The alarm in the Colorado Convention Center employee’s voice was verging on panic.

“That room is packed so tight it’s not even funny,” he shouted into a radio Friday night as the Segway he was riding hummed and swerved down a wide carpeted hallway.

The crowd for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul was so large it surprised his own organizers. They were forced to hurriedly open partitions to double the size of the ballroom space minutes before Paul’s scheduled appearance in the Four Seasons Ballroom. When that wasn’t enough hundreds of people stood rimming the hall that sits 1,536.

“I’m just totally dumbfounded,” Paul said as he began his speech before a raucous sign-waving crowd. “The enthusiasm seems to be growing. Freedom is popular.”

Many of his supporters boldly predicted he would win more delegates in the state then front runners Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney even though Paul has yet to win a majority in any state primary.

“He’s real strong in Colorado,” said Vince Holcomb, 45, a massage therapist from Centennial. “Ron Paul is a lot higher in the polls than the mainstream media publicize.”

Full-bearded John Wiens, 57, of Loveland, decked out in a Revolutionary War-era fifer’s outfit complete with a tri-cornered hat and knickers, played “Yankee Doodle Dandy” on his flute before the Texas Congressman entered the hall.

The crowd chanted: “Ron Paul Revolution; Taking back our Constitution.”

Paul said he is so well-received in Colorado because people in the state share his love of personal liberties, his quest to “return to constitutional principles” and his belief that government needs to be dramatically reduced.

“There’s no reason why we can’t do quite well right here,” Paul said during a press conference that preceded his campaign speech. “I would say we’re in pretty good shape.”

Paul, who celebrated his 51st wedding anniversary Friday night, was a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the 1960s and has delivered more than 4,000 babies. He has five children, 18 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Paul says he plans to end welfare for illegal aliens and “birthright citizenship.” He says he has never voted to increase taxes, is against regulating the Internet and opposes the Iraq war.

“We don’t have to start a brand new revolution,” Paul told the crowd. “All we have to do is restore the original Constitution.”

Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com