They clapped, cheered and shouted “Yeah!” -- pumping their fists in the air.

“Are we sick and tired of the expansion of government, the endless spending and the deficit? Doing the things they weren’t supposed to do and forgetting about doing the things they should be doing?” Paul rallied the already fired-up crowd.

DES MOINES — Ron Paul arrived yesterday morning to a standing-room only crowd who jammed into a ballroom at the Des Moines Marriott and greeted the 76-year-old Texas congressman with wild applause and chants of his name. Media from around the world flanked the stage, peppering Paul’s final-day push with flashbulbs and the incessant clicking of camera shutters.


“Tomorrow is a very important day,” Paul continued. “Small in numbers but a very big message. So you carry a lot of weight in this state to send a message on which way we’re going. . . so therefore a lot is at stake.”

After hammering the other candidates for representing variations of the status quo, criticizing their eagerness to be the policeman of the world, and chastising them for not standing up for personal liberties, Paul urged the crowd to bring back “liberty, peace and prosperity.”

“Ron Paul! Ron Paul! Ron Paul!” the crowd responded as they jump out of their chairs.

Paul drew a diverse bunch, including a number of undecided voters as well as out-of-state political tourists.

Maureen and Jeff Filmer, a retired couple from Tiburon, Calif., are driving across country for six weeks, stopping in Iowa and New Hampshire to observe the campaigning around the first-in-the-nation caucus and primary. They’ve met every candidate except Paul, until today.

Frank Sachs, a constitutional studies teacher at a Minneapolis high school, brought 24 students with him to Iowa for a crash course in civics. About a dozen volunteered to make phone calls for Mitt Romney’s campaign last night; seven chose to do so for Paul. Students said their experiences were a study in contrasts, with Romney volunteers businesslike and unemotional and those in Paul’s camp full of passion and energy.


Bob Goebel, a 66-year-old Des Moines radiation oncologist who moved to Iowa with his wife Sheila three and a half years ago, will be attending his first caucus tomorrow. But little more than 24 hours before the event, the couple remains torn.

“I don’t think any of the candidates are perfect but I’m leaning towards Romney,” said Goebel, who, as a physician, likes Romney’s universal health-care reform in Massachusetts but is also keeping his mind open to Paul.

“I don’t think in 2012 this country is ready for a libertarian president but I’m willing to be convinced,” Goebel said. “Seems like everyone here is willing to be convinced if they hear a good argument.”

The Goebels said they are not considering Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum or Texas governor Rick Perry, who have been focused on appealing to the religious right and hammering home how their faith has guided their positions.

“I don’t want somebody’s faith guiding them as president,” Goebel said. “I want somebody’s analytical reasoning guiding them as president.”

Husband and wife will likely wait until tonight’s caucus to make up their minds, after hearing the pitches from the community and consulting with each other.

One row behind them, Stephany Harvey, a 63-year-old retired optometry technician from Independence, is also looking for a last-minute inspiration on who to vote for.


“Sometimes it’s not that easy being an Iowan because people typecast us as Christian conservative when we’re much more fiscal conservative,” Harvey said.

She’s narrowed it down to Romney, for his business experience, Paul, for his message of fiscal conservatism, and — surprisingly — former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who has not even been campaigning in Iowa.

“That man has a wealth of experience, so it’s a possibility,” Harvey said.

Tracy Jan can be reached at tjan@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @GlobeTracyJan.