Ron Paul Sounds Good at First, but Then Gets Pretty Scary
By ANDREW ROSENTHAL
NYT
DES MOINES — They say that one of the great things about the current primary system in our country, which puts most of the power of picking in the hands of the least populated, least representative states, is that it promotes “retail politicking.” That means the candidates shake your hand, look you in the eye and lie to you directly.
That may be true if you happen to be at the International House of Pancakes or the Pizza Ranch when a candidate drops in. Or maybe not. In Polk City, Iowa, this morning, my fellow editorial writer David Firestone went to an event for Rick Santorum at a small café. A week or so ago, there might have been some retail politics going on, but Mr. Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, is suddenly the flavor of the week as he started surging in the polls. So at that event, scores of supporters and regular voters could not get in, mostly because the place was more than half full of press.
Everybody who turned up was able to get into the Ron Paul event that I attended in Des Moines this morning, at the Marriott Hotel, but apart from the joy of being in the crowd, they would have got a better look at the candidate on C-Span.
Andrew Rosenthal/The New York TimesA Ron Paul rally at the Marriott in Des Moines earlier today. Despite all the talk about up-close politics, this is what you actually see at a campaign event.
The rally – part of a series of events that his campaign is calling “whistle stops” even though there is no train in sight – had a lot more young people than I expected (although it seemed to skew just as male as I expected). And it was boisterous. Mr. Paul’s applause lines – about cutting spending, protecting civil liberties and getting out of Afghanistan – drew loud cheers.
(More here.)
NYT
DES MOINES — They say that one of the great things about the current primary system in our country, which puts most of the power of picking in the hands of the least populated, least representative states, is that it promotes “retail politicking.” That means the candidates shake your hand, look you in the eye and lie to you directly.
That may be true if you happen to be at the International House of Pancakes or the Pizza Ranch when a candidate drops in. Or maybe not. In Polk City, Iowa, this morning, my fellow editorial writer David Firestone went to an event for Rick Santorum at a small café. A week or so ago, there might have been some retail politics going on, but Mr. Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, is suddenly the flavor of the week as he started surging in the polls. So at that event, scores of supporters and regular voters could not get in, mostly because the place was more than half full of press.
Everybody who turned up was able to get into the Ron Paul event that I attended in Des Moines this morning, at the Marriott Hotel, but apart from the joy of being in the crowd, they would have got a better look at the candidate on C-Span.
Andrew Rosenthal/The New York TimesA Ron Paul rally at the Marriott in Des Moines earlier today. Despite all the talk about up-close politics, this is what you actually see at a campaign event.
The rally – part of a series of events that his campaign is calling “whistle stops” even though there is no train in sight – had a lot more young people than I expected (although it seemed to skew just as male as I expected). And it was boisterous. Mr. Paul’s applause lines – about cutting spending, protecting civil liberties and getting out of Afghanistan – drew loud cheers.
(More here.)
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