CNN REPORT
Over 4,300 Voters in PA Attend Presidential Candidate Ron Paul's Town Hall Despite Severe Weatherhttp://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/22/paul-compares-campaign-to-american-revolution-at-rain-soaked-rally/CNN's Dan Merica
Philadelphia (CNN) – Ahead of Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary, presidential hopeful Ron Paul painted his long-shot campaign as a new American revolution at a rain-soaked event outside Independence Hall.
“In our early history, we had a major undertaking overthrowing an empire,” Paul said. “And in some ways that is what we are doing now.”
Paul’s supporters call his campaign the “Ron Paul Revolution,” and they turned out in a steady, hard rain outside the hall where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and adopted.
They stood with umbrellas drawn and ponchos on, even as the sound of rain smacking on the tents in the park made it difficult for people to hear the candidate.
“It is obvious that we need to change our foreign policy because of the cost,” Paul said. “Our foreign policy is a schizophrenic foreign policy – it is on again off again."
Though the Texas congressman finds himself behind former Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, according to the CNN delegate count, he consistently raises large sums of money. In the first quarter of 2012, the Paul campaign said they raised nearly $10.4 million, with nearly $2.6 million coming in March alone.
At the end of the speech, Paul handicapped the presidential race.
“When you run, you run to win. I have won elections 12 times, and that puts a stamp of approval and what we are doing,” Paul said. “We do know that the continuation of the spirit of liberty will persist no matter what, and that is what really counts.”
Before Paul took the stage, supporters listened to performances by Indianapolis musician Jordan Page and a speech on foreign policy by Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA unit that tracked al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. When Scheuer joked about a recent comments by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, about President Barack Obama being “stupid,” the crowd - which had been relatively quiet during the speech - roared at the comment.
“Senator Grassley’s term stupid is exactly the correct adjective to apply to people of both parities, the media and the academy,” Scheuer said.
Following his swing through Pennsylvania, the campaign turns their focus to Paul’s home state of Texas for events in El Paso, Austin and Houston. The Texas primary is on May 29.
