The Romney campaign has bent over backward to show respect to the Paul forces. No Paul revolution at convention

TAMPA, Fla. — The Republican establishment has quelled the Ron Paul Revolution, at least for 2012.

Using a mix of charm and procedural hardball, Mitt Romney’s campaign and his allies who control the Republican National Committee have ensured that the Texas congressman will neither speak nor be formally nominated at next week’s convention. It’s a significant victory for Romney, who could have been faced with a raucous rebellion from the Paul crowd if he hadn’t extended an early, and diplomatic, olive branch to what’s become a key constituency.


The libertarian septuagenarian controls the state delegations from Nevada, Iowa and Minnesota. But a candidate needs five states to be officially recognized on the floor. Paul supporters have made claims to Louisiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, Oklahoma and Maine. But Romney’s coterie of lawyers skillfully used the rules and interpersonal negotiations to peel each away.

( Also on POLITICO: GOP delegate tracker)

The 168-member Republican National Committee approved a report Thursday by the Romney-friendly “committee on contests” that invalidated Paul delegates elected in Maine based on irregularities at the state convention. The RNC voted to split the at-large delegation in half, effectively depriving Paul of control.

( Also on POLITICO: Full convention coverage)

Paul’s high command and key supporters were disappointed by their defeats but surprisingly conciliatory. Most are adamant that there will be no trouble during the televised proceedings that begin Monday.

“We knew we were walking into a snake pit, but you’ve got to put up the fight,” said Virginia delegate Christopher Stearns, who worked closely with the Paul campaign on the convention platform and the rules. “You’ve got to have a discussion. Otherwise, it appears as though there’s nothing going on.”

“It was a fair hearing, and I thought it was an acceptable environment,” Stearns added. “The majority rules, and the will of [the] minority shall be heard. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the circumstances we have right now.”

To dissuade Paul supporters from disrupting this week’s pomp and circumstance, the Romney campaign and its surrogates have bent over backward to show respect to the Paul forces. There have been months of previously unreported, behind-the-scenes phone calls and meetings between Romney and Paul acolytes to try to build bridges and reach compromise agreements. The establishment made significant concessions on the platform to the Paul folks even before the group convened, and then they allowed up-or-down votes on proposals from Paul supporters during pre-convention meetings at the Marriott hotel here.

It’s a marked contrast from four years ago, when party leaders for all intents and purposes froze out Paul completely. While Republicans held their convention in St. Paul in 2008, Paul drew more than 10,000 people to a counter convention across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

“I hope that Ron Paul supporters and delegates saw a Republican National Committee that was fair, open and honest,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told POLITICO. “I think you’re seeing the beginning of a very peaceful conclusion to this and everyone being on the same page to elect Mitt Romney.”

(Fun fact: Paul was a Ronald Reagan delegate in 1976 — one of just four members of Congress to endorse his primary challenge against incumbent President Gerald Ford.)

So began a delicate dance between the two campaigns’ high commands to ensure both men got what they wanted.

“You saw that I had a chance to rule motions out of order,” he added, “but I didn’t because I would have rather just had everybody get it all out, state your position, take a vote, and that’s exactly what we did.”

The seeds of a Romney-Paul détente were already evident during the GOP primary contests, when both men were loath to attack one another, playing for the end game that is the convention. There was some behind-the-scenes coordination, with both men recognizing that they needed each other: Romney to capture some members of a vibrant constituency in the Republican Party, and Paul to gain influence at the convention and permanently, both for himself and his son Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

In a major win, Rand Paul nabbed a prime-time convention speaking slot on Monday night.

But after Romney sewed up the nomination in April, a string of chaotic state conventions in places like Maine stoked fears that Ron Paul could wreak havoc on their planned coronation. A convention has not actually mattered in the selection of a party’s nominee since 1976 but the quadrennial affairs have become a candidate’s only meaningful opportunity to introduce himself on his own terms to a national audience.

Paul campaign manager John Tate and campaign chairman Jesse Benton negotiated with Romney confidantes Ben Ginsberg and Ron Kaufman about how to handle the contested delegations.

Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades and political director Rich Beeson stayed in touch with their Paul counterparts.

The Republican National Committee hired Paul campaign press secretary Gary Howard in June as “special projects director.” He’s worked the halls this week helping his new bosses.

Policy staffers felt out the Paul campaign to get a sense of their priorities and where they might overlap with the former Massachusetts governor’s public positions.

More than a week before the group convened here, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell — a loyal Romney surrogate tapped to lead the platform committee — called Rand Paul to get his input on a plank requiring an audit of the Federal Reserve. North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, who co-chaired the platform meeting, also reached out to the younger Paul.

During a dinner on Sunday night, platform co-chair Marsha Blackburn — a Tennessee congresswoman — talked cordially with two Paul supporters. Mike Wallace, a Paul representative from Maine, said he had a discussion with Blackburn about not being offended by what Paul supporters want to accomplish.

“These people are being genuine and they want to be accepted,” he recalled saying. “It’s hard to nurture trust when there are a lot of Type A people who feel their identity is being threatened.”

Considering that only 11 of the 112 platform committee members supported Paul, the Romney forces allowed a disproportionate influence of the Paulites on the draft platform, which was approved this week.

The document basically calls for auditing the Federal Reserve, with some caveats. It even supports a presidential commission to study metallic basing of the currency, modeled on a similar panel on the gold standard that Reagan created as president. The Paul campaign said it got Internet freedom language adopted that is nearly verbatim to an Internet freedom manifesto published by the pro-Paul Campaign for Liberty.

For the first time, the platform has a whole section about the U.S. Constitution. Paulites also won on language opposing the use of domestic drones and protecting private property from being seized unfairly by government.

By no means did the Paul backers get everything they wanted in the platform. Four attempts to add support for a ban on indefinite detention of American citizens failed. They lost some skirmishes against social conservatives over civil unions. The foreign policy section wound up not including restrictions on when a president could declare war, as they wished, but the document could have been decidedly more hawkish without them there.

Activists who have fought to get noticed for years felt like respect was paid.

Tampa is Paul’s swan song in many ways. The 77-year-old, who retires from Congress at the end of this year, will speak Sunday at a rally being organized by his campaign at the University of South Florida Sun Dome. A big part of it will be to celebrate how much they’ve accomplished this cycle, even if they lost the nomination fight.

Then the Texan will stick around to watch his son address the convention Monday night. He does not have a box inside the convention hall, but Ron Paul will have a space at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. NBC reported that there could be a video tribute to the elder Paul on Tuesday night.

Eager to expand their influence in the GOP over time, many Paul supporters fret that significant disruptions could be counterproductive for what they call “the liberty movement.” They earnestly believe that the country is coming their way.

Nevertheless, some remain angry and there could be a few loose cannons this week.

“This wasn’t about rules or procedures — this was all about not having a dissenting delegation on the floor as outspoken as we’ve been,” said John Logan Jones, one of the elected Maine delegates who will not be seated as a result of Thursday’s vote. “I don’t understand why they would do this because they’re alienating one of the most important parts of the party.”

The most Paul-friendly delegations will be scattered across the cavernous arena, which will make it harder for them to cheer in unison, but Jones will still be there.

The Iowa GOP plans to give guest passes to the Paul supporters from Maine who are no longer delegates.