On Monday, 23 January, the University of South Florida (USF) and NBC hosted one of the many Republican Presidential Debates of the 2012 election cycle. After last week’s departure of Rick Perry, four candidates remained in the race. These included Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Though each of the candidates had supporters at the debate, the Ron Paul crowd of over 2,000 followers on the campus dominated the campus. Paul’s backers could be seen along Fletcher Avenue, and all along the sides of the campus roads leading up to the Mitchell Center. Tickets were limited, but a few lucky Paulites found entry into the debate auditorium.
Having anticipated more supporters than available seats inside the forum, the campus set up a large overflow viewing tent just southwest of the Marshall Center. Even with the ability to hold 1,000 people, University officials quickly realized the enclosure was not big enough for everyone. This quickly restricted the enclosure strictly to USF students, and forced other Ron Paul fanatics elsewhere to watch the debate.
The Ron Paul crowd traveled to the Copper Top Tavern, located about a mile east of the USF campus on Fowler Avenue. The Tavern holds around 150 people, and Paul supporters soon filled it to capacity. Though basketball games and replays of the weekend’s NFL games filled the television monitors as the group first arrived, the gathering soon forced the Tavern staff to change all of the channels to the NBC Republican Debate. As a gesture of support, the Paulites at the Copper Top signed a t-shirt for Ron Paul. As promised by the organizers of the event, Paul paid a brief visit to the establishment after the debate had ended. The establishment quickly transformed from pandemonium to dead silence as it listened to the Doctor speak his words of wisdom. After leaving the Copper Top, Paul and his staff traveled to the airport to prepare for the next debate, which will be held in Jacksonville, Florida. CNN will host this event at the University of North Florida this coming Thursday, 26 January.
Comments