Ron Paul Va. headquarters set to open in Norfolk

NORFOLK

Confident that their candidate would make a strong showing today in Iowa, Virginia supporters of Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul were set to open a state campaign headquarters in Norfolk to coincide with the first contest of the primary season.

"People here are enthusiastic; they're really motivated," said Wally Erb, a campaign volunteer and longtime political activist from Virginia Beach.

Erb said the headquarters, in a former gift shop at 7943 Shore Drive, will serve as a recruitment and training center for campaign volunteers and as a distribution hub for campaign literature throughout the state. It will officially open with a public reception between 7-9 p.m.

The campaign's national headquarters is in Springfield.

The decision to locate the state headquarters in Norfolk came in response to a strong pitch by local Paul supporters who consider southeastern Virginia a potential stronghold, Erb said.

"What really energizes people is the fact that Paul will be going head-to-head in Virginia with Mitt Romney," said Erb, a retired Lockheed Martin analyst who twice ran unsuccessfully for Virginia Beach City Council.

The 11-term Texas congressman and the former Massachusetts governor are the only candidates to qualify for Virginia's March 6 Republican primary ballot.

The rest of the GOP field is counting on a court challenge filed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry to overturn the state's filing rules and have their names added to the ballot.

Over the weekend, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum joined Perry's lawsuit. A hearing has been set for Jan. 13.

Erb said the campaign began using the facility last week to train about 30 volunteers who stepped forward in recent days after Paul's standing in the polls took an upward turn. Today will mark the official grand opening, he said.

A Des Moines Register poll in Iowa over the weekend showed Paul in second place with 22 percent to Romney's 24 percent, followed by Santorum with 15 percent, Gingrich with 12 percent, Perry with 11 percent, Bachmann with 7 percent and Huntsman with 2 percent.

Erb said local volunteers so far are about evenly split between "the under-30 crowd" and retirees. "You don't find many who are middle age."

Both groups, he said, are attracted by Paul's libertarian stands on the economy - he has pledged to cut federal spending and balance the budget in three years - and on civil-liberty issues.

"The young people are concerned mostly about the economy and whether they'll be able find jobs," Erb said. "Most people are disgruntled about the government's intrusion on rights and the fact that people can be incarcerated" for little or no reason under the guise of counterterrorism, he said.

With a good showing in Iowa, Erb predicted, support for Paul in Virginia would gain momentum. "I think you'll see things start to snowball as it goes on," he said.

Jeff Sheler, (757) 222-5563, jeff.sheler@pilotonline.com