Ron Paul holds counter-convention

As many as 12,000 disillusioned Republicans and independents, according to organizers, converged on the Target Center, an NBA basketball arena, for a boisterous push-back against the Republican establishment.

In a lively speech, Rep. Paul (R-Texas) thanked his supporters and asked them to keep up the fight.

"They will not welcome us with open arms, I found that out," he said. "There is a vacuum out there, and it's not in one political party. It's pervasive.

"This is much bigger than the Republican Party. . . . In a true revolution, believe me, the revolution does not occur within a single party."

Paul, 73, railed against the Patriot Act, the Federal Reserve, and U.S. membership in the United Nations. "End the Fed," the crowd chanted.

"I understand there's another meeting going on in a nearby town," he said during his speech, accusing the GOP of bending its rules to exclude him.

GOP convention spokeswoman Joanna Burgos said he received the same invitation as any other member of Congress. "We actually never heard back from him," she said.

Paul harnessed the Internet to become a money-raising wonder. He raised more than $34 million for his presidential campaign and broke a record for the most money raised by a candidate on the Web in a single day ($6 million). He won more than 5% of Republican primary votes cast this election cycle, and he outperformed John McCain in Nevada and Montana.

But he did not endear himself to mainstream Republicans. An outspoken opponent of America's military presence abroad, especially in Iraq, he holds many views at odds with McCain's.

For Tuesday's rally, Internet-organized "Ronvoys" brought people from across the country.

Nancy Zverev, 56, hates to fly, but she came in from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., for the event. She said she had mostly voted Republican but had fallen for Paul's message and his opposition to the Iraq war after discovering his website in December.

Wearing a large "Ron Paul 2008" bib she sewed and draped over her floral sundress, Zverev was sharing a hotel room with three people she met at rallies against taxes and for Paul.