The UCLA Rally from my point of view

[eleganz]

Just confirmed the official count with the UCLA YFP Chapter President
6,600 = NEW RECORD! (with four days of prep)

TWO WORDS: ABSOLUTE PANDEMONIUM!!

I just got home at 3am after spending the last 4 days preparing for Wednesday, big rally and a congressional district leader's meeting.


Our volunteers (we had over 80) for voter registration were telling me the line was a mile long (does 6,000 people lined up equal to a mile? but when I looked at it, the line went as far as my eyes could see AND LONGER!). We had people hitting the whole line with registrations, every time I saw one, they were out of breath running up and down the lines double checking, triple checking, quadruple checking that people were registered.

As the line was coming to a close, the fire marshals closed the doors (with one whole section plus a quarter of another left that is why some pictures and videos had an EMPTY section) we were so confused but after about half an hour they started letting in guests trickle in to finish packing the audience. People were getting so anxious to see Ron because they were LOCKED OUT that they were climbing fences, climbing trees and trying to look in through the bars (like inmates) just to get a peek into all of the action.

I'll tell you all right now we maxed out the venue. Don't let anybody tell you other wise. This UCLA event was JAM PACKED!

Ron gave a BRILLIANT speech the best I've ever heard, he had applause from essentially the entire audience, everybody responded EXTREMELY well to everything he was saying and I could tell he opened up a lot of minds tonight and had these people/students HOOKED on every topic. As he spoke I was looking around the audience gauging people's expressions and reactions and it was just overall VERY positive with everybody clapping!

I forgot which issue he was addressing but some of his points received standing ovations plus chants of PRESIDENT PAUL!

As people started leaving, the volunteers all grabbed clipboards, registration forms and pens and just started registering all of those that came in curiously and didn't make their minds up yet. We signed up a TON of new registrants at the end of the night (as well as the beginning). I only wish we were better prepared and not hindered by the fire marshals (if you know what I mean).

I will not be disclosing the number of registrants we had tonight but I'll tell you that this was a GREAT leap forward for the LA County grassroots.

With a full battery at 4pm my phone was being bombarded with calls, voicemails and texts all day long (usually calls, texts and voicemails all while I'm on the phone) and died by the time the rally started so I didn't get any good pictures but we did have grassroots media/historians that will post up video/photos in due time.

I cannot even stress how amazing of a day this was for our movement.

And to put the cherry on top, we made Fox 11, ABC 7 and I do believe NBC 4 news. Ron got a HUGE segment on Fox (at least 10 minutes, boy am I glad I got the Fox camera man IN).

Don't give up! have faith in us! Los Angeles grassroots is working very hard and we want to win this county.

Please consider giving a donation to our chip-in at www.lalibertyhq.org to keep us funded and operation running strong.



I will try to update with more info or media if I can tomorrow.

Quick pics I found by some local supporters:



This one is called, we got locked out by the fire marshalls but still wanted to see Ron Paul:



PACKED HOUSE! the media DARED to report a few dozen??


Ron captured backstage by one of our supporters

[kathy88]

What a nice post to wake up to on the Right Coast. LA grassroots is the BESTEST! I got chills when I read the part about registration. Again at the venue being packed and Ron NAILING IT!

[eleganz]

What a nice morning gift!

For attendance numbers. I was getting some mixed numbers but the tennis court audience seating is 5800-6000 and we maxed it out. I think the 10,000 figure came from full seating including ground seating but the fire marshals wouldn't allow that.

What a nice post to wake up to on the Right Coast. LA grassroots is the BESTEST! I got chills when I read the part about registration. Again at the venue being packed and Ron NAILING IT!

[J_White]

great rally !

[kathy88]

PACKED HOUSE! the media DARED to report a few dozen??

Did someone really report a few dozen? Love a link.

[Drex]

First two words I said when I saw the pic... holy sh*t! haha

[Sola_Fide]

WoW

[Gage]

PACKED HOUSE! the media DARED to report a few dozen??

This one's by me. Will have 70+ photos from the event in the next few hours at http://flickr.com/gageskidmore

[speciallyblend]

big liberty hug for all your hard work. tears of joy!!

[ronpaulfollower999]

Found this on YT…the ending is epic:

[nobody's_hero]

I used to give Californians a hard time because I thought they were weird people.

But. I am on my knees, begging, pleading, groveling for your forgiveness, and I hope that you "weird" people in California can save us from the "normal" people who have already voted so far. Please, use your rediculously large population to counteract the mistakes made so far.

[frodus24]

WOW!!!! Holy smokes! Props to all who made this possible! I have chills!

[Drex]

Lol " Maybe they'll start to hear us pretty soon " Classic!

[Wolfgang Bohringer]

Please consider giving a donation to our chip-in at www.lalibertyhq.org to keep us funded and operation running strong.

I spoke to Mary a few days ago and I express mailed 30 free Ron Paul Peace & Sound Money Blimps to your office for your registration table locations around town:

[Suzu]

This one's by me. Will have 70+ photos from the event in the next few hours at http://flickr.com/gageskidmore

Gage, your photos are getting better all the time! That is one awesome slideshow.

[specsaregood]

Please, use your rediculously large population to counteract the mistakes made so far.

Not to be a downer; but the large popular size is exactly what makes the attendence of this rally less than spellbinding. LA county alone has more than double the population of the entire state of missouri. Add in the surrounding counties and they'd need to have an attendence of 20k to come close to the % turnout of rallies in other states.

still good job californians, i hope you surprise us all.

[hillertexas]

Gage, I love this one:

[chudrockz]

big liberty hug for all your hard work. tears of joy!!

Tears of joy here too, and I'm at work. Hope no one looks in for a few minutes.

[The Northbreather]

Excellent

[tsai3904]

Great job with the voter registration drive. I saw a lot of people filling out registration forms.

To me, that's a good and bad thing because it shows that a lot of people didn't know they had to register Republican. I talked to an undergrad there who knew everything about Ron Paul and when I asked if he was registered Republican, he said no because its too late. He thought it takes a year to get the registration forms processed.

The problem is that young students have never voted before so they do not know what the process is and there's really no where to find it online. They check DailyPaul everyday but the DP never posts registration information on their main page. The Ron Paul Facebook pages or the Ron Paul main website don't post registration information either.

Even at the rally, the intro speaker told everyone to register Republican but didn't explain it in detail. If people didn't know they had to register Republican, they probably don't know what it means. We might think it's obvious what it means but to someone getting involved politically for the first time and have never registered before, that probably just flew over their head. The undergrad I spoke to was walking by all the staff trying to get people registered and he never stopped to pick up a form even though he wasn't registered.

Great work though because this is what was needed to be done and good idea passing out the list of Central Committee candidates so people know who to vote for.

[sailingaway]

I have to second both how well the voter registration was in line and how little the students know about it. We must have been asked a dozen times or more if we had registered by people with clipboards and forms, PLUS there were tables with voter registration signs and people registering people. The BAD news is two students ahead were talking about registering and one said he had registered through 'the Ron Paul club' but that he got a form in the mail 'saying to check the information and send it back'. At this a group of 6 or 8 behind us started asking 'you have to send it back? Because I don't think I have it any more' and some in there were saying 'one vote isn't going to matter anyhow...' and others were arguing it would.

So, lots of confusion on the 'what it takes to vote' side of things.

Also, I got email when the venue changed, and text and a voice mail reminders of the event, so one assumes that has been added to GOTV as well.

The good news on my side is I think I have my Mom convinced to vote for him now, in the primary at least. She liked the civil liberties stuff. Frankly, I think he should spend more time on that particularly in front of students....

[Tiso0770]

Isn't the UC Berkeley Rally tonight???.

[DBJl4l4]

Ron Paul at UCLA with 12,000 friends.

[dannno]

Did someone really report a few dozen? Love a link.

lol, ya that would be worthy of an email bomb.

[dannno]

I can vouch for the line being AT LEAST as long as what was in the picture below, though maybe some can vouch for it being longer at some point. This was when the stadium was already more than half full, around 8:10 or so.

It was also at least 3 or 4 people wide, not a single file line by any means.

[PolicyReader]

Great job with the voter registration drive. I saw a lot of people filling out registration forms.

To me, that's a good and bad thing because it shows that a lot of people didn't know they had to register Republican. I talked to an undergrad there who knew everything about Ron Paul and when I asked if he was registered Republican, he said no because its too late. He thought it takes a year to get the registration forms processed.

The problem is that young students have never voted before so they do not know what the process is and there's really no where to find it online. They check DailyPaul everyday but the DP never posts registration information on their main page. The Ron Paul Facebook pages or the Ron Paul main website don't post registration information either.

Even at the rally, the intro speaker told everyone to register Republican but didn't explain it in detail. If people didn't know they had to register Republican, they probably don't know what it means. We might think it's obvious what it means but to someone getting involved politically for the first time and have never registered before, that probably just flew over their head. The undergrad I spoke to was walking by all the staff trying to get people registered and he never stopped to pick up a form even though he wasn't registered.

Great work though because this is what was needed to be done and good idea passing out the list of Central Committee candidates so people know who to vote for.

Quoted because it's worth noting again. If anyone has any connections to RP websites getting the word out on how to register and where you still can would be a great move.

Also THANK YOU for all the voting registration done there! Well done LA grassroots.

I'd also like to note that as mentioned CA is huge so pop % matters, but you know what else matters? Party %.
CA is not only huge it is hugely Dem and no one but Paul has the chance to pull in voters who'd otherwise stand outside the party in CA. This is an untapped advantage and not to be undersold. Get 5-15% to cross over for the vote in those overwhelmingly Dem CDs and we have ourselves a victory there each CD and each delegate matters, we can have a strong showing in CA on our way to Tampa



Add:

The good news on my side is I think I have my Mom convinced to vote for him now, in the primary at least. She liked the civil liberties stuff. Frankly, I think he should spend more time on that particularly in front of students....

+rep for the new vote
Also agreed if Paul will focus more on civil liberties to the collage crowds and honestly in states/areas that have a strong Dem presence (remember where the talking points for the party stand, many Dems still think their leadership really stand for CivLib just like many Repubs still think their leadership really stand for Conservatism ) Obamny stands for the Party Bosses on each side of the isle, Paul stands for the voters on each side of the isle (many of them just don't understand that yet)

[PolicyReader]

A little something I found floating around

[eleganz]

I just wanted to say I had a few media cards to play and will definitely be playing them well.

[seawolf]

Thank you eleganz for all of your hard work. I am so proud of the UCLA Turnout and yes probably even more at the amazing turnout at CSU-Chico on Tuesday Night.

Ron Paul has got to get Offical Offices established in California and come back time and time again. He can definitely do very very well in the Golden State if the effort is made and the money is raised to do just that!!!

All, Please Pledge to Donate on April 15th for the In-It-To-Win-It Money Bomb!!!

[RDM]

Great job with the voter registration drive. I saw a lot of people filling out registration forms.

To me, that's a good and bad thing because it shows that a lot of people didn't know they had to register Republican. I talked to an undergrad there who knew everything about Ron Paul and when I asked if he was registered Republican, he said no because its too late. He thought it takes a year to get the registration forms processed.

The problem is that young students have never voted before so they do not know what the process is and there's really no where to find it online. They check DailyPaul everyday but the DP never posts registration information on their main page. The Ron Paul Facebook pages or the Ron Paul main website don't post registration information either.

Even at the rally, the intro speaker told everyone to register Republican but didn't explain it in detail. If people didn't know they had to register Republican, they probably don't know what it means. We might think it's obvious what it means but to someone getting involved politically for the first time and have never registered before, that probably just flew over their head. The undergrad I spoke to was walking by all the staff trying to get people registered and he never stopped to pick up a form even though he wasn't registered.

Great work though because this is what was needed to be done and good idea passing out the list of Central Committee candidates so people know who to vote for.

I thought the Youth for Ron Paul Groups that were to be located all over the country were to be trained and doing this. Obviously, all they were taught to do was organize sign waves and encourage students to go to Ron Paul rallies.