Just got back from the Ron Paul rally in Boise.

WOW! What a great event. I got there early and spoke to a few volunteers about the new caucus in Idaho and the steps to becoming a delegate. It is a chilly day with lite rain and some sporadic flurries. The wind was also blowing. It was cold.

I made my way into the arena. The doors would not open for another 45 minutes so people were mainly just huddled all together to be out of the weather and to get the best seats.

I kept looking out the doors to see if the crowd was growing, but it looked sparse.

Then they let us in. I got a seat in the front row. And I watched a steady stream of people file in the door for about 40 minutes. Just when you thought that the people were done showing up, another long steady stream would file in.

The arena holds 6000. The had the podium at half court. This is a hockey/basketball arena. More than half of the arena filled up. There were definitely over 3,000 people there.

Will Grigg and the new Ron Paul state coordinator spoke.

Then Ron came out. He gave a fine speech. He signed autographs, shook hands, and then had to be rushed away because he had to catch a flight to Kansas City, MO. I met Carol Paul and their granddaughter. Very nice people.

This event, with the massive crowd was organized in less than 3 days. There was very little press and very little time to get people rallied up. But they did come.

Raul Labrador was the only prominent Idaho politician to show up. I watched him throughout the speech and noticed he spent quite a bit of time texting on his phone.

I spoke with a newspaper reporter and he said that this crowd today was larger and more energized than the other two candidates to speak here in Boise. He said he has covered politics in this city since 1976 and is impressed by the massive crowd and the energy.

People of all ages were climbing over the walls to get a chance to meet Ron and get an autograph. Security and the police saw it happening and did not attempt to stop it. That was refreshing.

I did ask Mr. Labrador if he supported NDAA. He confirmed that he did vote against it. The people around me were impressed with that. Someone did get up prior to Ron Paul coming out and said that Labrador would be attending and that we should all hold his feet to the Tea Party fire. Ron Paul spoke at the CenturyLink arena in the heart of Boise. Mitt Romney spoke in some bad warehouse on the outskirts of town.

All in all it was a great event. Impressive that this many people show up to a rally like this with less than three days notice.

The best part was shaking Ron's hand as he left the arena. Also, the number of people signing up to be precinct chair people was off the charts. I saw stacks and stacks of people enrolling to participate. Even the guy next to me who has not voted since 1992 signed up!

Well done, Miss Pitino.


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Related: (Thanks for the idahostatesman.com link, nanook)

Wonderful pics, including photo no.5: Jennifer Westerdoll, Boise, holds her birth certificate signed by Dr. Ron Paul, left, who delivered her in Lake Jackson, Texas in 1968

http://www.idahostatesman...

Story: http://www.idahostatesman...