“They’ve been fighting us all along,” said Deborah Robinet, a Southern California activist working to organize a three-day celebration of Paul’s libertarian ideals on the eve of the convention. “We’re Republicans. Do they want to alienate us, or do they want to bring us into the fold?”

 

At issue is the location of Paul Festival 2012, which could bring an estimated 20,000 or more people a day to Tampa.

 

It would run from Aug. 24, four days after Paul’s 77th birthday, to Aug. 26, the day before the convention begins.

In late March, the nonprofit group Liberty Unleashed — not a part of Paul’s presidential campaign but peopled by his supporters — applied with the convention to use the 355 acres of the Florida State Fairgrounds for the event, which would bring together music, entertainment and activism.