Paul’s visit was not publicized in advance, so most were surprised to see him. Paul: Alone but not lonely in Wash.

PUYALLUP, Wash.—While his three opponents taped a forum in Ohio for Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul worked an Elks Lodge in this suburb of Tacoma.

The Texas congressman is the only candidate in Washington state for Saturday’s caucuses. While the caucus vote is non-binding, the Evergreen State will ultimately send 43 delegates to the Republican National Convention – just seven fewer than Florida.


Organizers at the 25th Legislative District Caucus seemed caught off guard by the swell of turnout, despite it being an overcast Saturday morning. Only 430 came four years ago. This year, officials said more than 2,000 checked in.

Paul’s campaign has been aggressively organizing so as to win the most delegates at the state convention in June, but they’ve lowered expectations for what they call the beauty contest, and Paul declined to predict victory.

“We’ve accumulated delegates, but we’re not getting first place,” he said. “We’ll wait and see.”

The 76-year-old went casual in a region known for being casual, wearing blue jeans and black sneakers. He sounded relaxed and conciliatory.

“The Republican candidates have some disagreements – I certainly have some disagreements with the others! – but we all agree that it’s a good idea to get rid of our current president and put in a Republican,” Paul said.

“It’s an important day to start the process to make sure that we no longer have Obama [as] president next year.”

He noted in his speech to hundreds of voters that one national poll recently showed he fares better than the frontrunners head-to-head against Obama.

Paul has focused on caucus states because the lower turnout gives additional influence to his more dedicated supporters. His strategy is to accumulate as many delegates as possible to maximize his influence at the GOP convention. That would make him more important in the event of a contested convention. But he has not won an outright victory in any of the dozen states that have voted so far this year.

Paul’s visit was not publicized in advance. So most were surprised to see him. The campaign decided to send him because they think the area should be strong for Paul, and it could get him on the local morning shows. Paul ditched his typical, multi-Suburban entourage and showed up with just his wife Carol, his body man and one security guard.

Even those not voting for Paul greeted him warmly.

“Thank you for your voice,” one said.

“My nickname for you is Apostle Paul,” Laura Christian, a 55-year-old Paul supporter, told him.

“No, no, don’t go that far,” Paul told her.

The low-ceilinged, dimly-lit room at the Elks Lodge is normally a bingo hall. The precincts convened around the tables normally used for the game. Someone covered the bingo board with a purple drape.

The local Republicans told Paul that normally candidate surrogates get three minutes for their speeches, but they’d give Paul five because he’s a candidate. With no timer, Paul delivered a condensed version of his stump speech in five minutes, 30 seconds.

The Santorum campaign had a designated surrogate, but Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich did not.

Many expect Romney would win a statewide primary if there was one, but the state government scrapped it this year to save money. So the caucus, which they also used to have, became the only avenue for voters to express their preference.

“It’s a little fairer to someone who doesn’t have $100 million to spend,” Paul explained to a local reporter. “I just think the system is unfair.”

This article tagged under: 2012

Ron Paul

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