Rep. Ron Paul spoke to a group of supporters in this June 2008 file photo. More than 10,000 members of the Ron Paul Nation paid $17.76 (get it?) to attend a convention in Minnesota to celebrate the Texas congressman’s candidacy and advance his antiwar, anti-government, pro-Gold Standard agenda among Republicans at the official GOP convention in nearby St. Paul. (David J. Phillip/AP/FILE)
Ron Paul Nation: the other convention in town
An army of supporters descends on Minnesota to push an antiwar, antigovernment agenda.
By Ariel Sabar | Staff writer/ September 2, 2008 edition
Reporter Ariel Sabar discusses whether Ron Paul's supporters will make a difference to the GOP vote.
Reporter Ariel Sabar
Blaine, Minn.
If some John McCain supporters suffer from what pollsters have called an “enthusiasm gap,” those of GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul might be accused of an enthusiasm surplus.
More than 10,000 members of the Ron Paul Nation paid $17.76 (get it?) to attend a convention in Minnesota to celebrate the Texas congressman’s candidacy and advance his antiwar, anti-government, pro-Gold Standard agenda among Republicans at the official GOP convention in nearby St. Paul.
“Ronvoys” of chartered vans have been streaming in since the weekend. Supporters are camping at an organic dairy farm in Goodhue, Minn., that is home to “Ronstock ’08,” a six-day culture-fest where the farmer’s neighbor has reportedly donated a cow to the food offerings. And thousands are expected in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday for the 10-hour marquee “Rally for The Republic,” featuring speakers from former governors Jesse Ventura of Minnesota and Gary Johnson of New Mexico to antitax activist Grover Norquist and MSNBC correspondent Tucker Carlson.
“I’m a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, and there’s nobody else out there that has that combination,” Linda Barr, a retired journalist from Pe Ell, Wash., population 700, said at a musical celebration Monday night in this suburb north of Minneapolis. “Have you heard of the statement ‘Ron Paul cured my apathy’? That’s it in a nutshell.”
As some political experts see it, the Ron Paul phenomenon reflects deepening fault lines in the Republican party, which has struggled in recent years to hold together its coalition of small-government activists, social conservatives, and defense hawks.
Many Paul supporters “have no particular internal coherence but use an opportunity like this to express that we need another way,” says Walter Stone, a political science professor at the University of California, Davis who has written about outsider presidential candidates. “People are latching on to him because he has a certain notoriety.”
But as others view it, the Ron Paul Nation is just as much a product of the blogosphere. “What Ron Paul shows is that in this Internet era you can identify a thin substratum of people across the country, energize them, and turn out 10,000 people in a basketball stadium,” says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “But it can’t win elections and probably can’t affect the outcome of them.”
Paul finished second, ahead of McCain, in Montana and Nevada, and set a record for the largest online fundraising haul in a single day. But he won no primaries, seldom escaped single-digit poll numbers, and quit the race in June. All the same, his attacks on the Iraq war and US foreign policy stirred a ragtag army of supporters – from vegans to back-to-the-landers to gun-rights zealots – alienated by a Republican Party they see as adrift from its small-government moorings.
A ten-term congressman who once ran as the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee, Paul has said he won’t vote for either McCain or Democratic nominee Barack Obama. But, he says, he won’t tell his flock how to vote.
The week’s mission, according to a Paul website, is a “clear call to the Republican Party to return to its roots of limited government, personal responsibility, and protection of our natural rights.”
Jesse Benton, a Paul spokesman, said that a good share of Paul’s army could be McCain’s if only the Arizona senator changed his mind on the Iraq war and America’s role in the world. “There are millions of activists out there at a time when the base of the GOP is shrinking, and they’d be excited and eager to get involved with the Republican Party if it stayed true to its traditions.”
Students of the political scene call a McCain-Paul rapprochement unlikely. Republican leaders rebuffed Paul’s request to speak at the GOP convention, largely because of his refusal to endorse McCain, aides to Paul said. (Spokesmen for McCain did not return phone calls.)
A New York Times poll of convention delegates released Sunday showed a party solidly – if not always enthusiastically – behind McCain. Of those surveyed, 95 percent said they would back McCain on the convention floor, with 1 percent each for Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Mr. Jillson suspects many Paul supporters will back McCain in November, even if they have to hold their nose.
But with some 15,000 reporters in the Twin Cities and official events scaled back because of hurricane Gustav, Paul supporters have a rare opportunity to steal some of the spotlight.
At the concert on a soccer field in Blaine Monday night, bikers in leather vests mingled with boys in tie-dye shirts, men in bowties, and women pushing strollers. T-shirts bore messages ranging from “Politicians Love Disarmed Peasants” and “Gold is Money” to “End the Fed” and “Truth is Treason in the Empire of Lies.”
“Republicans keep talking about the small government thing, and they don’t do it,” Richard Matthews, a Republican running for a Maryland Congressional seat, said beside the bleachers here. “Democrats keep talking about getting us out of the war, and they don’t do it.”
Comments
2. drew | 09.02.08
wow, you couldnt just tell it how it is. if you read your history, the republican party is ANTI war, ANTI government, ANTI taxes.
mccain is not a republican. he is a neo conservative.
as you said in your article “says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “But it can’t win elections and probably can’t affect the outcome of them.””
this is B.S. there is a very real, visable, and tangable result to what he has done, and it will not stop.
you also state “A New York Times poll of convention delegates released Sunday showed a party solidly – if not always enthusiastically – behind McCain. Of those surveyed, 95 percent said they would back McCain on the convention floor, with 1 percent each for Paul, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.”
i can find just about any poll anywhere that says the contrary. polls are just a sampling of a whole, and you cant even get a reasonable result with the way these polls are conducted today. mostly they are calling elderly people with land lines.
you also fail to explain how ron paul has raised more money than any other candidate from PRIVATE doners. the reason these two candidates get such large donations is due to corporate doners.
please tell the whole story and not some half truthes.
the revolution has already begun, and will not be stopped.
3. Don Keller | 09.02.08
Cal Jillson’s comment tells me that people who think like him forget that the pursuit of truth is paramount! Good ALWAYS overcomes evil and that Rome is now history’s lesson.
4. Jonathan H | 09.02.08
Ron Paul is the last hope to revive liberty and constitutional adherance in the Grand Old Party.
God bless.
5. Don Yarish | 09.02.08
We are not rag tag nor are we a blog anomaly, the author just doesn’t understand what’s going on.
We are a diverse group of citizens that understand America has drifted away from the Constitution into very dangerous waters. The corporate media for the most part is complicit in ignoring these very real and serious concerns and is content to be lap dogs. The internet is key only becuase there you can find real facts and only enthusiastic motivated people care enough to search them out as opposed to the brainwashed sheep led around by big media, big government, and big business. America is in real trouble slipping quickly into totalitarianism. Ron Paul defends the Constitution, very unfashionable in these dire times.
8. Kathryn | 09.02.08
Excuse me, there are many Ron Paul supporters who do not consider ourselves “ragtag”. Many of us are educators, doctors, lawyers, merchants, ministers, housewives, secretaries, politicians,etc. who have supported Dr. Paul for many years because he is a decent person and has the right idea about how the government should be run and how to use diplomacy instead of war. This is an ignorant sounding statement, “All the same, his attacks on the Iraq war and US foreign policy stirred a ragtag army of supporters – from vegans to back-to-the-landers to gun-rights zealots – alienated by a Republican Party they see as adrift from its small-government moorings. Many of us , both republicans and democrats are sick of having to vote for the lesser of two poor presidential choices. When, if ever will we get a good choice. Ron Paul is the best one I’ve seen in at at least 12 years.
9. John Baughman | 09.02.08
Sadly, the republic creeps along, dodging first one then another crisis. Millions lose homes, banks fail - or worse - are on life support from the Fed. The trade deficit slips but slowly, keeping Americans in debt far beyond any measure of rationality. We persevere in one foolish foreign adventure after another, to the tune of Trillions of dollars.
But we do not collapse, and so we do not seem to care much about this campaign, or worse this election. The dollar may never collapse completely, but if it does, Ron Paul will be able to say: “we were warned.”
10. Eric Vanvliet | 09.02.08
Where did you get ANY of this information. To think for a second that any sane minded American supporting Ron Paul would hold their nose and vote McCain is totally absurd. ANTI-Government??? WHAT THE ****? limited government yet but not anti government. The federal reserve is a private cooperation in control of Americas money and is currently driving our currency into the ground. He talks about getting America back to its roots and have the government abide by the constitution and return to the foreign policy of our founding fathers. WAKE UP AMERICA and don’t support biased uneducated agenda driven journalists like this.
stupid **** sucker.
11. Michael | 09.02.08
Anti-government?
For anyone that has actually listened to Dr. Paul, they would realize that his message is not anti-governmental. It is anti-imperialist and anti-overreaching government. But Dr. Paul realizes that there still needs to be governing, just not such a bloated system as we currently have and are suffering from!
12. Ryan Meyer | 09.02.08
Cal — you don’t get it.
You missed the mark completely by suggesting Ron Paul is defined by his internet followers.
You boldly claim that his supporters, by far the most dedicated and vocal of any candidate as far back as I can remember, can’t even influence the election.
You “suspect” that his supporters, a group you know to be one of the most diverse groups in political history, will vote for McCain?
Please, continue living in your academic fantasy land, but don’t misinform the public by positioning yourself as an expert to the media.
13. spinnikerca | 09.02.08
I don’t think you can say what Paul supporters will do in November by polling delegates as to what they will do on the RNC floor. Ron Paul’s delegates were systematically purged at the state level (see Nevada and Louisiana for examples) and those who were allowed were mostly bound to vote for McCain - at the convention.
The worse the RNC treats Ron Paul, the less likely it is to get any votes from his followers - and it is treating him shamefully, not even allowing him standard floor access as a US Congressman. He may have no care whatsomever for his own power or personal treatment, but those who see his voting record as a sign of the only honest politician in DC care very much.
14. Wallace | 09.02.08
Why isn’t this 10,000+ rally on CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX?
(Oh, we know why it isn’t on FOX)
No instead we have to hear about Palin the other whitemeat and the rest of John McLame’s convention.
Who owns the whole media and is shutting out Ron Paul?
15. EricEverett | 09.02.08
I support Ron Paul and his ideas 100%. I hope Paul supporters cost Mccain the election. Neo-cons have lost their way. The revolution has begun!
16. Sara | 09.02.08
WATCH it live NOW ONLINE: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/
Also on C-Span 2
It is awesome!
Please check it out-
17. Georgia | 09.02.08
1. I’m not at all “ragtag”, I’m a scientist, dammit.
2. Ron Paul is not anti-government, he’s for reducing the government in scope and size.
3. I will never vote for McCain.
18. john | 09.02.08
This Paul supporter would NEVER vote for McCain. He is the essence of the warfare welfare state. My guess from my contacts with the meet ups is that they would vote for Obama over McCain only on the war. I expect McCain will lose at least what Perot took from Bush I and Dole. The neo-cons have polluted both parties and economic realities.
19. Gavin | 09.02.08
How did Ron Paul raise huge amounts of money if he was a fringe movement.Wake up CSM.MacCain did not buy you off .
20. Mjackson | 09.02.08
Thank you for this article.
I don’t think it is easy to predict what the Paul supporters will do…but I hope they will CAMPAIGN FOR LIBERTY.
The Constitution is the Solution.
21. Dave K | 09.02.08
“Mr. Jillson suspects many Paul supporters will back McCain in November, even if they have to hold their nose.”
This IS the problem with American politics in general: most Americans limit themselves to choose between the lesser of two evils, rather than the candidate that is MOST in line with their beliefs. When more Americans realize that the two parties in power are becoming more and more the same every day, then they may decide that voting for a third party is not a “waste of a vote”, as so many people like to call it now.
22. Chris | 09.02.08
Speak with your vote. There will be a Libertarian on the ballot in 40+ states. A wasted vote is one cast for someone you don’t want elected.
23. Marek | 09.02.08
A wonderful example of Dr. Paul versus the other candidates is that his rally was completely privately funded through donations, while Obama and McCain used 16 million dollars of tax money for theirs.
24. jack ellul | 09.03.08
1) “Many Paul supporters “have no particular internal coherence but use an opportunity like this to express that we need another way,” says Walter Stone.”
No internal coherence? EXCUSE ME? can Walter say ‘Constitutional Government’?
2) Walter Stone continues, “People are latching on to him because he has a certain notoriety.”
Walter, people are latching on to Ron because he’s speaking what we know and want.
3) ““What Ron Paul shows is that in this Internet era you can identify a thin substratum of people across the country, energize them, and turn out 10,000 people in a basketball stadium,” says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University”
No, Cal, what the Internet demonstrates is that messages other than those controlled by the major parties and corporate controlled media can reach a small segment of the public. Further, Cal, what Ron shows is that when someone talks to the public like adults, the public responds like adults. Overall, this is a far cry from the McBama mindless messages delivered to brain-dead audiences who cheer as if applause meters are there only queue.
4) What’s so utterly disappointing is how the establishment has been able to co-opt academia in order to do the establishment’s bidding. The good news is that some of us can still think for ourselves and don’t require establishment “experts” to tell us how to think and act.
26. Mike | 09.03.08
A completely biased and ill-researched article… Nothing close to what we should expect from the Christian Science Monitor. This article should be an embarrassment to the CS Church. It should be honestly reporting on the Campaign for Liberty and seriously addressing the issues that are raised. After all, the Monitor is not owned by the big corporations. Instead, the Monitor simply follows the standard line, which is not worthy of an award-winning “independent” newspaper committed to revealing the truth.
27. Steve | 09.03.08
Sarah Palin is Ron Paul in Drag!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get a clue Ron Paul guys, the statement was made and McCain Listened.
28. So. California | 09.03.08
Not allowing Paul to speak at the Convention because his stance opposes McCain… so much for the First Amendment and allowing the full story.
WRITE PAUL’S NAME IN ON YOUR BALLOT, IF YOU BELIEVE IN HIS MESSAGE AND HIS LEADERSHIP. I’m certainly going to. I changed party affiliation so that I could vote for him in the primaries, and I’ll be danged if I’m going to be forced in the general election to vote for anyone I don’t believe in. If every American followed this priviledge, the two party system would abolish itself.
29. Dan Berger | 09.03.08
“I’m a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, and there’s nobody else out there that has that combination.”
Sigh.
Still waiting for the “social conservative, economic liberal” candidate to come along. Where are you, Dorothy Day?
30. Deno | 09.03.08
McCain has sold his soul to the Neo-Cons. Leiberman is a testment to that. He is the underground leader of the Neo-Cons.
God save our nation if these guys are back in the White House. We are in Big trouble with this neo-con.
Ron Paul 2008
31. Adam | 09.03.08
Great job missing the entire point of the rally: to kick off the new political organization, the Campaign For Liberty. And by the way: there is no such thing as a gun rights “zealot.” There are those who defend their rights, those who don’t, and those who work to destroy our rights.
32. Costa Rica-bound | 09.03.08
Folks, as a 45+ year citizen and resident of this formerly-Free Republic, I`ve given up. Obama`s pick of Iraq war cheerleader Biden was the final straw - he may as well have asked McCain to be his running mate for all the differences between the two. As long as the desires of an unregistered foreign agent(The Israel Lobby) is first and formost THE vetting tool used
to screen potential US Presidential candidates, what is the point of even bothering to vote? Seriously. If a potential President candidate wannabee doesn`t profess sufficient pro-Israel fealty, he is dead in the water before he even begins. “Republican”, “Democrat”,…what`s the difference? NONE!
Both are America-lasters, and as long as we allow our entangling alliances and
irrational affection for some country 8,000 miles away with absolutely no strategic interest to the US to dictate our foreign policy in the Middle East, we are doomed. Enjoy your chickens coming home to roost(as they did on 9/11) - I`ll be enjoying umbrella drinks on the beach in totally-don`t-give-a-rat`s-***-about_Israel Costa Rica, and enjoying the low taxes, warm climate, and surprisingly-libertarian philosophy of the people and local gov`t.
33. Dave W. | 09.03.08
Being the only consevative Democrat left in my state, I was led to briefly change my political affiliation to be able to vote for Ron Paul. This man was the best candidate for President, and the only one with the courage to discuss the real issues we face. Ron Paul was the only candidate who demonstrated knowledge of and respect for our Constitution. He was the only candidate who had a clue to the monetary and financial problems we face.
This man was treated shamefully by the Republican Party and marginalized by our media. I have a deep respect for this man and the principles he stands for, and feel nothing but disgust for the Obama vs McCain spectacle.
34. Josh Messer | 09.04.08
Reading that article brings to mind the words of a Bob Dylan tune: “There’s something happening here, but you don’t know what it is. Do you, Mr. Jones?”
The media, the neo-con war mongers and the Obamamaniacs just don’t get it. Liberty is just such a far-fetched idea to them.
35. Ben R. Rodriguez MS | 09.10.08
As a family we are concerned with the coming election for the Nation. You have addressed the sound economic alternatives. The McCain - Palin are lost on the economy and corrections required, five or six years ago. many institutions, that are basic to consumers such ourselves, are being destroyed by the speculators and fraud “manufacturer in a wholesale manner”. These modalities have percolated into the “younger generations”, are in fact contaminating their minds and operating p0ractices, all these persons need are a PC. and Cell Phone. How the USA will provide jobs, reduced the inflation, prices, since “all has become based in Hot Air, and Government Bailouts?.
Regards, Ben R. R.
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1. Chilli | 09.02.08
Thank you.