Saturday 21 January 2012

Ron Paul’s Recipe for Success

GRANITEVILLE, S.C. — Supporters of Republican presidential candidate  Ron Paul  didn’t seem to mind Friday that he has campaigned less aggressively in South Carolina than he did in other early voting states.


But it was far from clear during a whirlwind circuit around the state the day before the crucial Southern primary whether the libertarian-leaning Texas congressman would send a message here as his outsider candidacy did in Iowa and New Hampshire.


“I took a day off of the campaign trail,” Paul told an audience of about 200 in a packed banquet hall outside Aiken. “I wanted to make sure I was recorded voting against the national debt limit.”


The remark, explaining Paul’s temporary departure in the campaign Wednesday to vote in Congress, ignited cheers from the audience in southwestern South Carolina.


Paul drew a crowd of several hundred in Greenville despite heavy rain and frigid temperatures.


Among those to receive a cookbook straight from Mrs. Paul’s purse on Thursday was South Carolina Sen. Danny Verdin, who endorsed Mr. Paul earlier this week. “The chocolate-chip cookie recipe looks like an absolute winner,” he said at a campaign stop at Bobby’s Bar-B-Q here on Friday. “By Sunday night, I plan to have given it a shot.”


The Paul campaign initially ordered 10,000 copies, but ran out early in Iowa, spokesman Gary Howard said Friday. Currently blowing through its second batch, the campaign expects to order a third round, Mr. Howard said. Distributed free at campaign stops, the cookbook is also sold at the Paul website for $8, while a signed copy was recently being sold on eBay for $59.99.


Stefano Mugnaini, a Charleston minister, said he might try a recipe on Saturday. “On primary night I might cook something from the  Ron Paul  cookbook just for solidarity,” he said.


The zeal over the cookbook extends even to those who don’t necessarily support Mr. Paul. Dane Smith, an employee of a private aircraft company that operates out of the airport hangar where Mr. Paul held one of his Friday events, said he was undecided, but had grabbed a cookbook just in case.


Some supporters suggested a recipe swap of sorts.


“I’m thinking of sending him some recipes,” Aiken resident and plumber David Holton said, while holding a “Ron Paul, Y’all,” sign at the Warrenville stop Friday. “Everybody likes my smoked turkey.

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