Local Ron Paul Die-Hards Spurn GOP Call to Unify for Romney
Mitt Romney may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but supporters of Texas Congressman Ron Paul made a loud showing at the state Republican convention Friday.
Although Paul recently announced he was suspending much of his presidential campaign, his backers have continued to fight for delegates to the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa, Fla.
That was the case in Tacoma, where Paul captured five of the state’s 40 up-for-grabs delegates to the national convention.
But Romney, who easily won the state GOP precinct caucuses in March, took 24 delegates, while one went to Rick Santorum.
The remaining delegates will be selected Saturday.
Many longtime Republican leaders and activists appealed for the convention to unify behind Romney, saying the most important task was to defeat President Obama in November.
But Paul supporters rejected those calls, arguing the media have distorted the truth and that the GOP nominating fight is not over.