The Ron Paul Resurgence: Major Convention Upcoming
One time US Presidential hopeful Ron Paul is not exactly going away quietly, and for online gambling that is not a bad thing. The Republican Texas Congressman's pro-Internet gambling stance has won him over legions of fans in the poker, casino and sports betting community.
From The Nolan Chart:
Ron Paul has found more than 74,500 supporters for his Campaign for Liberty, which will be staging a counter-rally event to the GOP National Convention, to be at the "Target Center" (pun intended?) in Minneapolis on the weekend of August 31 - September 2.
It's likely that more than a few online gambling enthusiasts will be in attendance.
"There is nobody in the world of Internet gaming who doesn't like Ron Paul," points out Kira Wissman, reporter for the Gambling911.com website who interviewed the one time Presidential candidate at a rally in Pittsburgh last year.
The oldest established bookmaking firm catering to the North American gambling enthusiasts - BetCRIS.com - even lodged a "campaign of awareness" whereby it sought to educate customers about Dr. Paul and his stance against online gambling prohibition.
Paul co-sponsored a bipartisan bill along with Democrat Barney Frank to have the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act repealed. That law stipulates that it is illegal to place bets online unless it is done for horse racing. The banking sector would be held responsible for policing such bets whereby they have stipulated it is impossible to differentiate between "good" (horse bets) and "bad" (poker) online gambling transactions.
Ticket sales for Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic did well on Friday, when they went on sale. The Campaign for Liberty reports more than 5,000 tickets were purchased in the first two hours. The event was drawing so much interest, Paul had to move to a new and much larger venue.
The Target Center can accommodate at least 15,000 people for such an event. Planners for the Paul event had originally considered a college basketball arena that seats about 11,000 people.
Paul is scheduled to speak during the 10-hour rally on Sept. 2, local coordinator Marianne Stebbins said. That's the second day of the four-day GOP convention.
"We have two different goals," Stebbins said Tuesday. "They're there for their political convention to nominate their candidate. We're supplementing it. Liberty is getting short shrift right now. We're giving our people a place to go for those days.
"It's getting exciting," Stebbins told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "We realized [Williams Arena] wasn't big enough for everything we wanted to do."
Although Paul was a long-shot candidate who came nowhere close to seriously competing for the Republican nomination, he was a potent fundraiser and attracted a fervent core of followers attracted to his libertarian views.
During the GOP primaries, he won 1.2 million votes and raised nearly $35 million.
In addition to the Target Center rally, the three-day event will include volunteer training, meetings and a book signing by Paul.
"We're not just looking at this November," Stebbins said. "There's 2010, 2012 -- the Republican Party is not a barge that you can turn around in a single year."
