They’re amassing: former Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr. is among those eager to celebrate Rep. Ron Paul at the “We Are the Future” rally, to be staged in Tampa, Fla., just 24 hours before the Republican National Convention rumbles to life. Mr. Goldwater, in fact, appears at a session titled “Calling the GOP Back to its Roots: Constitutional Conservatism.”

Also raring to go: Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — who will introduce his dad, of course — plus state Sen. Tom Davis of South Carolina and U.S. Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, representatives of the Republican Party’s “liberty wing,” according to organizers. Three economists present “ideas for the revolution,” while musicians deliver everything from “The Star-Spangled Banner” to “The Ron Paul Anthem.”

“Dr. Paul’s delegates and supporters are coming to Tampa under the watchful eye of America and the world. No matter the convention outcome, the congressman and his fellow patriots will be heard, and as more people in politics are swayed, there will be a net benefit to the nation,” says Jesse Benton, point man of Mr. Paul’s presidential campaign.

The larger question for the Paul-ites: How many delegate seats will they get during the Republican convention itself? So far, insiders say negotiations between party brass and Mr. Paul’s backers are reasonably cordial.

REPUBLICAN BIG PLANS

The affable Grand Old Party remains transparent and generous with details about the Republican National Convention, now five days away. When Day Two dawns Tuesday, the official theme du jour is “We Built It,” meant to recognize American exceptionalism plus the “entrepreneurial strength and our people’s incomparable work ethic,” notes convention CEO William Harris.

Who’s on the speakers roster? Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire is a star. But the day really belongs to governors. There will be six of them on stage. The much anticipated keynote speech will be delivered by uber-candid New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was telling his constituents to “get the hell off the beach” only a year ago during a hurricane. Also appearing: Govs. John Kasich of Ohio, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Bob McDonnell of Virginia and Susana Martinez of New Mexico.

CONSERVATIVE BASTIONS

Who cares about the most raucous party schools in the nation?

Indeed, there is much ado about the Princeton Review’s latest rankings of the bawdy bastions of booze, according to the organization’s annual poll of U.S. college students. Tucked away in all the noisy research, however, is the list of the top-20 “most conservative” schools in the U.S. Curious?

In first place, it’s Texas A&M University, home to almost 40,000 students. Among other things, the kids raved about “deep-rooted values,” the research said.

In second place: Hillsdale College, followed by Thomas Aquinas College, Grove City College, the University of Dallas, the College of the Ozarks, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Auburn University, the U.S. Naval Academy, Hampden-Sydney College, Brigham Young University, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Wheaton College, Clemson University, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Angelo State University, and Ohio Northern University at No. 20.

As a timely aside, consider the new book “Sex and God at Yale: Porn, Political Correctness and a Good Education Gone Bad” by recent Yale grad Nathan Harden, now a columnist for the International Business Times and National Review. He condemns both Ivy league perversity and “ideology gone wild as the upper echelon of academia is mired in nothing less than a full-fledged moral crisis.” The book was published Tuesday by Thomas Dunne, and features a foreword by Christopher Buckley.

OBAMA CLASSIC

Manhattan is bracing for another visit from President Obama on Wednesday evening, complete a three-part fundraising extravaganza that includes the “Obama Classic,” a basketball game featuring such sports legends as Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, Patrick Ewing, Sheryl Swoopes, Kyrie Irving and Alonzo Mourning. It’s still unclear how much Mr. Obama himself will actually play in the game. Campaign funds, however, are a given.

“When we get to New York, there’s three pieces of it. There’s a dinner that’s $20,000 per person — we’ve sold about 120 tickets. There are two earlier events, including an autograph-signing event. Tickets are $250 per person. And a skills camp, a shoot-around,” campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told curious reporters during the White House press briefing Tuesday.

“I feel pretty good about where the president and how the president is going to play tomorrow. He is playing with some NBA heroes. So I don’t want to overbuild it,” she added.

A HANK JR. MOMENT

“We’ve got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S., and we hate him.”

- Country music star Hank Williams Jr., to a recent audience of 8,500 at the Iowa State Fair, a stop on his “Taking Back the Country Tour 2012”

“That type of absurd nonsense doesn’t really deserve a response.”

- Obama campaign spokesman Brad Anderson, commenting about the moment to the Des Moines (Iowa) Register

POLL DU JOUR

• 44 percent of Americans do not know Rep. Paul Ryan has proposed a system of Medicare vouchers to purchase private insurance.

• 23 percent know Mr. Ryan proposed the idea; 17 percent say it was President Obama’s idea; 13 percent say it was Mitt Romney’s.

• 42 percent have heard “a little” about the vouchers; 30 percent have heard ” a lot”; 29 percent have heard nothing.

• 49 percent of those who are aware of the voucher program oppose it; 32 percent of Republicans and 61 percent of Democrats agree.

• 34 percent of Americans overall who are aware of the program favor it; 46 percent of Republicans and 28 percent of Democrats agree.

• 17 percent of Americans who are aware of the vouchers are still undecided them.

Source: A Pew Research Center poll of 1,005 U.S. adults, conducted Aug. 16-19.

• Hoots, hollers, squawks to jharper@washingtontimes.com

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