Paul Supporters Plan for Strong SC Showing

As the support for the quickly changing frontrunners ebbs and flows, there is one group of presidential candidate supporters that seem to only grow more confident in their primary pick: the determined fans of U.S. Congressman Ron Paul.

For most of the primary campaign, Paul has trailed in the polls and seemed to be a fringe candidate with little hope of getting in the spotlight.

But since a strong showing in the Iowa caucus, Paul supporters have been reenergized and are hoping for another strong showing in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

"I was of course hoping and anticipating a first-place win," said volunteer and Greenville Tea Party member Chris Lawton. "As far as I'm concerned we tied Santorum and Romney."

Paul's South Carolina Campaign Chairman Dr. Mike Vesovski agreed.

"It was statistically a three-way tie," Vesovski said. "I think he could end up with the same kind of significant results that we saw in Iowa."

Lawton, a marketing and management consultant in Greenville, is one of Ron Paul's many dedicated volunteers who has spent his free time organizing events, making contacts, and going door-to-door to spread the word.

Vesovski runs a private general practice in Aiken, but spends time each week making phone calls to local voters to ask for their support.

that former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney still commands a strong lead with South Carolina voters with 37 percent of likely Republican voters.

Sen. Rick Santorum follows second with 19 percent, Newt Gingrich takes third with 18 percent and Ron Paul trails the pack at 12 percent.

Lawton said he wasn't discouraged by the recent poll results.

"That's double what he had in 2008," Lawton said. "I don't think he's ever polled as high here."

Lawton, like many Ron Paul supporters, has stayed loyal to Ron Paul for many years because of his unwavering Libertarian beliefs. And now the candidate is benefiting from their loyalty with grassroots support efforts cropping up all over the state.

"I think as soon as people start looking at Santorum's voting record some of the luster will start to come off," Lawton said.

Paul squared off with Santorum during the ABC News/Yahoo! debate on Saturday, each going after the other's stance on foreign policy. Paul also focused on Santorum's post-Senate career path accusing him of being a "corporate lobbyist."

Santorum and Gov. Rick Perry turned their focus back to the Palmetto State on Sunday after an early-morning NBC News/Facebook debate in Concord, N.H., while Paul continues to place his focus on Tuesday's primary.

Vasovski said Paul's strength in South Carolina is his volunteer base, recognizing that the candidate has spent less time in the state than any of the candidates.

"Would I have liked to see him here more, sure," Vasovski said. "But they have resources and they have to allocate those resources to where they think they need them."

Vasovski said the congressman's best asset here in the state is his volunteer base and they've been working hard to get the word out.

"I think there's a lot more happening under the radar than people realize," Vasovski said. He and others spend time at the Columbia headquarters each week calling voters and sharing information about their candidate.

In the Upstate, Paul supporters regularly attend rallies and other events organized through the Greer Ron Paul For President Meetup website. Lawton said there were more than 60 participants at a rally in Spartanburg on Friday night.

"We probably work just as hard if not harder than paid campaign staff," Lawton said. "His volunteer base is extremely active."

In Charleston, Paul doesn't have an official campaign office set up, but that hasn't stopped supporters from creating their own.

In a brick home on Ashley River Road that has been converted for business use for years, James Trementozzi and several other Paul supporters have set up CharlestonForRONPAUL, and launched a corresponding website. The supporters meet weekly to conduct phone polls to feel out the Lowcountry electorate, and distribute Ron Paul campaign material.

"This office, this time, is not officially connected with the Paul campaign," Trementozzi said. "We set it up on our own. This is totally grass roots, that's the direct difference between us and the other candidates, we're willing to take the time out and do it ourselves."

Running the campaign office is a full-time job, someone is there from about 10 a.m. every day until about 6 p.m. and no one is getting paid to do it.

But Paul supporters have always had a bit of a do it yourself ethos. Many, if not most Paul campaign signs sport a homemade look as the candidate's ardent supporters frequently use spray paint, poster board and stencils to create their own signs.

Tementozzi said he sees a wide range of people coming into the office to pick up flyers about Paul's positions, yard signs or just asking how they can help.

"We have a lot of personalities in the Ron Paul camp, we have gun lovers, we draw a lot of economists, people that are states' rights supporters," he said. "It blows me away the range of people he attracts."

Trementozzi also credits social media like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook with helping Paul build a growing base of supporters. In fact it was a YouTube video that first introduced Trementozzi to the candidate in 2007. 

"I watched a video of Ron Paul talking before Congress and I saw him as sincere," Trememtozzi said. "I compared what he said with his voting record, and everything he said matched with the way he voted. He was never flowery, everything he said was straight out."

Before watching that video Trementozzi said he never got involved in politics, but soon afterward he took to Facebook and started a Ron Paul MeetUp group in Rhode Island, where he was living at the time.

That same year, on a trip south, Trementozzi found Charleston and a Paul MeetUp group here. He also found a job with Paul's 2008 presidential campaign in South Carolina and never left. This time around Trementozzi is not working for the campaign, but is still just as passionate about Paul's candidacy.

"Social media is the most beautiful thing to ever happen," he said, noting that Paul's high level of support among young voters has only been enhanced by social networking as they share pro-Paul videos, thoughts and stories online.

He thinks the fact that young people are so comfortable using the new media and the Internet in general has also helped Paul build youth support.

"When I see college kids, I can't speak for how they feel, but they don't have years of bias, they judge things on their merits," Trementozzi said. "They're not being told what the case is via the mass media, they take the initiative to look it up themselves."

Paul supporters, regardless of age, have taken up the cause here in the state while they wait for their champion of Libertarian ideals to arrive once again.

Vasovski and Lawton expect to see the strong organization the Paul campaign built in Iowa and New Hampshire to make it's way South, citing the approximately $13 million the campaign raised in the fourth quarter.

"I think there's going to be a huge media buy and he's going to bring his message here to the people," Lawton said.

Once the New Hampshire primary is over on Tuesday, the Palmetto State will be flooded with candidates for the remaining days before the SCGOP Presidential Preference Primary Myrtle Beach Debate on Jan. 16 and the state primary on Jan. 21.