They say voters in Washington County were disenfranchised -- and they're right, although the final result probably wouldn't have been different.

Did Ron Paul get robbed in Maine?

His supporters certainly think so. Since the state GOP announced Saturday evening that Mitt Romney was the winner of the Pine Tree State's caucuses, Paul backers have been in a tizzy over the exclusion of Washington County, as well as other irregularities in the vote, which gave the former Massachusetts governor a three-point win over the Texas representative. The defeat was particularly disappointing for Paul because he had campaigned more in the state than any other candidate and hoped that his unorthodox brand of politics would resonate with Maine's independent-minded GOP voters and hand him his first caucus or primary win of the season.

In any case, the answer seems to be: No, he probably didn't get robbed, but yes, he has reason to be upset.

Here's what happened: Washington County, which comprises the eastern-most point of the state, was scheduled to hold its caucus on Saturday, but ended up canceling the event because of inclement weather, as did part of adjacent Hancock County. There are a couple of ironies here. One is that jurisdictions had two and a half months in which to hold their contests. The second is that the vote is nonbinding: caucusgoers choose delegates to a state convention that chooses the state's 24 delegates, so the presidential result is just a straw poll of attendees. But the tally has some significance. In this case, it deprived Paul of a win and helped Romney stanch the narrative of three consecutive losses. And it also provides a rough snapshot of how the delegates will break down, since the same folks who cast straw-poll votes choose the delegates. State GOP officials opted to go ahead and announce the results anyway, without the missing areas.