WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. (MCT) — Ron Paul, fresh from his second-place finish in New Hampshire, treated an adoring and cheering South Carolina crowd to a lesson on how to bring the nation back to what he said are the core constitutional principles of a dramatically scaled-down federal government.
“We had a victory for the cause of liberty last night,” he said.
The Texas congressman told the crowd of about 350 people in an aviation hangar near the Columbia Metropolitan Airport that his support was expanding beyond “a tireless irate minority.” “We’re marching on. The numbers are growing. They grew exponentially in New Hampshire, and they’re going to grow contagiously here in South Carolina,” he said.
Paul promised to be “very, very busy” before the Jan. 21 primary, but headed home while other candidates continued to ricochet around in search of television airtime. His national campaign chairman said he probably will not return until Sunday.
When Dr. Mike Vasovski, the campaign’s state chairman, introduced Paul, he noted that the last time Paul was in the state, at a GOP debate in Spartanburg, he got just 89 seconds.
“Today, he’s going to get all the time he wants,” he said as a crowd of about 350 erupted in cheers.
