Here in Nevada, where his grassroots team has been active nonstop for the last four years, Paul's team does not lack for confidence.

"We have more IDs than Romney had votes in '08," said Paul's state chairman, Carl Bunce, meaning identified supporters who have committed to attend Saturday's caucuses across the state. He wouldn't give a precise number, but Romney's 2008 vote total in his big Nevada win was 22,649.

Nye County, home to this dusty outpost of about 35,000 souls (pronounced puh-RUMP) an hour west of Las Vegas, is Paul's friendliest turf in the state. It's home to numerous well-tolerated legal brothels, more testament to that libertarian spirit. A visit to the two brothels in the Pahrump area Friday afternoon, the Chicken Ranch and Sheri's Ranch, to see if the girls wanted to talk politics, met with polite demurrals from each place's leathery hostess, but the ladies from the Bunny Ranch, in the northern part of the state, have thrown their support behind Paul.

In 2008, Nye was the only county Paul managed to win, narrowly. He got 415 votes, or 34 percent, to Romney's 399 -- out of a little over 1,200 caucus-goers countywide. This time, his fans in Nye County are determined to outdo that result.

For months, a core group of about 40 Paulites has been meeting regularly in Pahrump and marching through town every Saturday, accompanied by a voter-registration truck bearing the legend: "FREEDOM'S LAST CHANCE: RON PAUL. REGISTER HERE." Sturdy, wood-framed Paul signs dot the landscape, without competition from any other candidate. The voter-registration truck, donated by a supporter, is a regular presence around town, often staffed by a group of members of the Red Hat Society, a social club for women over 50.

"In December, during the Christmas festival at the Pahrump Nugget [casino], we all did two-hour shifts," said 50-year-old Beth Rupp, one of the women. "There was a train ride for the kids, so we put Ron Paul balloons on the train, and of course they all wanted the balloons."

The town clerk, she said, has reported being stunned by the number of former Democrats and independents the Paulites have gotten to register as Republicans in order to caucus for Paul. The volunteers have netted 800 new registrations, according to Bunce.

To Rupp, it's clear why rural Nevadans gravitate toward Paul. "We're all liberty-loving people," she said. "We came to Pahrump because there's less government in our lives here. We want our freedom. We want our space."

As with every place Paul goes, there's no denying the Paul army's commitment and rigor. Printed signs at the roller rink pointed attendees to what used to be the Skate Zone register: "Know your precinct number. See desk staff." The cavernous space is festooned with red and blue Ron Paul balloons and homemade signs, from a 30-foot printed banner in the back to a sheet of butcher paper in front that congratulated Paul and his wife, Carol, on their 55th anniversary earlier in the week.