Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul drew standing ovations from several crowds in Washington Thursday, as he courts voters there ahead of the upcoming Washington caucuses on March 3rd.
Mr. Paul took his campaign to Washington earlier this week, and plans on making several stops there and in the bordering state of Idaho on Friday.
“Thanks for inviting me to your revolution,” said Mr. Paul Thursday at an appearance in SeaTac, Washington.
The Texas congressman’s libertarian leaning campaign rhetoric seems much more well received in Washington than was the socially conservative views of rival Rick Santorum earlier this week.
Mr. Santorum clashed with Occupy Tacoma protesters Monday, when he made a campaign stop in Tacoma, Washington to rally supporters who are staunchly opposed to Washington Democratic Governor Chris Gregoire’s recent signing of a gay marriage bill into law.
In contrast, Mr. Paul was not met with protesters from any faction of the Occupy Wall Street movement Thursday. One of his campaign appearances in Washington was actually unable to fit the overflow crowd, some supporters showed up hours before he arrived too, Patch reports.
He has also received endorsements from state Rep. Cary Condotta and former state Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders
The Texas lawmaker made an appeal to supporters of his views on legalizing drugs such as marijuana in the U.S.
“If we are allowed to deal with our eternity and all that we believe in spiritually, and if we’re allowed to read any book that we want under freedom of speech, why is it we can’t put into our body whatever we want?” said Mr. Paul Thursday, The Associated Press reports.
In November, Governor Gregoire sent a petition to the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration to request a reclassification of marijuana as a medication, and not an illicit drug.
The Washington governor is expected to allow voters in Washington to vote on legalizing recreational use of marijuana in the state of Washington later this year, according to The Associated Press.
Despite the widespread popularity Mr. Paul has enjoyed at several stops in Washington, recent national polls show his popularity among voters nationwide is low.
Recent American Research Group (ARG) polls of voters in Michigan and Arizona show that Mr. Paul is projected to finish third and fourth in those two states, which both hold their primary elections on February 28th.
Public Polling Policy has stated that they will be polling voters in the state of Washington this weekend, with just over two weeks remaining until their March 3rd caucuses. It will be interesting to see if Mr. Paul’s perceived popularity shown by supporters there is reflected in this weekend’s PPP poll.
