I like the Q&A idea but not the small rally idea. The worst part of the small rally idea is that you'd have to turn away too many people.
If Ron Paul is such a rock star that he has to turn people away, that's a good problem to have even if over half of the crowd is from 6 hours away and already converted.
So why not do both? After the raucous rally at the Mega-Dome announce that Act II will begin in 15 minutes and ask all of the converted to move out of the 1st 20 rows so that those with sincere questions can move up and hear there questions answered in a calm and serious setting?
I turned on ronpaulradio in the background yesterday and they were re-playing an old short q&a that Ron was doing with the press after some event that I had never heard. And it was the same as others I've heard: rush, rush, rush and then in a few minutes Jesse saying "1 more question quickly". Despite that, Ron did quick delves into serious questions the press guys had about issues such as transitioning to a gold standard.
I really think that this schedule of shuttling Ron from raucous rally to raucous rally is a scheme devised (maybe sub-consiously) by these guys to keep Ron from ever delving deep into issues during this campaign. It reminds me of the Fed gov's "diesel treatment" that they did to former Congressman George Hansen!
I've seen similar behavior in Libertarian Party campaigns for 30 years. The whole campaign strategy becomes a project in not telling people the truth about what we believe.
With Ron its really hard to bottle him up because he is such an honest incorruptible true believer in libertarian ideas. So the "strategists" instincts are to use the huge passionate following as a means of obfuscation. Remember the near-riot at that NH diner where that crazy lady bitched afterword because she couldn't get her question answered because they whisked Ron away from being trampled? Instead of always running away, why not come back establish some order and delve into these peoples questions. Sure you're going to have to deal with some nuts, but that's part of learning how to communicate.
Someone else once asked why not just pick one of the thousand or so great speeches that Ron has
READ into the congressional record? One of those 10 minute readings would de-raucous-ize a rally atmosphere perfectly and set the stage for some good honest policy dialog with the people.
Oh well, I realize this is hopeless. I will shut up for a while and go back to paying taxes Lockheed and Grumman now.