Las Vegas crowd roars for Ron Paul

Asked why more of his rivals aren't campaigning in Nevada, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul grinned.

"Maybe they don't feel confident that their philosophy is attractive to the people of Nevada," he said, a twinkle in his eye. "I'm very comfortable with the people of Nevada."

Shortly after making that comment, the puckish Texas congressman strode onto a stage at UNLV to preach his message before a crowd of more than 1,000 people.

As the audience stood, roared and waved signs, many of them handmade, Paul said, "It sounds to me like the spirit of liberty is alive and well in Nevada."

Paul, a 72-year-old country doctor who once ran for president as the nominee of the Libertarian party, is as surprised as anyone at the roaring crowds and millions in donations his campaign has attracted. Referring to a supporter's sign that read "Dr. Paul cured my apathy," he said, "I have to say, you've cured me of my skepticism, and I thank you for it."

Earlier this month, his campaign set the single-day Republican fundraising record, more than $4 million. And that was without even trying: A grass-roots group independent of the campaign launched the daylong, online effort on Nov. 5.

The Internet, which Paul admits he barely uses, has fueled this surge, much of it by young people. In Las Vegas, Paul volunteers, brought together by the Web site MeetUp.com, have festooned the city with signs trumpeting the "revolution."

No wonder Paul, with his beetle brows, ski-jump nose and slight stoop, has a humble bearing. He is a grandfather crowd-surfing on a youthful wave.

The purity of his message, he said, has combined with young people's natural idealism, with the Internet catalyzing the reaction.

"Despite our public school system, young people have learned their arithmetic," he said in one of his few canned jokes. "They've figured it out that they're getting a bum deal."

Paul gave a 40-minute speech outlining his platform, which is far from the main Republican line. He voted against the Patriot Act, and would restore what he considers eroded civil liberties. He voted against the Iraq war, and would pull American troops not just out of that country but from all 130 foreign nations where they are stationed.

"We don't need to just change the management of the war," he said. "We need a foreign policy of nonintervention to prevent wars from ever breaking out. ... We're spending a trillion dollars maintaining an empire overseas. We have to end the empire and come home."

Paul calls for an end to the Federal Reserve and the monetary system, and a return to gold- or silver-backed currency, which he says would curb inflation and help the poor and middle class. He would radically shrink government and return powers to the states.

Although he calls himself a strict believer in the U.S. Constitution, Paul doesn't consider it a perfect document. He'd like to repeal the 16th Amendment, which created the federal income tax, and also opposes automatic citizenship for children born on American soil, as is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

And though Paul said his approach would soon lead to a better nation, he warned there will be darkness before the dawn. "We will get poorer, because we've lived beyond our means, and we will have to pay back the bills we have run up," he said. "But if we do what is necessary rather quickly, if we release the creative energy of a free society, we will not be poor very long."

Whether Paul is in serious contention for the Republican nomination is an open question. Despite all the enthusiasm, his poll numbers remain low.

In Nevada, there are signs that may be changing: Two recent polls here put Paul at 7 and 8 percent support, the first time his percentage has exceeded the margin of error and better than he does nationally or in Iowa. But that still puts Paul in fifth place among Republican candidates.

Paul boosters say he will succeed by bringing people in who haven't previously been active in Republican primaries. In Nevada, where the Jan. 19 caucus requires in-person participation, they hope their grass-roots organizing will be the key. The only other Republican mounting an active organizing campaign in Nevada is former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who, a Paul representative gleefully noted, drew just 200 people to a weekend appearance in Henderson.

Boulder City high-school student Courtney Walman, 17, came to Monday's rally with her boyfriend, even though both considered themselves Democrats. After hearing Paul speak, she said she would register as a Republican to support him in the caucuses, which she can participate in because she'll be old enough to vote before the election.

"Every single thing that came out of his mouth was very, very smart," she said. "He just makes sense."

Walman's boyfriend, Daniel Trujillo, brought his mother Karen to the rally. An independent disenchanted with Republicans, she said she, too, would switch her registration.

"We are intelligent people. We're not sheep," the 51-year-old Trujillo said. "We can make up our own minds. We don't need the government telling us how to inhale and exhale."

In a news conference before the UNLV event, Paul said he sees Nevada as his kind of state, a place where "people understand what individual liberty and individual responsibility and low taxes mean."

Paul said the federal government should not have a say in whether prostitution is legal, as it is in some parts of Nevada. Washington, D.C., also should defer to states on gambling, abortion, gay marriage and drugs, he said.

Paul said he was once one of just three members of Congress, and the only non-Nevadan, voting against Yucca Mountain and has consistently opposed the proposed nuclear waste repository in Nevada as a matter of state's rights. No other Republican has come out in opposition to the repository.

Prior to his public appearances, Paul on Monday held a private lunch fundraiser at a Las Vegas home. According to the campaign, about 80 people attended the $500-a-plate event. Monday night, he was headed to Pahrump, and today he is scheduled to appear in Reno and Carson City.

Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2919.