Posted on 08/31/2007 9:09:35 AM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
Grasping at straws?
Speeches, protests and presidential politics, Texas style.
That's what will be going on in and around the Fort Worth Convention Center on Friday and Saturday, during the Republican Party of Texas' first-ever GOP Straw Poll. Who is coming? What are they saying? What are they doing?
Many presidential hopefuls -- Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, to name a few -- have sent their regrets. But several lesser-known candidates -- U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Surfside, U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Ray McKinney and Hugh Cort -- are still expected to show.
Star-Telegram staff writers Anna M. Tinsley and Aman Batheja will be on the ground, giving you an inside look and posting updates throughout the two-day event.
Friday, 10:45 a.m.: Who is this man?
Supporters of GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul are a visible presence outside the Fort Worth Convention Center this morning. You’ll know 'em when you see them. They are wearing orange T-shirts, with Paul’s likeness on it, with the saying “Who is this man? And why is he going to win the Texas Straw Poll.”
-- Anna M. Tinsley
Friday, 10:35 a.m.: Just breathe
Anyone who gets a little stressed at the first day of the GOP Straw Poll can head over to candidate Ray McKinney’s booth. The Georgia mechanical engineer is offering free blood pressure checks.
“Why not?” he said Friday morning. His mom, Marian McKinney of Florida, is actually the one to administer the checks. She said she’s been able to help people in the past, including a man who had heart problems but didn’t know it until she did the check.
Her heart, meanwhile, is swelling with pride for her son’s presidential campaign: “It’s great,” she said with a smile. “I raised him if you don’t like something, try to change it. If you don’t want to get in the race, then shut up.”
-- Anna M. Tinsley<
Friday, 10:30 a.m.: No hope for Fred Heads
Sorry to dash the hopes of local Fred Heads, but actor Fred Thompson will almost certainly NOT be at the Texas Straw Poll.
Some supporters had held out that the former Tennessee Senator might make a surprise visit to Cowtown and officially throw his hat in the ring, even though he wasn’t expected. But with yesterday’s news that his official announcment will be Sept. 6 , a Thompson cameo looks even more unlikely.
Candidate or not, his name will be still on the Straw Poll ballot and he’s planning a sweep through Texas later next month.
-- Aman Batheja
Friday, 8:45 a.m.: Dems dish up chips, salsa and insults at Blue Mesa
Democrats started warming up with their put-downs of the Republican event at a Thursday night gathering. At the Blue Mesa Grill, local elected officials and activists were having fun mocking the Straw Poll, which they all believed will be an embarrassment to the GOP. The Democratic fund-raiser at the restaurant attracted about 30 people, with the running joke being that that might be more people than attending Saturday's Straw Poll.
Yet there wasn't much enthusiasm for the anti-war protest planned for Saturday, either. Almost none of the Democrats there were planning to attend the non-partisan event and some were skeptical that it would attract the thousands Texans For Peace have been promising.
Pretty soon, people switched targets and started cracking jokes about Idaho Sen. Larry Craig. None were suitable for printing on a family web site.
--Aman Batheja
Friday, 6 a.m.: Coffee with the Paulites
Ron Paul supporters got an early start, meeting over coffee at 6 a.m. But of the 20 Paulites in a downtown cafe, not one was a voting delegate.
"Hey, how many Mitt Romney supporters do you see out at this time of the morning?" asked Clayton Slade, 24, an Allen software professional. "Our goal is to show delegates that Ron Paul has support."
Albert Meyer, 56, a Plano accountant, made an offhand comment explaining why no poll voters came for coffee: "We're the disaffected, the disillusioned ... That's why we're not delegates."
-- Bud Kennedy
Do you think this 'Penny' person could have been talking about John Kerry's trip to the Middle East where he said that almost verbatim? Paul did make a statement refusing to condemn Kerry that got a lot of people mad.
Nope. It was Penny (then Langford). She was talking about Ron Paul. And she said he apologised.
Penny was at least at that time more than high up enough to function as a spokes person for Ron Paul.
I just participated in the poll. Kucinich, for the following reason left in the comment box:
Because he’s not Hillary and makes a republican a shoo-in.
Ping to http://www.republicmagazine.com/
On September 10th, the Patriot community will get it’s second installment of the REPUBLIC MAGAZINE. This special issue features the cover story on Ron Paul. While Dr. Paul is continually being downplayed and ignored by the mainstream media, patriotic Americans and even Canadians are rallying behind this Texas Congressman.
Learn why you should also listen to what this presidential hopeful has to say and why we feel that he is the only candidate worth voting for in this election. Could he be the savior of this great nation? Find out in the coming issue.
Also featuring: 60 Second Activism, Activist Profile- “Ron Paul MeetUp Austin”, Learn how to live “Off the Grid” with this feature on Organic Gardening, 9/11 Six Years Later, Constitutional RE-Education and The End of the IRS Pt 2.
Yeah, i noticed that too. Problem is that on many specifics, their 'facts' are contradicting the actual record (Paul's votes, his travel schedule...apparently he hasn't left the US in quite a while...etc).
Penny told our volunteer that Ron had been to on a trip to the mideast (nothing wrong with that, he IS a congressman) and that he apologised for us “interfering” with their countries to their leaders.
Now that is strange. What is known is that Paul never goes on congressional junkets, that is a verified fact. It is also a fact that he has never been to Iraq.
Seems that we have more than a little bit of a mystery here.
Not saying you're wrong, but i am saying that Penny Freeman knows better. My question is whether the person making these comments actually is Penny Freeman.
Paul seems to hang out with a lot of kooky folks. - Birds of a Feather
I stopped short of saying straw polls are stupid because many people find them interesting, myself included. However, no one should be so foolish as to think that they are meaningful, particularly when the major players aren't giving them the time of day.
So set this one aside (as a point of disagreement). The rest of that stuff is plenty of reason for me to say no to Dr. No.
Support him if you want. He says things that many others have never had the guts to say. So I can see why he is very exciting to many.
For me his negatives are just way to high and I just can’t support him at all.
A world in which Ron Paul is President is a world where Israel is overrun by Syria, Taiwan is overrun by China, America is held hostage by Saudi Arabia, and we have all-you-can eat shrimp buffets.
Anytime a police officer is on police business and is gunned down, I would say yes, that officer was murdered. Be it the Waco incident or not.
Mod old friend, am I missing something here?
Updates!
xxxx
Friday, 3 p.m.: Sheehan coming to town
A rumor we’d been hearing earlier in the week appears to be true. Antiwar icon Cindy Sheehan will be at the anti-war rally in downtown Fort Worth on Saturday.
With Sheehan and Ron Paul (and their equally passionate followers) within blocks of each other tomorrow, anti-war sentiment may turn out to be the prevailing theme of this weekend’s festivities, a stunning turn of events considering the straw poll was supposed to cater to the GOP’s most conservative members.
— Aman Batheja
Friday, 2:45 p.m.: Honkin if you google Ron Paul
GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul may have gotten the attention from quite a few Labor Day motorists.
Campaign signs reading “GOOGLE RON PAUL” dangled from at least two area bridges – on Beach Street and Summit – off Interstate 30.
By mid-afternoon, they were still there.
— Anna M. Tinsley
Friday 2:30 p.m., Paul is on the march — with bikers!
Ron Paul is pulling out all the stops. Tomorrow, the congressman will march from his hotel at the Renaissance Worthington to the Convention Center to make his speech to delegates. And he just might have some bikers as escorts...almost as cool as Secret Service!
— Aman Batheja
Friday, 2 p.m.: Dress better than your audience
Republican activists at the straw poll are spending today in a marathon grassroots campaign workshop. The event was closed to the press at the last minute, but one of our reporters was able to get a copy of their reading material on her way out.
According to the handouts, the event is a nuts-and-bolts primer on running a campaign, focusing on the nitty gritty details. Some key tips from the workshop:
“Remember to think visually when designing voter mail”
“Candidates should dress one step above the best dressed person in their audience”
“Drag them to the polls kicking and screaming”
“Walk in teams”
“Beware of dogs”
— Aman Batheja
Friday, 1 p.m.: Eat, drink and campaign
Delegates fanned out around downtown for lunch Friday. Those willing to pay the $66 cover rubbed elbows with conservative radio personality Hugh Hewitt at the Silver Fox.
Dozens of others wandered over to the Four Star Coffee’s downtown location at Houston St. The hipster stop has been pro-Ron Paul for weeks, sporting signs in their window and piles of campaign literature by the milk and sugar.
Today, customers were greeted at the door with a paper plate with the words “Look Up” on it. Hanging beneath the awning like a spider web was a Ron Paul banner.
No word on if Starbucks has backed a horse in this race.
— Aman Batheja
xxxx
Uh oh. CINDY.
If you want to open your mind a bit you might watch the documentary Waco Rules of Engagement which won the IDA Feature award in 97 and was nominated for an Academy Award. It also happened to get two thumbs up from Siskel and Ebert.
Quotes from the back of the VHS
"One of the best films of the year!" LA Times, SF Chronicle, Minneapolis Star Tribune, LA Weekly, St. Paul Pioneer Press.
"The only truly important film of the year. See it now. You will never be the same." SF Bay Guardian.
"Photographic evidence that the FBI, contrary to official assertions, fired on, then torched the Branch Davidian compound. A doozy of an investigative expose." NY Times.
This is not a Michael Moore docudrama, its a hard hitting investigative report. It has live footage and FBI press conferences from the beginning of the siege to the end.
Ever wonder why NBC came out with a made for TV movie depicting Koresh as a violent child molester before the siege was even over? I do.
I do not think Koresh was a saint but the stories you heard and believed are false.
Seriously make an effort to find "Waco; the rules of engagement."
Updates!
Friday, 4 p.m.: Thanks for your support, Ron
Almost as many Ron Paul supporters showed up to Duncan Hunter’s 4 p.m. rally as did Hunter supporters. Hunter’s rally to support the troops was held at the Fort Worth Water Gardens.
Paul’s supporters, who stood in a line behind Hunter’s backers, said Paul and Hunter agree on many issues. They were there to let Hunter’s supporters know there was another option, said Clayton Slade. “These people are all potential Ron Paul supporters,” Slade said.
There’s one big issue Paul and Hunter disagree on: the war in Iraq. “We support the troops by being against the war,” said Paul-backer Robert Brushaber of Austin.
Fans of the 1976 movie Logan’s Run may have recognized the water gardens’ “active pool” as the pool Logan (Michael York) swam through to re-enter the the dome city after returning from the ruins of Washington, D.C.
— Jason Buch
Sounds like it was a Ron Paul day.
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