I funny thing happened on the way to the forum: I spent part of my lunch hour walking through the farmer’s market that comes to downtown Knoxville, Tenn. each Wednesday. Among the back-to-the-earth organic vegetable and craft stalls, was a Ron Paul for President booth manned by 6-8 supporters raising funds by selling t-shirts and bumper stickers. It marked the first time I’ve seen a candidate booth of any kind at the market and the folks staffing it were older than the University of Tennessee students usually pressed into service for such things. In fact, the Paul supporters were very loud and overly enthusiastic, in a way that was out of place for the surroundings. When I got back from lunch, I read the news that Paul had raised as much as McCain in the last cycle. The two events are almost certainly coincidental, but it makes me wonder whether Paul doesn’t have the type of extra-establishment support where he could surprise everyone with a second or third place finish in an early caucus/primary, allowing him to compete through the entire primary season and hitting the convention with a handful of loud delegates.