Republican congressman and former presidential candidate Ron Paul is speaking at the Newport Music Hall tonight and that’s quite a coup for one student organization.

Young Americans for Liberty President David Grabaskas, a doctoral student in nuclear engineering, said the event represents a victory for the group.

“It’s a lot of work, putting on an event like this,” he said. “As a Ron Paul supporter though, this is really a great thing to work for.”

The doors will open at 6 p.m. and Paul is expected to take the stage at 8:15. Grabaskas expects a large crowd, and admission will be free.

Young Americans for Liberty grew out of a student group that supported Paul during the 2008 presidential election. During Paul’s candidacy, the group established chapters at more than 500 colleges and high schools. Afterward, the group decided to back away from supporting a single candidate, opting instead to promote issues.

“Our main goal isn’t technically to support Ron Paul,” Grabaskas said. “We call ourselves non-partisan, non-profit issue advocacy.”

Regardless of partisanship, Paul still stands as an ideal candidate for the group. Grabaskas said he began following Paul after becoming interested in financial issues.

“I started looking into the Federal Reserve and central banking,” he said. “Ron Paul was the only person really talking about the Federal Reserve.”

He and a friend started the Ohio State chapter of Young Americans for Liberty last year and he says it now has between 130 and 140 members.

In December, Grabaskas and fellow group members drafted a proposal that was sent to the national board, which detailed possible dates and venues. The group found out only a few weeks ago that their bid had been accepted.

Jeff Frazee, the group’s national executive director, said in an e-mail that OSU won because it had a “well-organized chapter” and it was the largest university with a chapter. Although Paul has not made clear any intentions of running for president again, Ohio is one of the nation’s most important election states because of its high Electoral College vote total.

Grabasky said the event is completely run by his group and that no university funding was used. Political groups and other sponsors provided funds by buying table space at the event. Paul will not receive any compensation, as sitting congressmen cannot legally do so. Foxnews.com personality Andrew “Judge” Napolitano will broadcast his show “Freedom Watch” from the Newport prior to Paul’s appearance, also without compensation.

Young Americans for Liberty members aren’t the only ones taking Paul seriously, however.

Evidence shows that Paul’s support is much stronger among college students than with other demographics. Paul recently won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference with 31 percent of the vote, beating runner-up Mitt Romney by 9 percentage points. The convention, which Grabaskas attended, was made up of 48 percent students. Paul Beck, a political science professor specializing in voting behavior, said Paul and other third party candidates have an appeal to college students because they aren’t frontrunners.

“There’s the excitement of a non-mainstream candidate,” Beck said. “I think that will appeal to some college students that are conservative now who like his brand of conservatism.”

Grabaskas agrees Paul’s anti-establishment track record is important, but believes that his stance on social issues is more relevant.

“There are few on either side who are really in favor of strong social liberties,” Grabaskas said. “Drug legalization, gay and lesbian issues, the war in Iraq.”

While Young Americans for Liberty is non-partisan, the group shares most stances with Paul’s libertarian beliefs: more individual liberties, limited government and the disfranchising of the Federal Reserve. One thing that the group and the Libertarian Party don’t share with other third parties is inter-party conflict.

The OSU branch of Young Americans for Liberty is openly involved with the College Republicans organization on campus. College Republicans chairwoman Meagan Cyrus, a second-year in political science, doesn’t see Paul or the party as a problem.

“I don’t see [a possible Paul campaign for president] as being a huge threat to the party,” Cyrus said. “There are some members in both of our groups. We have a relationship. We’re working to collaborate on events in the future.”

Cyrus said her organization would be well represented at tonight’s event.

The monkey wrench in the Young Americans for Liberty movement is that Paul, a Republican in Congress, is unlikely to be nominated to a higher office because he strays too far from party lines. Winning as a third-party candidate is even less likely.

Beck said voters are unlikely to vote for a third party candidate because the setup of the electoral system doesn’t give them much of a chance.

“After a while you think, ‘I can support this candidate over here but he is not going to win. What I ought to do is go to my second choice,'” he explained. “It’s called strategic voting.”

The members of Young Americans for Liberty aren’t concerned with wasting their votes. A first-year in business, David Parker, was handing out fliers for tonight’s event on The Oval Thursday afternoon. He said probability of success wouldn’t sway his vote.

“I voted for Ron Paul then and I will again,” he said. “If more people voted for what they wanted as opposed to the lesser of two evils, it might be overcome.”