Paul Backers Look for Big Night
Ron Paul supporters wait for their candidate outside a West Des Moines high school hours before caucusing begins in Iowa. Photo by Matt Largey/KUT News.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
WEST DES MOINES, IA–Texas Congressman Ron Paul appears to be heading the polls ahead of tonight’s Iowa GOP caucus. Like other Republican candidates, the Paul campaign looked to motivate a few more supporters to turn out tonight.
Candidates and their surrogates came one by one to make their pitch to young potential caucus-goers at Valley High School in West Des Moines. Other candidates traveled in flashy buses with their names plastered on sides. Congressman Paul rolled out in a Chrysler minivan. The small crowd of Paul supporters went bananas.
David Megli a scruffy, college-aged supporters, who adores Paul. He would be voting tonight, if he could, but he’s from Kansas. Megli made the trek to Iowa to show his support, saying the candidate’s message of fiscal restraint plays well with people like him.
“The federal government has way too much authority and the government expansion is just endless. Ron Paul is actually willing to try to reduce the deficit, try to reduce expenditures and reduce the size of government,” Megli said.
The crowd cheering for Ron Paul wasn’t just young people or “hippies” as Des Moines resident Chuck Wheeler put it.
“I’m the only one that can call them hippies. They call me ‘old dude,’ I call them ‘hippies,’” he said.
Wheeler praised Paul’s anti-war stance and call for better mental health care for veterans, and said that appeals to a lot of what he called “disgruntled middle-aged Republicans.” He will be caucusing for Ron Paul tonight.
“We live in a much more compassionate society than people realize, and I think that’s one of his biggest draws is just the human compassion side,” Wheeler said.
More than 40 percent of likely caucus-goers say they still aren’t committed to a candidate, according to the latest poll by the Des Moines Register.
Podcast: Download (2.3MB)
