News 12 at 11 o'clock / Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012

AIKEN, S.C. -- While most voters were inside the Odell Weeks Activity Center, Eric Eastman was out in the rain.

"I'm here doing what I believe is my duty to do," he said.

Eastman drove 20 hours from his home state of New Hampshire.

"It was long and exhausting, but it was also exciting," he said of the 20-hour trek.

Eastman said he did it because he's passionate about supporting Ron Paul and exercising his freedom of speech.

"If Congressman Paul can stand firm, and resolute, and alone, and be snubbed, laughed at, called crazy, called nutty, I think I can sacrifice one day, one afternoon in the rain," Eastman said.

Mother Nature didn't rain out his one-man parade, but election officials almost did. They initially told him he couldn't stand in the grass along Whiskey Road.

"The election staff apparently developed a little bit of concern about my proximity to the doors of their voting place," Eastman said.

So they settled it with a tape measure, and the election staff eventually said he was far enough away from the polls to bring campaign material.

"I happen to know that one needs to be 200 feet away from the front doors of the polling place," Eastman said. "Being too close creates too much coercion, politically. You don't want to do that to people."

Since he was far enough away from the polls, Whiskey Road was a perfect spot for Eastman.

"It's a Saturday. A lot of people are on this road, so I thought this was the ideal spot to create visibility," he said.

He also said the rain didn't bother him one bit.

"My brother, I stood outside for 12 hours in New Hampshire on primary day," he said. "I couldn't feel my feet when I was done. It's winter, and it was New Hampshire. This is nothing."