Ron Paul

Former Republican presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) could end up playing the role of spoiler this year. Though he's not running as a third-party candidate, he turned down an endorsement request from U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and instead urged his supporters to consider supporting third-party candidates instead of "the lesser of two evils".

Paul finished third in the state's primary with 22 percent of the vote.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Two representatives of the supporters of Ron Paul in Washington state addressed the Republican delegation this morning with a gesture of good will toward their party mates.

Washington elected four Ron Paul delegates to the national convention, accounting for ten percent of the total, and now that they have cast their votes for their preferred candidate, three of them have offered to give up their Thursday night floor passes so that McCain alternates could be present for McCain's acceptance speech tonight.

John Burke, an alternate delegate for Ron Paul, spoke on the Paul supporters' behalf this morning and congratulated McCain on his nomination, and later explained their thought process to PolitickerWA.com.

MINNEAPOLIS - Ron Paul, the iconic Texas Republican whose presidential bid was wildly popular in small circles, but never managed to take off in the mainstream, is holding a rally this evening at the Target Center in Minneapolis just down the road from the Republican Party Convention in St. Paul. Thousands of people are expected to attend, but not everyone is thrilled about it.

Ross Marzolf of Seattle is one of them. Marzolf is a long time party activist from the 37th Legislative District, and to show his displeasure with the Paulites he made a bright green button that says, "I am embarrassed there are 4 Ron Paul delegates in my delegation."

Dino Rossi, or at least Dino Rossi's words, can be found somewhat frequently on the internet this week in a move to solidify his support on Washington state's right flank.

The Seattle P-I's Joel Connelly reported Tuesday that Rossi has written an open letter to supporters of former presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) asking them to look further into his campaign for governor.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate also gave an interview to Red County, a popular blog that bills itself as presenting "grassroots politics from the center right."

SPOKANE -

At many of the Republican presidential debates, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) proclaimed that he was the real Republican in the race, and the most authentic conservative. Today at the Washingotn State Republican Convention, his supporters felt the same way and hoped to impact the Party platform on those principles.

One of the leaders of the Spokane County Ron Paul delegation, the state's largest, is Jeff Whiteside. Whiteside is a nearly full time volunteer for the campaign and led the organization of the massive Ron Paul congregation across the street from the convention. He explained some of the tactics and purposes of their efforts at the convention to PolitickerWA.com.

Ron Paul supporters gather across from the convention: Politicker Photo

SPOKANE - Jim Camden at the Spokesman-Review has a detailed recap of the nuts and bolts of Friday's convention action. He reports that the final delegate count to the Republican National Convention is 33 for presumptive nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain, 4 for Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and 3 for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

McCain won Washington's presidential caucus, where half of the state's delegates were awarded, on February 9 with 25 percent of the vote compared to 23 for Huckabee, 22 for Paul and 16 for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. 14 percent were uncommitted. He also won the primary with 50 percent of the vote.

SPOKANE - Check out some of the images of the Washington State Republican Convention. More below the fold.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers: 5th District Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers speaks to Peter Cowman of MoveRed.org

Dave Reichert wins green recognition while Dino Rossi wavers on global warming. Here are the Winners & Losers for May 30, 2008.

While the Democrats have been eating up the airwaves with the Clinton-Obama celebrity death match, Republican presidential challenger Ron Paul has been steadily amassing nearly 40 percent of state delegates.