Although Ron Paul announced earlier this month that he will not campaign in the remaining GOP presidential primaries, he urged those who support his candidacy to continue organizing in states that have already voted, in order to win delegates to the national convention.
And those activists are doing just that, sometimes with the assistance of Paul, who spoke Fri., May 18 at the Minnesota Republican Convention, delivering his usual Libertarian-marinated stump speech.
Although delegates are awarded in primaries and caucuses, in many cases that is just the first step toward selecting those who will represent a state at the convention. Paul supporters are packing delegate committees in states like Washington, Arizona, Nevada and Iowa in order to have more Paul representation at the Tampa Times Forum in August. In Minnesota, the Texas Congressman took 12 of the 13 delegate slots; combined with previous victories in the state’s complicated selection process, that means 32 of the 40 Minnesota delegates to Tampa will be Paul supporters. In Maine, they took 21 of the 24 slots. In Nevada, they grabbed 22 of the 28.
Regardless of how successful Paul supporters are in drumming up delegates, they’re already making plans for a major RNC-timed event. They’re hoping to assemble tens of thousands of fans for Paul Festival 2012 at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa on Aug. 24-26, right before the convention begins.
“We’ll have some music, great speakers, and have three stages so there’s going to be a place for kids,” says Josh Tolley, a syndicated talk show host and fervent Paul supporter. Artists scheduled to perform include country music act Burns & Poe and singer-songwriter Michale Graves.
Tolley says “Ronvoys” will be traveling from all over the country, bringing busloads of people to Tampa for the event. A Ronvoys website contains extensive information on how this massive people-moving endeavor is being accomplished, including details about Revolution Travel Management, “an entirely nonprofit travel & lodging brokerage” which is contracting with car rental agencies to reserve bulk amounts of vehicles at the lowest rate possible.
Paul Festival organizers have not yet received official confirmation from the Republican National Committee that they can hold the event on the fairgrounds. Tolley said the last time he checked, the RNC had “signed off on the event and we were supposed to get approval May 1, and then it got pushed back, but tentatively we’re looking at the Florida Fairgrounds site.”
Dan Tucker was the Pinellas County coordinator for the Paul campaign, and is a volunteer on the planning board for the Paul Festival. He told CL that “background activities are occurring now” in preparation for the event.
In 2008 in Minneapolis, Paul supporters held a similar “Rally for the Republic” that drew over 9,000 people during the second day of the Republican Convention in nearby St. Paul. Because Paul’s candidacy has done better (but still not all that great) this time around, organizers say that figure will be dramatically larger in 2012.
Of course, some of Paul’s supporters may be getting a bit ahead of themselves. Organizers say they’re hoping for 100,000 to appear at the fairgrounds, which would make a severe impact on law enforcement expecting a maximum of 50,000 total delegates, reporters and protesters.
According to Josh Polley, Mitt Romney should be quaking in his boots right now because of what’s happening in state conventions like Minnesota’s.
“You’ve seen Romney do very well on the surface, but below the surface, things couldn’t be worse for him. He’s getting his hat handed to him in most of these states and it’s something they’ve come out fighting against. If that trend continues, then we’re actually looking at a situation come August [where] we have to wonder if Romney’s ready to concede.”
On the passion scale, there’s no question who comes out on top in a matchup of Romney-Paul supporters. But even Paul’s campaign strategist Jesse Benton estimates that the Texas libertarian will end up with just “several hundred” delegates pledged to him, with the chance to win several hundred more. But Romney is still expected to have more than the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination.
Originally published Wed., May 23.
This article appears in May 24-30, 2012.