Tampa, Fla.??? Although Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul gave his support to Mitt Romney for president once his father was out of the presidential race, other followers of Ron Paul are not going to fall in line for the Republican nominee???not now, at least.
That was the clear impression Human Events got last night after speaking to several enthusiasts at the final rally for Ron Paul at the University of South Florida. Almost to a person, those in the Paul platoons made it clear they weren???t planning to vote for Republican Romney, would instead back Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson or even write in the name of Paul himself.
???I don???t like either of the two choices [Romney or Barack Obama] and I will vote for Gary Johnson,??? said a young man from Kansas named Taylor, who graduated from college two years ago and now sells vitamin enzymes, ???I don???t see Romney changing that much in America. He and Obama both favor the TARP bailout, both favor government-mandated health care plans, and both support foreign adventures by the U.S.???
Taylor also indicated he was upset by the way Republicans were not recognizing full delegations to the Tampa convention from state parties in Oklahoma and Maine. In both cases, Paul supporters took over state conventions but have been denied full representations in delegation to the national convention.
Phillip Restino, a self-employed accountant from Daytona Beach, Fla., told Human Events ???I will write in Ron Paul [for November]. I don???t subscribe to any party.??? In 2000, Restino said, he was a backer of Ralph Nader for president and was upset at how police kept the consumer advocate out of a Boston debate with Al Gore and George W. Bush.
When we asked Kathy Gornick of Lexington, Kentucky, an alternate delegate to the GOP convention, whether she would vote for Obama, Romney or Johnson, she replied only: ???I???m deciding on the that.???
Another Lexington Paul supporter, tea party activist and blogger Mica Sims, said: ???I haven???t decided. If I had to make a decision today, I wouldn???t know.??? Both Simms and Gornick are friends of and were campaign volunteers for Rand Paul.
Still another Paul supporter who was energized into political activism by the physician-politician told us he would write in the name of his political hero. James Pauley-Barker of Dallas, Tex., who builds wireless networks for AT&T and similar companies, freely admitted ???I never voted in my life until I began listening to Ron Paul and wrote him in for president in 2008. What he says about freedom is where I come from, and there is no one saying the things he is.???
