Paul, meanwhile, seemed to be having a banner morning at the polling station at Retreat Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond, in a neighborhood just west of downtown known as The Fan. Just three voters were there between 7:30 and 8 a.m., and all three went for the Texas congressman. Two were genuine supporters. The third was a Democrat who thinks Paul would be easier for Obama to defeat than Romney.
“Hey, Virginia’s an open primary,” said the Democrat, who declined to give her name. “I love it.”
Mary Lou Trache, a paralegal who gave her age as “over 60,” said she voted for Paul because she likes his stance on domestic issues, including bringing down the national debt.
“I really admire his character and steadfastness,” she said. “I like [that] what brought him into politics was going off the gold standard.”
Trache doesn’t actually think Paul has a chance to win the nomination, but she wanted to register her unhappiness with Romney.
“He doesn’t seem as authentic a person,” she said.
Jonathan Oliver, a 25-year-old civil engineer who also voted for Paul at the hospital, said he’d been wavering between Paul and former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) until he saw the ballot and realized Santorum wasn’t on it. He happily went for Paul, who impressed Oliver in debates by answering questions in a more straightforward manner than other Republicans.
“He just doesn’t seem to get caught up in the politicking stuff,” Oliver said. “I just can’t stand Romney or Gingrich, frankly.”
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