Ron Paul, former Texas congressman and Republican presidential contender, will speak at the Knox County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner on April 12, having been invited by his friend, U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Knoxville.
“Dad’s a good friend of Ron Paul. He asked him about a month ago if he would be able to come,” County Trustee John Duncan III said Friday, after posting the announcement on Facebook Thursday night. He said he sold about 75 tickets within a few hours.
The younger Duncan was quick to say he did not post anything until after the Knox County Republican Party posted the announcement on its website.
“Jimmy has pulled off a huge coup. We’re all excited,” GOP Chair Ruthie Kuhlman said.
Paul served in Congress multiple times. In between some terms, he practiced medicine. His politics are considered a mixture of Republican and Libertarian beliefs. His son, Rand Paul, is a U.S. senator from Kentucky and active in the tea party movement.
Since retiring earlier in the year, he’s been active in Campaign for Liberty. Bob Griffitts, Duncan’s chief of staff, said Paul was coming to Knoxville just for his expenses and not charging a speaker’s fee.
In the presidential primary campaign in 2012 in Tennessee, Paul ran fourth. A few nights before the primary at the Tennessee Conservative Union’s Reagan Day dinner in Knoxville, he was third in a straw poll, ahead by one vote of Mitt Romney, who eventually became the nominee against President Barack Obama. Paul also ran for president in 2008.
Since Paul did not seek re-election last year, Duncan has become a favorite with some, particularly in the blogosphere, to succeed Paul with his conservative agenda. One Paul fan called the East Tennessean “the closest to Ron Paul’s ideological twin on Capitol Hill.”
The two men share similar views on foreign policy, fiscal issues and limited constitutional government. Duncan and Paul both support auditing the Federal Reserve and reining in its power.
Kuhlman said the GOP Executive Committee meets Sunday to decide details of the dinner, including the price and venue. She said she wasn’t sure Rothchild’s catering and conference center, where the Lincoln Day event has been held for years, can handle the crowd that Paul is likely to attract.
One of the largest crowds — estimated at 1,250 people — to attend a Lincoln Day was when former Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich spoke in 1994 at the Marriott Hotel.
Kuhlman said tickets may be obtained from party headquarters, 318 Nancy Lynn Drive, Suite 25, or by calling 865-689-4671
