By John Hoeffel
March 9, 2012, 3:06 p.m.
Reporting from Topeka, Kan.—

Hoping to improve on his third-place finish in the Kansas caucuses in 2008, Ron Paul was scheduled to make three campaign stops on Friday and planned to visit four caucuses on Saturday to deliver five-minute synopses of his libertarian agenda.

Citing the nation's wars, its struggling economy and its failing educational system, Paul told more than 400 sign-toting supporters in the state capital: "These problems could be solved by just following the Constitution, and that is what we really need."

Paul delivered his paean to limited government from the stage of the Topeka Performing Arts Center, a monument from a depressed era when big government was much more in favor and out-of-work Americans welcomed stimulus spending. The city building was completed in 1940 with a $7-million grant from the federal Works Progress Administration.

The Texas congressman, who has an organized campaign in Kansas, was introduced as "the champion of the Constitution" by a supporter who urged: "We must stand up and be counted." Next to the stage, a handwritten sign said: "Vote Ron Paul Get A Free Country."

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-ron-paul-kansas-caucuses-20120309,0,3762121.story