Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul spoke in front of a packed house Friday night at U. Kansas.
Ron Paul supporters lined up hours before doors opened, and Paul met their expectations. Paul received many standing ovations from a booming audience and touched on topics ranging from war to the government debt.
Minutes before Paul was scheduled to speak, “President Paul” chants hailed from the Lied Center balcony and quickly made its way down to the rest of the auditorium. Paul said the younger generation has been very important for his campaign.
“A lot of young people say that I energize them, but young people energize me because they are so enthusiastic and they have so much at stake,” Paul said in a Q and A following his speech. “Young people are inheriting a mess.”
Paul said it makes me him excited that young people are listening to his campaign and have been for four or five years now. He would like to see students’ frustrations with the ongoing war and country’s debt explode into a victory this year.
While Paul thinks he has a chance at the Republican nomination, he understands that it will be an uphill battle to gain the nomination.
“We have to convince a lot to people, work on our organization, raise a lot of money,” Paul said. “We get small donations, and our job is a little bit more challenging. We don’t always get the recognition we think we should be getting from the media.”
In addition to being in Lawrence Friday night, Paul was in Topeka and Wichita earlier that day. The KU event was organized by Lawrence’s Youth for Ron Paul group, and President David Conway said he was more than pleased with the turn out.
Conway said people were turned away at the door because theLied Center was filled to capacity. Conway also hoped that this event could help Paul in the Kansas Caucuses which took place Saturday afternoon.
Results were announced at 5 p.m. on Saturday, and Rick Santorum captured Kansas earning 33 delegates while frontrunner Mitt Romney received the remaining seven delegates. Ron Paul finished in 4th place.