Ron Paul Nation: the other convention in town
| Blaine, Minn.
If some John McCain supporters suffer from what pollsters have called an 鈥渆nthusiasm gap,鈥� 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鈥檚 candidacy and advance his antiwar, anti-government, pro-Gold Standard agenda among Republicans at the official GOP convention in nearby St. Paul.
鈥淩onvoys鈥� 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 鈥淩onstock 鈥�08,鈥� a six-day culture-fest where the farmer鈥檚 neighbor has reportedly donated a cow to the food offerings. And thousands are expected in downtown Minneapolis Tuesday for the 10-hour marquee 鈥淩ally for The Republic,鈥� 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.
鈥淚鈥檓 a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, and there鈥檚 nobody else out there that has that combination,鈥� Linda Barr, a retired journalist from Pe Ell, Wash., population 700, said at a musical celebration Monday night in this suburb north of Minneapolis. 鈥淗ave you heard of the statement 鈥楻on Paul cured my apathy鈥�? That鈥檚 it in a nutshell.鈥�
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 鈥渉ave no particular internal coherence but use an opportunity like this to express that we need another way,鈥� says Walter Stone, a political science professor at the University of California, Davis who has written about outsider presidential candidates. 鈥淧eople are latching on to him because he has a certain notoriety.鈥�
But as others view it, the Ron Paul Nation is just as much a product of the blogosphere. 鈥淲hat 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,鈥� says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. 鈥淏ut it can鈥檛 win elections and probably can鈥檛 affect the outcome of them.鈥�
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 鈥� from vegans to back-to-the-landers to gun-rights zealots 鈥� 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鈥檚 presidential nominee, Paul has said he won鈥檛 vote for either McCain or Democratic nominee Barack Obama. But, he says, he won鈥檛 tell his flock how to vote.
The week鈥檚 mission, according to a Paul website, is a 鈥渃lear call to the Republican Party to return to its roots of limited government, personal responsibility, and protection of our natural rights.鈥�
Jesse Benton, a Paul spokesman, said that a good share of Paul鈥檚 army could be McCain鈥檚 if only the Arizona senator changed his mind on the Iraq war and America鈥檚 role in the world. 鈥淭here are millions of activists out there at a time when the base of the GOP is shrinking, and they鈥檇 be excited and eager to get involved with the Republican Party if it stayed true to its traditions.鈥�
Students of the political scene call a McCain-Paul rapprochement unlikely. Republican leaders rebuffed Paul鈥檚 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 鈥� if not always enthusiastically 鈥� 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 鈥淧oliticians Love Disarmed Peasants鈥� and 鈥淕old is Money鈥� to 鈥淓nd the Fed鈥� and 鈥淭ruth is Treason in the Empire of Lies.鈥�
鈥淩epublicans keep talking about the small government thing, and they don鈥檛 do it,鈥� Richard Matthews, a Republican running for a Maryland Congressional seat, said beside the bleachers here. 鈥淒emocrats keep talking about getting us out of the war, and they don鈥檛 do it.鈥�
