Infighting rains on McCain's party

Diehard Paul supporters seek role at convention

By Brian C. Mooney
Boston Globe Staff
May 9, 2008

Senator John McCain is sailing toward his coronation as the Republican presidential nominee while the Democratic candidates battle fiercely. But Republicans also are engaged in some tough infighting that could disrupt the national convention and make it more difficult for him to unite the party in the fall.

Across the country, at state and county GOP conventions, diehard supporters of maverick Ron Paul are staging uprisings in an effort to secure a role for Paul at the national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

And in the four primaries since clinching the nomination in early March, McCain has yet to reach 80 percent of the vote, as Paul and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee continue to siphon away votes, even though Huckabee has withdrawn from the race.

The lingering anti-McCain sentiment among some voters and the continuing Paul insurgency suggest that McCain has not fully quelled hostility from some elements in his party.

Paul remains the lone holdout who is still actively campaigning. He has indicated he is unlikely to endorse McCain, and his zealous supporters have turned out in large numbers to battle for delegates at recent GOP gatherings in Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and Oklahoma.

The Paul supporters do not see themselves as fighting for a hopeless cause, but as members of a new movement founded on libertarian principles. Paul's newest book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto," has soared quickly to number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

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