The Republican Party of Minnesota is concerned that Ron Paul supporters could take control of the Republican state convention in Rochester this weekend. Paul supporters are touting the likelihood of a Ron Paul appearance during the convention, while party officials are asking delegates and alternates supportive of Sen. John McCain to show up early to thwart any movement by Paul supporters.

Ron Carey, Republican Party of Minnesota chair, and Marianne Stebbins, Minnesota campaign coordinator for Ron Paul, exchanged several e-mails this weekend that were reposted on local blogs. They afford a rare glimpse of some of the internal frustrations that Republicans are experiencing over McCain and Paul, a disagreement that’s likely to go all the way to the national convention in St. Paul in September.

You can read the full exchange below:

Subject: We NEED you at the state convention. (You don’t want to miss Ron Paul live!)

There is some great news which I hope will ensure your attendance next week in Rochester: we are 95% certain that Ron Paul will be in Rochester to speak to us early Friday morning, May 30 (7:30 AM, most likely). We will be sending an email with the specifics as soon as they are firmed up.

-Snip – edit for length-

Long story short, in order for us to win these fourteen national delegate spots, we need every last delegate and alternate for Ron Paul there. Alternates will be seated and will probably make the difference for us. It’s going to be a squeaker, and could easily come down to one or two votes.

Marianne Stebbins

—–Original Message—–

From: Ron W. Carey

To: [deleted]

Sent: Thu, 22 May 2008 10:12 am

Subject: Turn out your folks, please!

Leadership team,

We need to realize that all the planning in the world is for naught if our traditional conservative Republican Delegates and Alternates do not turn out in Rochester next week. I’ve provided below a memo that has gone out to all the Ron Paul supporters to motivate their base. Every Ron Paul supporter will be in Rochester to swell their ranks. Empty chairs will be filled with Ron Paul Alternates. Please take this as a serious challenge. I need your help to motivate EVERY member of your delegation to get to Rochester and be in their chairs at 9 AM Friday at the latest (not 10 AM…..9 AM). In Oklahoma, the Ron Paul people immediately tried to take control of the convention as soon as the gavel went down. We need to have a full convention delegation that reflects the strong majority support across the state for our presumptive nominee, John McCain. Please work with your BPOU leadership to get people in Rochester who support John McCain by early Friday AM.

By the way, we are finalizing the speaker roster for Thursday night’s rally and reception at the Convention Center; one of our nation’s leading conservatives is planning to headline the event. I hope to have the details to you in the next twenty-four hours so you can use this information to further motivate your folks to be in Rochester early.

Please make convention turnout a priority on your schedule in the next few days. Thanks for your leadership!

Ron

From: Marianne Stebbins Ron Paul 2008

Date: Fri, May 23, 2008 at 8:06 PM

Subject: Need More Motivation? Ron Carey is using our messages to turn out McCain delegates

Below you will see that MN GOP Chairman, Ron Carey, forwarded my message to you from a couple days ago to his insiders.

Makes us wonder what “planning” he is talking about. We do know that he is doing nothing else but worrying about the Ron Paul Republicans, unwarranted, when he should be doing his job, has a general election coming up, and an entire state’s worth of Republicans relying on him.

There are many Republican delegates and State Central Committee members out there who clearly feel the same way considering the growing rumors surrounding next Saturday’s State Central Committee meeting (something we have nothing to do with).

We’re also told that McCain has been given the full state delegate list, something the Party has refused to share with our campaign as they are ethically obligated to do, and that the McCain campaign is calling delegates to get them to show up.

All we are asking for is a fair, open process. Rumor has it we’re not going to get that. We do need each of you there to ensure that the ground rules ARE fair. Please do plan to attend next Friday. Your country, the future of the Republican Party, and the interests of fair, honest elections are depending on you.