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Ron Paul's 'Rally for the Republic'

Scenes from Ron Paul's "Rally for the Republic," held on the second day of the Republican National Convention in downtown Minneapolis.

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They wait as speakers talk about what's gone wrong with the nation. As Barb Davis White, who is running for Congress in Minnesota, says she's campaigning against "liberalism, fascism and socialism" and hopes one day "we can send the Fairness Doctrine back to the pits of Hell where it was born." As libertarian Lew Rockwell talks about gas prices and President Bush's "dangerous, Messianic" ambition. As Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus talks about the threat from the United Nations and the travesty of the "War of Northern Aggression."

The speakers talk about John McCain ( booo) and about "Barack Hussein Obama" (more booo). They talk about "the Austrian theory of the business cycle." ( Huge cheers.) They talk of how the Constitution has been trampled on.

"Dictatorship!" cries a man near the stage.

Meanwhile, backstage, at precisely 5:15 p.m. Central time, the gate above the loading dock opens and a white van drives past. Ron Paul is on the premises. He's in the passenger seat and looks as if he might be napping.

If he seems an unlikely vessel for so many hopes, Paul has one thing few in public life possess: nearly pure ideological consistency. In Congress, the OB-GYN is known as Dr. No. He's so old school that he's 18th-century old school. He doesn't like the federal government having power -- not over drugs, not over food, not over the environment, not over schools, not over citizens' money. He doesn't believe in Medicare and he doesn't believe in Social Security. He believes fervently in the free market.

During his presidential run, Paul attracted considerable amounts of money and support for his tiny operation, and maintained that he represented the true roots of the Republican Party, which might explain why he is persona non grata at the convention, which is going on in the other of the Twin Cities. (As one rally speaker puts it, "John McCain will be in St. Paul, but Saint Paul will be in Minneapolis!") During a news conference and a subsequent interview, Paul says he was given a "second-class" floor pass and was told that if he wanted to walk around on the floor, he'd be chaperoned. "It makes them look bad," he says of the convention officials, and adds that he hasn't yet decided if he'll visit the arena at all.

He doesn't seem too upset, though. He talks about balancing the budget and about how people have been writing songs for him about the Federal Reserve. He says, "One of the most exciting issues that we talk about with young people is monetary policy!" He says he's going to be on "The Colbert Report" soon.

As it gets later in the evening, the crowd gets more excited. Audience members toss "RON" balloons. When, at last, Paul walks to the podium, the applause is thunderous. He seems startled by a cloud of confetti exploding nearby.

"This is very amazing," he says, grinning in a grandfatherly way. He talks about how much better things were in the 1950s and then he gets into the meat of all that's bad with the nation. He says "even a 1 percent income tax is morally wrong." He warns of "dictatorship" and of "power gravitating to international governments" and a "new world order."

And then he starts in on the Federal Reserve. The crowd -- it just goes wild.