On the same day that U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet rallied campaign workers at President Obama’s Denver headquarters, Ron Paul’s campaign for president officially opened their field office in a storefront in the Stapleton community of town. A large crowd of supporters from throughout the state dropped by the Nov. 6 open house to meet staff and talk politics.

Paul, a Texas congressman and physician, is the first Republican presidential candidate to open a campaign office in Colorado for the 2012 election. His staff, almost all from out of state, is hoping that volunteers will pitch in one hour a week to propel the tea party favorite to the presidency. Paul has run for president twice before, first as the nominee for the Libertarian Party back in 1988, and again in 2008 as a candidate for the Republican nomination. Earlier this year, Paul formally announced his candidacy for president. A couple months later, in July, he said he would not run for reelection to Congress in order to devote more time to his race for the president.

Paul’s campaign had a vocal presence in the state during the 2008 presidential race, but when it came to allotting delegates at the GOP state convention in May of that year, his supporters failed to garner even one of the 22 national delegate and 22 alternate slots.

Next year will be more promising, said Matt Holdridge, state director of Paul’s campaign in Colorado. “One hour a week making phone calls, going door to door – [it’s a] numbers game,” he told supporters at the Nov. 6 event, held symbolically an exact year before the 2012 election.

Most of Paul’s supporters in the state this go-around have been attending local meet-ups and relying on social media to stay engaged in the effort for Paul.