NASHUA, N.H., 12:38 p.m. — Excitement is growing over a candidate who once didn’t seem to have an ice cube’s hope in hell of getting a vote in New Hampshire.
“A saying that a lot of Ron Paul supporters have,” says Pennsylvanian Ron Paul campaigner Jim McDaniel, “is that ‘Dr. Paul cured my apathy.’”
Paul’s support on Tuesday was unprecedented, as supporters mobbed the streets of Concord with signs and chants. Indeed, his presence was just as visible as any of the other candidates’ — particularly among the youth.
Says a BBC cameraman, “They’re absolutely everywhere. I’m fed up of Ron Paul signs.”
Despite Paul’s age, McDaniel said the issues he discusses have grabbed the imagination of a growing base of younger supporters.
“Young people like it because they see he’s principled,” McDaniel says. “Yes, he’s the oldest candidate running, but he obviously draws a huge young group of supporters.”
Main Street was certainly a hive of activity Tuesday, with people rushing in and out with banners and posters — and many of the youngest campaigners seeming to be fighting for Paul.
Timothy Fusaro, an eighth grader, said he got involved because of his politically active father. “I visited [Paul’s] Web site a couple of times, and I like what he stands for,” Tommy said.
Matt, Timothy’s older brother, said he’s worked on several campaigns. “It’s just amazing to see how a guy that wasn’t supposed to have any chance has so much support from so many different types of people. I think it’s because of his emphasis on the constitution, and how the government needs to be small and not run our lives,” Matt says, “That’s what I like about Ron Paul. That’s why I wanted to come up here and get involved.”
“I think he has a huge support here in New Hampshire,” McDaniel says. “It was really the meetup.com groups that got him to say, ‘Hey, the support is out there, the people will be into it.”
McDaniel started a Meetup group in his Pennsylvania town of Harrisburg last May to get out the word about Paul. “Before I knew it, we had 25 people, we had 50 people. As we speak, we have about 215 people.”
McDaniel says support for Paul is not limited to radical conservative types. ”If you were to come to one of our meetings, there’s African-Americans, there’s Hispanics. We have some Russians in our group, people who immigrated here legally. And a lot of them are really upset that people would come into this country illegally,” he says.
But, despite all the visible support, Paul ended up with only 8 percent of the vote here in New Hampshire. And only time will tell what the candidate’s next move will be.
-Nicolas Niarchos
9 responses so far ↓
1 Dave // Jan 10, 2008 at 1:56 pm
4 words for ya…black box voting machines.
It doesn’t matter how many voters turn out to vote for you if the votes aren’t counted accurately, and Diebold machines have proven flaws (easily hackable). I challenge anyone to PROVE me wrong. ~ ‘nough said.
2 Brad // Jan 10, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Obama and Paul have reason to fear the Electronic Voting Machines.
During evaluation they were confirmed as hackable without trace.
How unfortunate that the Sheople did not stop their implementation.
I will still vote my conscience; I Vote For Ron Paul.
3 Christopher // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:04 pm
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/011008dnpolnetfraud.25173a1.html
Karen Brooks reports on the latest Political Blog flare ups concerning potential voter fraud once again in NH. With the 7 polls (including Zogby) being right on the money for all “top tier” candidates with the exception of Clinton, the democratic bloggers have questioned the validity of the DieBold machines. Plus with Greenville and Sutton owning up to Ron Paul votes not being counted, it seems that there is definitely something shady going on. On top of that, it has come out that current employees for DieBold have criminal records. And even more still…. The hand count for Dr. Paul records it lowest percentage at 10.25% according to http://www.dailypaul.com/node/23643, while http://ronrox.com/paulstats.php details sharp contrasts for the entire GOP. Point being the machines may have been tampered with or have failed in addition to the already admitted Human Errors.
CNN did raise this issue, once and only once at 5am yesterday morning. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcwdKBVt_Ew
4 Thomas // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Well, this old guy who can’t get out to join the young has this to say: The hype is that this nation, to continue to be free, must change direction. If it does not, it will fall. People can respond or not.
I’m not shouting, Ron Paul is going to win. I’m just saying that if he does, it will be good for our neighbors, and if he does not, it will be very, very bad.
The wisecrack by the BBC cameraman reminds me of the truck driver complaining about all the people in the road screaming at him–just before he drove into the river because the bridge was out.
5 Abe // Jan 10, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Thank you for this article. It didn’t mention however that Rudy Guiliani only beat Ron Paul by 1% percentage point, Mike Huckabee byonly 3 points or that Fred Thompson sunk to 1% of votes cast. Giuliani admitted that he spent just as much time in New Hampshire as in Florida. That is another terrible defeat for the front-runner GOP candidate last summer. Paul is not doing too bad for an unknown dark horse candidate excluded by FOX News from their debate (which included Thompson).
6 Butch // Jan 10, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Hello, We were cheated in NH as they did have diebold machines. Where hand ballotts were counted we WON and were cheated by machines? But now the media will expect us too lie down NOT !!! This will only inspire us because WE KNOW RON PAUL IS THE TRUTH!!!! CFR members YOU have been exposed!! Ron Paul Is not a member nor pro CFR
7 TJ // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Live Free or Diebold. This isn’t over, not by a “longshot.”
8 John Clinton // Jan 10, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Most registered voters still do not know who Ron Paul is.
The media tends to either ignore him, down play him or hints at a “loonie fringe message”.
The more I listen to him, and I would identify myself as a JFK democrat, the stronger my feelings are to support him. So much so that I have registered as republican to vote for him here in California Feb 5.
I would encourage all to vote for thier candidate…the person who’s positions YOU identify with, not what the media is telling you or for the “projected” top tier candidates…especially during the primaries…open conventions would be a welcome change and party planks would again become central to the process.
So while the media may label Dr. Paul as unable to win, my hope is that his message of personal freedon, smaller government, sound econmics and bringing our troops home and having a strong national defense here resonants and will be the foundation of the CHANGE that the founding fathers, the restoration of the U.S. Constitution.
9 Mike S. // Jan 11, 2008 at 12:20 am
Have you read recently about the factual voting fraud that took place in NH? Ron Paul’s votes are being suppressed. After a family came forth from Sutton, NH and reported the voting fraud…miraculously Ron Paul got 31 votes there…but it still shows 0 votes….that same article I read said other places changed their totals on him after that as well. I wonder what the real count really was…but at this point..NH is a fraud with Iowa suspect as well.
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