Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, continues to pile up delegates despite claiming he didn't have enough support to win the Republican nomination. On the same day Mitt Romney took a bus tour of Pennsylvania, Paul backers elected a majority of Republican National Convention delegates at the Iowa state convention.
* Iowa Republicans elected 25 delegates to the national convention. Eleven of 12 delegates from congressional districts were supporters of Paul. Iowa gets 28 delegates to the convention, according to the Des Moines Register. Each delegate is not bound to vote for a particular candidate.
* Fox News reports Paul earned 10 of 13 delegates. Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton called the election a "meaningful victory" and a "real validation" of the hard-fought campaign. In the end, Paul's backers voted a slate of delegates by a final vote of 794-689.
* The Los Angeles Times states 23 of the 28 delegates selected to the RNC support the Texas representative. Paul finished third in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus with 26,036 votes, more than 3,700 votes behind Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.
* Jamie Johnson called the Iowa state convention an "embarrassment" as one Santorum delegate was chosen. Johnson was a state-level director for Santorum in Iowa during the campaign.
* KCCI reported Paul's backers planned a takeover of the state convention. The point of the candidate's support was to show mainstream Republicans the small minority of the party won't go away.
* The state convention was marked by two days of angry shouting by Paul supporters. The Des Moines Register reveals convention chairman Bill Talbot said "this is not going well" after a Paul supporter shouted at him when given the floor. Talbot then said the next outburst would result in removal from the convention.
* The Iowa state GOP convention had more than 1,700 delegates. A total of 2,500 were allowed. A "unity" movement backed Romney. A "liberty" movement arrived to support Paul.
* Radio Iowa reports points of order were called by attendees several times. One delegate called Paul's support a "black eye." Another said Iowa will look "ridiculous" on the national stage.
William Browning is a research librarian specializing in U.S. politics. Born in St. Louis, Browning is active in local politics and served as a campaign volunteer for President Barack Obama and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill.
