sailingaway
08-26-2012, 10:57 PM
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/08/27/us/CAMPAIGN-1/CAMPAIGN-1-articleLarge.jpg
TAMPA, Fla. — In a speech that was part motivational, part valedictory and at every opportunity critical of the mainstream Republican Party on the eve of its convention here this week, Representative Ron Paul declared his “liberty movement” alive and well on Sunday before a crowd of nearly 10,000 supporters who were eager to testify to that claim.
Mr. Paul said that he had recently read in newspapers that the so-called Ron Paul Revolution was over, and that whatever enthusiasm voters had shown toward his presidential campaign in the Republican primary season was gone.
“They only wish!” Mr. Paul thundered to an audience that seemed to become more energized with his every word, their roars of approval reaching a deafening level inside the Sun Dome at the University of South Florida.
On this evening, Mr. Paul, the longtime libertarian House member from Texas and presidential contender, was in characteristic form: animated, witty, irreverent and uncensored. He spoke for more than an hour to supporters who had waited five hours to hear him. At times, bursting with spirit, he shouted. At other moments, he lowered his voice to make his favorite points.
Mr. Paul, 77, was not scheduled to speak at the Republican convention. And in a credentials dispute, hard-bargaining party leaders left the Paul forces with only half the delegates from Maine that they had thought they had won — a blunt reminder of Mitt Romney’s grip on the proceedings.
Over all, the Sunday rally might be seen as something of a consolation prize for a campaign that was unable to leverage its grass-roots enthusiasm into party strength. But none of that stopped Mr. Paul from getting his message across.
“Seems to me,” he told the crowd, “they would be begging and pleading for us to come into the party.”
Mr. Paul added, “The worst thing we could do is be silent.”
At another rally on Sunday at a Tampa church, two other former presidential contenders, Herman Cain and Representative Michele Bachmann, spoke to a boisterous crowd of several hundred Tea Party supporters.
“There were some people who hoped you all wouldn’t show up,” said Mr. Cain, a former pizza chain executive. “Y’all fooled them.”....
10,000+ for Ron; 'hundreds for Bachman Cain Overdrive. Decent ratio.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/us/politics/ron-paul-rallies-his-supporters-in-tampa.html
TAMPA, Fla. — In a speech that was part motivational, part valedictory and at every opportunity critical of the mainstream Republican Party on the eve of its convention here this week, Representative Ron Paul declared his “liberty movement” alive and well on Sunday before a crowd of nearly 10,000 supporters who were eager to testify to that claim.
Mr. Paul said that he had recently read in newspapers that the so-called Ron Paul Revolution was over, and that whatever enthusiasm voters had shown toward his presidential campaign in the Republican primary season was gone.
“They only wish!” Mr. Paul thundered to an audience that seemed to become more energized with his every word, their roars of approval reaching a deafening level inside the Sun Dome at the University of South Florida.
On this evening, Mr. Paul, the longtime libertarian House member from Texas and presidential contender, was in characteristic form: animated, witty, irreverent and uncensored. He spoke for more than an hour to supporters who had waited five hours to hear him. At times, bursting with spirit, he shouted. At other moments, he lowered his voice to make his favorite points.
Mr. Paul, 77, was not scheduled to speak at the Republican convention. And in a credentials dispute, hard-bargaining party leaders left the Paul forces with only half the delegates from Maine that they had thought they had won — a blunt reminder of Mitt Romney’s grip on the proceedings.
Over all, the Sunday rally might be seen as something of a consolation prize for a campaign that was unable to leverage its grass-roots enthusiasm into party strength. But none of that stopped Mr. Paul from getting his message across.
“Seems to me,” he told the crowd, “they would be begging and pleading for us to come into the party.”
Mr. Paul added, “The worst thing we could do is be silent.”
At another rally on Sunday at a Tampa church, two other former presidential contenders, Herman Cain and Representative Michele Bachmann, spoke to a boisterous crowd of several hundred Tea Party supporters.
“There were some people who hoped you all wouldn’t show up,” said Mr. Cain, a former pizza chain executive. “Y’all fooled them.”....
10,000+ for Ron; 'hundreds for Bachman Cain Overdrive. Decent ratio.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/us/politics/ron-paul-rallies-his-supporters-in-tampa.html