Ron Paul rally attendance exceeds Iowa Tax Forum debate!

July 1, 2007 - Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul drew more attendees to his rally than the Iowa Tax Forum from which he was excluded. Both the campaign and eyewitnesses say that the campaign rally held next door to the Iowa GOP tax forum sponsored by the Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance, to which Dr. Paul was specifically not invited, drew at least 1,000 individuals. In other words, Dr. Paul drew at least 200-400 more people than the forum, which raises even more questions about the reasoning behind excluding him from their debate, supposedly because he does not have an organization in Iowa, nor the capacity to build one.
According to the Des Moines Register, “Outsider Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul headlined a raucous campaign rally Saturday after a multi-candidate GOP forum in Des Moines to which the Texas congressman was not invited. An audience of more than 600 GOP activists turned out for the Paul event, held in Hy-Vee Hall next door to where six candidates addressed a subdued crowd of much the same size earlier.   Paul has built a loyal following of people attracted to the politician's libertarian stance on constitutional rights and opposition to the war in Iraq.”

Iowapolitics.com placed the Ron Paul rally attendance figures at around 600 and the Iowa Tax Forum at around 800.

However, an actual attendee put Ron Paul’s total much higher, commenting on the Des Moines Register article, "I was there.  I was not going to say anything about this report that you have about Dr. Paul but I was there and I can tell, you are trying to make it look as if it was nothing. We had people in there from all walks of life, from all parties, from all faiths, from all over Iowa. We were there for the doctor. You say that there were about the same in Dr. Paul’s gathering as there were next door. Well, I looked and there were plenty of seats available next door. Ron Paul had all 1000 seats filled and there were at lease 200 people standing. So what you should have said is that one man drew twice as many as the entire forum.  I know, because I was there.  One of these days you will feel proud when you start to tell the truth. Stop following and be a leader.”