On Friday, February 17th Dr. Ron Paul (Congressman from Texas and candidate for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination) visited Richland, WA. The doors were not scheduled to open until 11am, however shortly after 10am the building was already filling up. In fact by the time the doors were due to open we were already at maximum capacity and the crowd was spilling into the hall. At one point I witnessed a police officer telling the local coordinator that he could not allow any more people into the building - we were way past maximum occupancy. The crowd overflowed into the hallways and main lobby of the hotel. Maximum occupancy of the Red Lion Hanford House is 650, and media reports that there were about 1300 there (some report 1200 and some report 1500). At least 100 people were actually not allowed into the building. Many left, but some waited outside. After his 45 minutes speech, Dr Paul went outside and addressed the waiting crowd.
I went from Walla Walla and had my 8 seat truck full. There were upwards of 100 people who made the trip from Walla Walla and Umatilla Co to see Dr Paul speak. The turn out from Walla Walla was phenomenal considering that the public had a 2 day notice of the event, which took place on a Friday morning/early afternoon.
Below are videos and my person photos of the event. The campaign reserved the front row for volunteers who helped with the event. Lucky me! I got a front row seat, and while Dr Paul didn't have much time with the crowd after his speech, I still got to shake his hand. Dr Paul went on to visit Spokane that evening, which had an even larger turn out.
Here is one news article, which has a picture of the large crowd outside: Bellingham Herald
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