Politics & Government

VIDEO: Hijacking the Ron Paul Revolution

I just wanted my two minutes of quality time with the candidate.

I didn't mean to take Ron Paul by storm. I only wanted a few minutes of quality time with the candidate, who keeps saying the media is overlooking his message.

So when I asked one of his campaign aides if I could have a word with Paul after he was finished greeting the 100 or so fans who'd lined up at the Courtyard Marriott in Nashua after his town hall meeting, I was surprised when the aide said, "follow me."

So I followed, as he led me out of the hotel reception room, down a hallway and into the back of Paul's official campaign van.

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Pleasantly surprised, that is.

Anyway, as Paul ducked into the seat next to me a few minutes later, he only looked a little taken aback by my presence. I waited patiently as he fielded a question from a TV reporter who'd followed him to the van, on why he is declining to participate in the Dec. 27 televised Donald Trump Debate from Iowa.

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Paul, unapologetic, told the reporter in so many words that having Trump as a moderator seemed to trivialize the importance of such debates to the American people.

Furthermore, said Paul, Trump owes the Iowa Republican Party an apology for standing them up as keynote speaker for their Lincoln Day Dinner, costing them – and the state of Iowa – money.

The reporter then tried to squeeze in one more question, asking Paul if he had a comment on Herman Cain's expected exit from the race, following allegations of a long-time inappropriate affair with an Atlanta woman.

Paul smiled, and said, "no."

Then, the automatic van door slid shut and it was all me.

I wasn't sure what the most important question was to ask Ron Paul at this moment, so I went with my gut. After seeing so much devotion to the "Ron Paul Revolution" here in New Hampshire, I wondered what would become of his followers, should he not win the GOP nomination.

So I tried to ask what the odds were that he'd consider running as a third-party candidate.

But Paul already knew where I was going, and cut me off to say that it was impossible to know the odds of that, until the election plays out.

Fair enough. He's optimistic.

But should he not get the GOP nod, I asked, would he be open to participating in the next administration?

Paul smiled that smile.

"Do you think they're going to ask me to be chairman of the Federal Reserve Board? I don't think that'll happen," Paul said.

He had another good point, but as a casual observer of New Hampshire Primary campaign politics, I have to say that there is no crowd like a Ron Paul crowd. They are informed, outspoken, enthusiastic. They are young enough to believe everything's possible; and they are old enough to know the difference between politics as usual, and something completely different.

And even his fellow candidates have conceded, on a public debate stage, no less, that they happen to agree with Ron Paul on several fronts.

And yet, despite Paul's ability to mobilize support, win straw polls and keep pace with whoever the frontrunners are on any given week, the "mainstream media" often forgets to mention that he's even running for president.

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show," has a running schtick, about how Ron Paul is the invisible man, and the political equivalent of the "13th floor of a hotel elevator," in other words, non-existant, to pundits and prognosticators.

During today's speech, Paul actually quipped that one way to get his message out to the masses would be to "hire Jon Stewart as my PR man."

With the New Hampshire Primary just weeks away, Paul's campaign said the thrust between now and January 10 is to bring in some of the undecided voters, who seem to be standing on the sidelines to see who's left standing, once the dust of a crowded, contentious, sometimes surprising, campaign season finally settles.

It's a strategy that may be working.

"I'm absolutely sold on Ron Paul, after today," said Susan Talbot Regan of Bedford, who had come to the event undecided, and left promising to work some phones to aid Paul's campaign.

"I got a good sense of his policies today. Everything he speaks for is what I feel. He's the right choice," Regan said.


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