Nation & World

RENO, Nev. —

Of the remaining candidates in the Republican presidential field, perhaps none has followers more loyal than Ron Paul's.

They are drawn, they say, to the Texas congressman's liberal social views, conservative economic ideas and foreign policy of nonintervention.

They talk reverently about the Constitution and carry books written by Murray Rothbard and Ludwig von Mises. If they are under the influence, it is of the Austrian School of economics.

Paul's permissive view of marijuana, said Alexis Neel, 20, is "just like a bonus added on top."

Paul is banking on a big showing at Saturday's Nevada and Maine caucuses to boost his third presidential primary bid. His message of personal liberty, states' rights and low taxes resonates with voters in Nevada, where prostitution is legal, gambling is widespread and the foreclosure rate has been the highest in the nation for five years, according to RealtyTrac.

For months, Paul's followers have been organizing in Nevada, and as the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination shifted here ahead of Saturday's caucuses, the range of his appeal showed.

Across town from the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, where the candidate spoke Thursday evening, college students were putting on their Paul T-shirts and pins. A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was phoning people in his Las Vegas precinct, and at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, the famous brothel, prostitutes were collecting tips for a political action committee that supports Paul.

Between TV interviews, owner Michael Hof said, "We're pimpin' for Paul."

Neel, a sophomore at University of Nevada, Reno, and a member of the campus' fledgling "Ron Paul Pack," said she might have supported President Obama four years ago, were she old enough to vote. She swung to Paul, 76, a physician and three-time presidential candidate, after reading about his plan to reduce spending and dismantle many federal programs, including the Federal Reserve.

"The way that he does it is cutting some of the unnecessary federal programs that we have and bringing them down to the state level where I believe they belong, constitutionally," Neel said. "That was pretty inspiring to me."

Paul, meanwhile, railed against the federal government's influence in the West on Thursday, saying states are in the best position to resolve conflicts over the management of wild horses and roads on public lands.

He said that while he's unsure of the solution to the wild-horse problem in Nevada and other Western states, federal land managers should be the last resort to resolve the issue. "I can guarantee they'll make a wrong decision and not please anyone," he said.

In recent years, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has removed thousands of "excess" wild horses from public lands in the West, saying they harm rangelands and native wildlife. Horse advocates oppose the move.

Paul has not won a primary this year, and he is not expected to finish in Nevada ahead of Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich. But Paul all but skipped the Florida primary to focus on caucus states, and his supporters have high hopes that he can pick up enough delegates to give him leverage at the national convention.

The Nevada electorate is steeped in a tradition of low taxes and limited government, values long preached by Paul. On Paul's website this week were links to coalitions for bloggers, bikers, economists, Jews and business leaders. There is also a link to a Facebook page for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are estimated to have made up about one-quarter of Republican caucus-goers in Nevada four years ago, when Paul finished a distant second to Romney, a Mormon.

Helping Paul court Mormon voters is Floyd Fitzgibbons, 54, an insurance agent from Las Vegas and a member of the church.

"I've been calling people in my precinct, 20 or 30 of them every night for a couple of weeks, asking them if they'll join me in supporting Ron Paul," he said.

Like many supporters, he said he was attracted to "a guy who supports and defends the Constitution."

It is a message that is particularly appealing to young voters.

"His whole emphasis is on personal liberty, and when you're 20 years old, a lot of the lack of government and do-your-own-thing policy that he promotes sounds very attractive," said Eric Herzik, a political-science professor at University of Nevada, Reno.

Many college students who follow Paul call him "Doctor" — "It's always Dr. Paul," Herzik said — and when he tells them he doesn't think Paul will win, they say, "Why isn't America listening?"

"There's a certain amount of not just interest, but devotion," he said.

That Paul is a longshot is acknowledged by many supporters. But John Dennis, a San Francisco volunteer who has followed Paul since 1988, said "any step that we make toward a freer life in this country is a step worth taking." Paul's ideas "wear well," he said.

"Think about where he came from four years ago, where everybody thought he was crazy," Dennis said. "Think about what a swath he has cut through the Republican Party."

Perhaps Paul's most unlikely supporters are ones he didn't recruit.

At the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel near Carson City featured in HBO's "Cathouse" series, a scantily clad caucus was held two weeks ago.

Hof, the owner, said he polled all 500 women to see who they supported for president. Last time, they supported Obama. This cycle their opposition to the roundups of wild horses on federal land near the brothel moved them to Paul.

At the ranch, some women, such as Hustler centerfold Cami Parker, 25, donate tips to Paul's cause.

"I really appreciate the fact that Ron Paul respects states' rights and individual rights," Parker said in a telephone interview. "It seems like he really understands our rights to do what we want."

Material from Bloomberg News and The Associated Press is included in this report.