RLCers reach out to the Ron Paul 'revolution' at Clearwater rally

Wednesday, 21 November 2007 23:06 |

Written by Philip Blumel |

Ron Paul supporters from all over Florida converged on Clearwater to promote Ron Paul’s presidential bid on Nov. 17 – and the RLC was there to greet them and invite them to join the permanent GOP libertarian movement.

Florida RLC members, including Jim Riis, Mark Cross and Steven Burden, were there with a table and plenty of literature and membership applications. Over the course of the day, over 1,000 liberty lovers attended the Ron Paul Freedom Rally at Coachman Park.

RLCers Jim Riis and Steven Burden at the RLC table at the Clearwater Rally

Although some of the attendees were already members or had heard of the RLC many had no idea – yet! -- that a libertarian-Republican organization such as the RLC existed or that Ron Paul was the chairman of the RLC in the mid-1990s before being reelected to Congress in 1996.

The Ron Paul Freedom Rally was the culmination of a complex operation. Billed as the largest political rally in Florida to date for presidential hopeful Ron Paul, the event was hosted by the Clearwater Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group with the assistance and participation of the more than 80 Florida Ron Paul Meetup groups across the state.

Ron Paul and supporters in St. Petersburg, Nov. 28

As part of the event, Coachman Park was also the final destination of six independent “Ron Paul Road Rallies” organized by Meetup groups all across the state, and originating as far away as Miami, Jacksonville and Pensacola. Along each of the road rally convoy routes -- Suncoast (Gulf), I-4 Corridor, I-10 Corridor, I-75 Corridor, Southeast and Southwest -- individual Meetup group rallies were held at selected locations. These individual rallies were timed to begin Saturday morning at specific locations along each convoy route. As the growing convoy of supporters passed, each individual Meetup group rally join the growing convoys enroute to Coachman Park. All were sporting Ron Paul signs and banners.

The rally was a family event and included everything from food to face-painting, and featured live music by several nationally known bands -- as well as a speech by RLCer John Conway. In addition to the RLCFL booth, there were also booths providing information on a range of issues important to citizens of every political persuasion, as well as voter registration and party-switching.