I’m here at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis, where Ron Paul is holding a counterconvention to accomplish… what, exactly? As soon as I find out, you’ll be the first to know. In the meantime, here are a few notes on the event so far:

1. There was an amusing moment when MSNBC political analyst Tucker Carlson, who is acting as the MC of the event, introduced Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist. No, Carlson did not introduce Norquist as a “a mean-spirited, humorless, dishonest little creep“; he merely asked the crowd to welcome “the one, the bearded, Grover Norquist!”

2. The biggest applause lines so far have included some obvious ones — “End membership of the United States in the United Nations!” “Abolish the Federal Reserve!” “End the war in Iraq!” — and some not-so-obvious ones. One speaker received a standing ovation for invoking the home-brew movement. Another prompted loud applause for calling for the rejection of “the redefinition of conservatism that began with Bill Buckley and National Review,” adding, “To break with statism is to break once and for all with the Buckleyite right-wing.”

3. The John Birch Society is a “Founding Father”-level sponsor of today’s event, and an electronic ad scrolling around the arena encourages the audience to visit the Society’s booth on concourse one. John Birch Society president John F. McManus (listed on the program only as a “Special Guest”) also drew applause when he boasted that “Those anti-Birch media commentators are all in their graves.” He added that in April of this year, Ron Paul lauded the Society with the following praise: “The John Birch Society is a great patriotic organization.. I wish them continued success and endorse their untiring efforts to foster ‘less government, more responsibility and… a better world.”

Paul is scheduled to speak at 7. I’ll have more after that.