During Thursday's campaign stop in Cedar Rapids, not everyone was interested in seeing former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the same reasons. While GOP supporters squeezed into the Spring House Family Restaurant, a group of Rep. Ron Paul faithfuls gathered across the street and held up signs proclaiming support for Paul and disgust with Giuliani. "We're here to help get the word out on Ron Paul, because he's not getting any of the media attention," said Iowa City resident Pam Wagner.

Members of the Ron Paul Revolution (below) had other motives for setting up shop across the street from the Giuliani event. "We support all of the candidates in the race except Giuliani," chimed in one of the revolutionaries "He unjustly attacked our candidate in the debate, and he was wrong about what he said. Ron Paul was right, and we're here to remind Giuliani that we haven't forgotten."


Paul supporters are still feeling the sting from the May 15 debate in South Carolina, when Giuliani went on the offensive and attacked Paul for advocating non-interventionist foreign policies. Paul claimed the conservative wing of the GOP has a long tradition of supporting non-interventionist policies and "shouldn't go to war so carelessly." The debate round got more heated when one of the moderators, Wendell Goler, asked Paul if the 9/11 attacks changed his views on non-interventionist policies.

Paul, a Republican from Texas, proceeded to make the case that the U.S. intervention played a role in fueling the attacks and suggested we should listen to the reasons why the U.S. was attacked on 9/11. This spurred Giuliani to step in and twist Paul's words, accusing him of saying we invited the attack. "I don't think I've heard that before, and I've heard some pretty absurd explanations for September 11th," said Giuliani to resounding applause from the audience.

It was this applause and Giuliani comments that helped incite a number of Paul supporters. Paul was given a chance to respond to Giuliani, and he used this rebuttal to briefly explain the role of "blowback."

Terrorism: Ron Paul vs. Giuliani @ SC Debate

Since the debate, Giuliani has been feeling the residual effects of blowback from Paul and his supporters. Paul gave Giuliani a list of foreign-policy books to back up his contention that the attacks by Islamic militants had been fueled by U.S. presence in the Middle East. The suggested list of summer reading includes the 9/11 Commission Report, Michael Scheuer's "Imperial Hubris," Chalmers Johnson's "Blowback," which examines the unintended consequences of U.S. foreign policy, and Robert Pape's "Dying to Win," which argues that suicide bombers only mobilize against an occupying force.

Meanwhile, Paul's supporters have been dogging Giuliani on the campaign with signs alluding to the debate and Paul's suggested reading list. "We're just trying to hold Giuliani accountable for what he said, since the media hasn't," said Dave Dougherty (left), who drove up from Iowa City to ask Giuliani about his progress on the reading list, wielding a sign: "Read Those Books Yet Mayor?"

A couple members are drawn to Paul's Libertarian leanings. "I'm a Libertarian, and even though Ron Paul's a Republican, I'm supporting him, because he's a Libertarian at heart," said Wagner. "Besides, my disillusionment with the Libertarian Party right now is why I'm supporting Ron Paul. Because of their bylaws, we're not supposed to support other candidates from other parties, but it should be about the issues, and Ron Paul is right on all the issues."

All of the Ron Paul Revolutionaries plan on participating in the Ames Straw Poll Aug. 11. "I plan on loading my car up with people and hope to have other cars follow me up to Ames," said Wagner.

When asked about Paul's odds at the Straw Poll, the revolutionaries were optimistic. "We had over a thousand people show up to support Ron Paul in Des Moines for the counter-event," said one member. "And we did that on less than a week's notice. We plan on having over 10,000 people at the Straw Poll."

Paul had not been invited to participate in the GOP forum June 30, which was co-sponsored by Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance. Again, feeling spited by his own party, Paul's campaign held an event next door, which followed the forum. "Other members in his party are afraid of Paul's candidacy and what it represents," said Dougherty.