Ron Paul, the former Republican presidential candidate, and his followers have been making plans for their own mini convention when his party gathers in St. Paul to nominate Senator John McCain. Except the Paul-ite gathering is no longer so mini.

Due to popular demand, as the saying goes, Mr. Paul had to scrap plans to hold his event at the nearly 15,000-capacity Williams Arena at the University of Minnesota. Instead, his “Rally for Liberty” will move to the Target Center in Minneapolis, which can hold up to 18,000.

Mr. Paul, a Texas congressman, amassed both supporters and campaign contributions while running for the Republican nomination. He declined to seek the Libertarian nomination (former Representative Bob Barr is that party’s candidate), but he is not endorsing Senator John McCain and continues to try to build on the antiwar, pro-privacy, antigovernment movement he inspired during his presidential run.

Grover Norquist, the antitax icon, and the conservative pundit Tucker Carlson are among those scheduled to appear at the event on Sept. 2 in Minneapolis while Republicans meet from Sept. 1-4 in nearby St. Paul. The shadow convention follows two days of training and organizing meetings.

Jesse Benton, a spokesman for Mr. Paul’s nascent Campaign for Liberty political action committee, said in a news release that the event will remind Republicans that “there is an army of grassroots activists across the country ready to work with them if they steer back to their traditions of limited government and personal liberty.”

Tickets, which cost a catchy $17.76, go on sale Friday.