waters
By Hannah Dreier
Contributing Writer
Supporters of iconoclastic Texas Congressman Ron Paul were out in full force this Sunday morning, as they visited the University in an attempt to register students to vote for Paul in the upcoming Republican primary. Six Paul supporters, twice the expected turnout according to organizer Bryan Tracy, pressed on even though the campus was sleepy and the students mostly unenthusiastic.
Hoping to win support by emphasizing Paul's anti-war stance, Tracy exhorted passing students to "help keep the neocons and warmongers off of the Republican ticket."
With an unusual combination of conservative, libertarian, and anti-war messages, Paul has never polled higher than three percent in the mainstream Gallup Poll. However, he has become something of an Internet phenomenon, and consistently ranks in the top tier of Republican Straw Polls. Paul has also benefited from extensive grassroots campaigning aong the lines of Tracy's group.
The six Paul supporters quickly found that most students were neither registered in Connecticut nor interested in voting Republican. Steve Scarborough '11, sitting in a knot of freshman in the Butterfield Courtyard, complained that the kind of party switching the Paul supporters advocated was "disingenuous, like Republicans coming and asking students to register democrat and vote for Lieberman."
As the morning wore on, the group quietly dropped the registration issue and began encouraging students to look up Paul on Google or YouTube, where he has developed a sizable following.
"It's [a] tough sell," admitted Tracy. "He's unknown and Republican."
In one typical encounter, two Paul supporters cut between Gavi Elkind '09 and Galen DeGraf '09, handed Elkind a flyer and encouraged both students to look up Paul on the Internet. Elkind later said that she would probably not search for more information about Paul "because [she had] never heard of him…and [because of] apathy."
"I know you want to be nice, but it's wasting paper," DeGraf responded to Elkind.
A few students were more receptive. Justin Freres '11 told Paul supporter Nancy Kaminski that he was interested in the candidate.
"I don't like the troops in Iraq, and he keeps it real, I think," Freres explained.
"Such a good response on a college campus!" commented Kaminski, a self-proclaimed gun owner who was wearing a t-shirt printed with the Second Amendment.
She reported meeting two other Paul-supporting students during the course of the group's sweep across the grounds.
Unlike other campus regulars such as the Marxists who distribute The Socialist Vanguard, Hasidic Jews who last semester would position themselves outside of the Davenport Campus Center, or Lyndon Larouche supporters who flyered the campus last November, the Paul supporters tended not to engage students in political debate. When a group of seniors took issue with Paul's opposition to universal health care and public education, group members responded by recalling Paul's noninterventionist policies and proposed abolition of the income tax.
Asked why a student should choose Paul over an anti-war democrat like Dennis Kucinich, Tracy responded, "Paul has actually said that he would vote for Kucinich if he [Paul] weren't running."
Supporter Tony Rivera, who said that he has never voted for either a Republican or a Democratic presidential candidate, was the most exuberant group member, and periodically called out "Ron Paul!" and slogans such as "Best American president ever!"
Michael Nass, who discovered Paul through his involvement in a campaign to organize 20,000 libertarians to move to New Hampshire, was the most anti-war oriented of the group. He used the group's Internet organizing site to call for a vigil against the Iraq/Iran War on Saturday evening, but was forced to cancel it when only two people responded.
"I might have been sidetracked," Nass said. "We're trying to get him elected, not end the war."
Valentina Postolache '10 appreciated the group's efforts to engage the student body, but did not plan on finding out more about Paul.
"It's important because this [is] a very liberal school and it's nice to get people to widen their horizons," she said.
Ultimately, the group decided to conclude their event earlier than planned. Walking past the Usdan picnic tables, they attempted to engage with a group of male students in sunglasses and tight black pants. The students refused to talk to the Paul supporters, citing hangovers and "pinko" politics, but one of them did shout after the group, "RuPaul! I'd vote RuPaul for president!"
A nearby table was more interested in listening to the Paul supporters, until one of the students noticed that his grapefruit had an unusually thick peel.
"Look at this skin!" the student said, interrupting Tracy mid-sentence.
Realizing that they had lost their audience, the group continued toward the parking lot.
The Paul supporters, some of whom had only been to one or two previous political meet-ups, called the day a success.
"This is our training," Nass explained.
Although he did not register anyone to vote in the Republican primary, Tracy was also pleased.
"It makes me feel like an engaged American to do the stuff that people fought and died for," he said. "Try doing this in Moscow. It wouldn't work."
Supporters of GOP's Ron Paul test Wesleyan's political waters
By Hannah Dreier
Contributing Writer
Supporters of iconoclastic Texas Congressman Ron Paul were out in full force this Sunday morning, as they visited the University in an attempt to register students to vote for Paul in the upcoming Republican primary. Six Paul supporters, twice the expected turnout according to organizer Bryan Tracy, pressed on even though the campus was sleepy and the students mostly unenthusiastic.
Hoping to win support by emphasizing Paul's anti-war stance, Tracy exhorted passing students to "help keep the neocons and warmongers off of the Republican ticket."
With an unusual combination of conservative, libertarian, and anti-war messages, Paul has never polled higher than three percent in the mainstream Gallup Poll. However, he has become something of an Internet phenomenon, and consistently ranks in the top tier of Republican Straw Polls. Paul has also benefited from extensive grassroots campaigning aong the lines of Tracy's group.
The six Paul supporters quickly found that most students were neither registered in Connecticut nor interested in voting Republican. Steve Scarborough '11, sitting in a knot of freshman in the Butterfield Courtyard, complained that the kind of party switching the Paul supporters advocated was "disingenuous, like Republicans coming and asking students to register democrat and vote for Lieberman."
As the morning wore on, the group quietly dropped the registration issue and began encouraging students to look up Paul on Google or YouTube, where he has developed a sizable following.
"It's [a] tough sell," admitted Tracy. "He's unknown and Republican."
In one typical encounter, two Paul supporters cut between Gavi Elkind '09 and Galen DeGraf '09, handed Elkind a flyer and encouraged both students to look up Paul on the Internet. Elkind later said that she would probably not search for more information about Paul "because [she had] never heard of him…and [because of] apathy."
"I know you want to be nice, but it's wasting paper," DeGraf responded to Elkind.
A few students were more receptive. Justin Freres '11 told Paul supporter Nancy Kaminski that he was interested in the candidate.
"I don't like the troops in Iraq, and he keeps it real, I think," Freres explained.
"Such a good response on a college campus!" commented Kaminski, a self-proclaimed gun owner who was wearing a t-shirt printed with the Second Amendment.
She reported meeting two other Paul-supporting students during the course of the group's sweep across the grounds.
Unlike other campus regulars such as the Marxists who distribute The Socialist Vanguard, Hasidic Jews who last semester would position themselves outside of the Davenport Campus Center, or Lyndon Larouche supporters who flyered the campus last November, the Paul supporters tended not to engage students in political debate. When a group of seniors took issue with Paul's opposition to universal health care and public education, group members responded by recalling Paul's noninterventionist policies and proposed abolition of the income tax.
Asked why a student should choose Paul over an anti-war democrat like Dennis Kucinich, Tracy responded, "Paul has actually said that he would vote for Kucinich if he [Paul] weren't running."
Supporter Tony Rivera, who said that he has never voted for either a Republican or a Democratic presidential candidate, was the most exuberant group member, and periodically called out "Ron Paul!" and slogans such as "Best American president ever!"
Michael Nass, who discovered Paul through his involvement in a campaign to organize 20,000 libertarians to move to New Hampshire, was the most anti-war oriented of the group. He used the group's Internet organizing site to call for a vigil against the Iraq/Iran War on Saturday evening, but was forced to cancel it when only two people responded.
"I might have been sidetracked," Nass said. "We're trying to get him elected, not end the war."
Valentina Postolache '10 appreciated the group's efforts to engage the student body, but did not plan on finding out more about Paul.
"It's important because this [is] a very liberal school and it's nice to get people to widen their horizons," she said.
Ultimately, the group decided to conclude their event earlier than planned. Walking past the Usdan picnic tables, they attempted to engage with a group of male students in sunglasses and tight black pants. The students refused to talk to the Paul supporters, citing hangovers and "pinko" politics, but one of them did shout after the group, "RuPaul! I'd vote RuPaul for president!"
A nearby table was more interested in listening to the Paul supporters, until one of the students noticed that his grapefruit had an unusually thick peel.
"Look at this skin!" the student said, interrupting Tracy mid-sentence.
Realizing that they had lost their audience, the group continued toward the parking lot.
The Paul supporters, some of whom had only been to one or two previous political meet-ups, called the day a success.
"This is our training," Nass explained.
Although he did not register anyone to vote in the Republican primary, Tracy was also pleased.
"It makes me feel like an engaged American to do the stuff that people fought and died for," he said. "Try doing this in Moscow. It wouldn't work."