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Posted: June 28, 2007 3:36 PM
Paul, Excluded from Iowa Forum, Plans Rally across the Hall
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Rep. Ron Paul’s campaign has to score points this week for persistence.

Paul, R-Texas, has scheduled a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday where, on the very same afternoon, and literally across the hall, Iowans for Tax Relief will be holding a forum for Republican presidential candidates — excluding Paul.

The campaign unsuccessfully petitioned the organization to allow Paul to join. So instead, Paul’s supporters will be throwing a celebration of “life and liberty,” which is scheduled to start right as the forum lets out.

It is part of the continuing effort by Paul supporters to raise awareness of the Congressman’s libertarian-leaning campaign. Some of Paul’s supporters have claimed that his poll numbers are low because most people who support him — a group that is known for its strong Internet presence - lack traditional phone lines, relying on their cell phones instead. An article on Slate.com
appeared to shoot down the argument citing polls by the Pew Research Center conducted on cell-only versus landline respondents that cell phone users are less likely to vote on Election Day.

His supporters brought up the issue on NPR’s On Point when they called in to speak with Paul during the interview.

Jesse Benton, Paul’s director of communications, has said the campaign has consulted pollsters who confirm the cell versus landline issue could play a roll in the polls, even though most believe the difference would only amount to a few percentage points in the polls. But Benton has focused on that evidence, coupled with the fact that he says most surveys are only polling those who voted Republican in the last election, excluding voters that may support Paul but did not vote as a Republican last cycle.

However, in a Gallup Poll which asks respondents simply which party they lean towards, Paul still polls at 2 percent.

Also this week, Paul also had to clarify a comment he made to Lee Rogers of Roguegovernment.com”:http://www.roguegovernment.com about a couple who are holed up in their house refusing to pay taxes. The Associated Press reported that he compared the couple, Ed and Elaine Brown, to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. because they were suffering like the non-violence activists.

But Paul denied the comparison in an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox News, in line with Paul denial that included clips of the original interview.

Cable network G4’s Attack of the Show interviewed Paul on June 26, steering the campaign dialogue towards issues their viewers care about, like government censorship of media and net neutrality.

Paul explained that, despite his reputation for being a champion of Internet freedom, he voted against net neutrality because the bill would enforce government regulation over the way corporate Internet providers divvy up cyberspace. Host Kevin Pereira gave a rundown of Paul’s Internet successes, then exclaiming, “You’re practically like the LonelyGirl of the Republican party!” But later Pereira cautioned that young people “were totally psyched about [the movie] Snakes on a Plane, but it didn’t translate into ticket sales.”

On June 29, Paul plans to outside Pittsburgh shooting a segment for The Today Show about his upbringing on his family’s dairy farm in Greentree, Pa.

Paul will be celebrating Independence Day with Veterans before going to Las Vegas to debate American foreign policy and the War on Terror at Freedom Fest.