[DoughtyOne]

All I will say is that it would be best to let every candidate be heard. Then let their arguements rise or fall on their own merrits.

There will be time to challenge what others have said. I don’t think raising an opponents signs in the midst of the supporters of another candidate is going to win friends.

[deport]

The candidates each got to be heard inside the center and now the voting is ongoing or maybe over. There were five there to speak....

Saturday, 12:30 p.m.: Speech highlights
The candidates have spoken. Now it’s up to the delegates. Here's a look at what some of the contenders said.

• Ray McKinney, of Georgia, told the crowd he’s their man and that long-running problems -- including solving the illegal immigration situation and fixing social security -- need to be addressed.

  "Right now, Texas, the eyes of the United States are on you," he said. "Do you want to send a message to politiicans, to Americans ... that we are so fed up that we want to send a guy who wants to work for a living there to Washington?"

• John Cox, of Chicago, said he was glad at least some Texans skipped the first day of dove hunting to be at the event. He said he's a conservative Republican and tired of corruption, partisanship and of a "failed regime."

  "We can bring real ideas...back to the Republican Party," he said. "We want solutins, no celebrities. We want results, not rhetoric ... So I'm asking for your support today."

• When Ron Paul -- the only Texan on the Straw Poll ballot -- was introduced, his supporters provided the warmest and loudest welcome of the day. They waved signs, stood and cheered constantly throughout Paul's speech.

  "I'm a strong defender of individual liberty," Paul said. "Personal choices means tolerance against other people as long as they’re not hurting us.

  "I am a strong defender of the right to life of all living human beings," he said, adding that a vote for him is a "vote for the constitution, a vote for limited government."

• Alabama psychiatrist Hugh Cort touted his inexperience as a politician and his knowledge of counterterrorism which he said he gained by attending conferences and speaking with experts in the field.

  "Until 9/11, I was just a happy psychiatrist and when 9/11 happened, it horrified me and all of us," Cort said.

  Citing different sources, Cort said with certainty that Osama Bin Laden has snuck "suitcase nukes" into the U.S.

  "He wants to blow up ten American cities with nuclear devices like we blew up Hiroshima," Cort said.

  Cort received a mix of cheers and boos when he called for bombing Iran but made it up to the crowd when he promised his first acts as president would be to ban abortion and homosexual marriage.

• Duncan Hunter was introduced by fellow Conressman, U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, who described Hunter as "a guy who won’t only protect our borders, he’ll close our borders."

  He said he wants U.S. troops to leave Iraq the "right way" and he promised to build the entire 864-mile border fence in his first six months in office.

  Hunter told the crowd that his grandson, also named Duncan, is even helping him campaign, telling people "my grandpa is going to be president. Now, can I count on your vote?"

  -- Anna M. Tinsley and Aman

  ---

  On a side note:

  9:08 a.m.: Monkeys for Ron Paul
  With two police escorts on bicycles, Ron Paul's supporters finished their march to the Convention Center and are now rallying outside the delegates' entrance. Several buses and RVs passed by covered in Ron Paul signs.

  According to one of our correspondents, a live monkey could clearly be seen in the window of one of the Ron Paul RVs.

  No comment.

  -- Aman Batheja