Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Republican presidential candidate U.S. Rep Ron Paul (R-TX) speaks during a campaign event at the Four Seasons Las Vegas Wednesday, February 1, 2012.
Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 | 2 a.m.
A man holds up a baby as Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, leaves the stage after speaking at a rally at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012.
Sun coverage
The Ron Paul crowd in Reno on Thursday night was young and cool — there was a waxed mustache; someone complained about the venue’s lack of PBR, the hipster beer of the moment; and a recent college grad sold homemade Paul T-shirts outside.
Inside, the young audience was loud and engaged, creating the rock concert-like atmosphere that has characterized the Texas congressman’s campaign stops.
If Paul was a television show, he’d hit the perfect demographic — 18 to 34 — and given his four-plus years on the national scene, probably would be in syndication by now.
In politics, however, it’s a decidedly older and less cool demographic that dominates. And Paul isn’t doing well in the Nevada polls.
A UNLV survey this week put him in fourth, behind Mitt Romney, the front-runner; Newt Gingrich, the former speaker; and Rick Santorum, the former Senator from Pennsylvania who has given up on making any kind of showing in Saturday’s Republican caucuses.
Paul will need to reach beyond libertarians and college students to see a broader audience if he’s to reach the second-place finish some in his camp say is within reach.
Sharon Holmes, 49, is not a hipster. The lifelong Republican and office manager wasn’t sure who, if anyone, she’d support.
Then her twin 19-year-old boys started talking about Paul, as did their friends. On Saturday she got a call from the campaign, asking for her support.
Holmes plans to attend her first caucus in 12 years in Nevada and support Paul.
She was at the Paul rally Thursday night but wasn’t interested in the candidate’s promise to “end the Fed,” withdraw the country from foreign entanglements or retreat from the drug war — the usual factors in fervent Paul support.
“I like his home values,” she said, as she flipped through a pamphlet titled “Paul Family Cookbook.” “I like that it all starts at home and a stable family life.”
Paul’s speech touched on monetary policy and his opposition to the Patriot Act. He criticized Obama’s executive order that allows the killing of U.S. citizens.
“It’s not quite believable. We’ve already assassinated three people,” he said.
Even World War II war criminals received trials, he said.
Saturday will tell whether efforts to broaden Paul’s base of support have paid off. The campaign has spent four years building an organization to capture delegates in Nevada and other caucus states.
If his libertarian message can’t carry in Nevada, where will it?
Nevadans have been brainwashed into thinking that there are two, and can only *be* two, political parties. Yet given our strong libertarian (note the small "l") streak we should have several equally viable parties.
For too many of us the wars this country fights are far removed, reduced to headlines in a newspaper or an occasional heartfelt moment when the death of an unknown neighbor is told over local television, but for others these wars live in our home; we are the families of those who serve or have served. Our lives, forever changed, carry the reality of war, and though none of us ask for special consideration, we all expect that every American understand that there is an untold price which is paid by some of us that is not shared by all Americans. It's time, that as Americans we openly discuss a real end to these wars without being shutdown or censored by the media. It's time that our candidate for president, a man who promises to bring our men home, be heard and not labeled. It's time that responsible journalism come to the aid of our nation torn by a decade of war and stand against the bias that silences his words of peace. We don't ask the nation to pay our price, we only ask that our candidate be heard. Ron Paul has a message for peace and we believe it's time that it should be heard by all Americans.
I hope there are enough Freedom Loving people in the state of Nevada to help Dr. Paul make a comeback and get a victory! Don't let the establishment continue to force feed us the same old garbage. Dr. Paul is for REAL Individual Liberty and anyone that understands the value of Liberty over Tyranny (Read John Stuart Mill if you don't), please take the time to caucus for Dr. Paul!
Ron Paul 2012!
I am happy to share that I am a 44y/o, U.S. Navy Vet, married, father of 4 that will be voting for Ron Paul this November. I will write him in if I have to.
After doing research on all of the candidates, I chose Ron Paul. Our failing economy is the greatest threat our nation is facing and Dr. Paul is the only candidate, including Pres. Obama, who has a plan to actually cut our budget. The only one.
Every campaign promise that the other candidates make are going to continue spending us deeper into debt. The other candidates' numbers just do not add up.
Regardless of the usual campaign promises; unemployment, housing assistance, military and defense spending, medicare/medicaid and social security will not be able to be funded unless our economy gets back on track.
I want a future for my children and grandchildren, which does not involve them paying off our country's debt. Ron Paul has the plan to provide for that. Even the main stream media, that is all but ignoring Dr. Paul, agrees that his plan is the only plan to cut the budget.