There is a report that six of the newly elected delegates to the RNC from New Mexico are Ron Paul supporters. This happened last Saturday at the GOP State Convention. Nine other Ron Paul supporters were elected as alternate delegates. Amazing. According to the Romney campaign they will still have to vote for Mitt Romney in Tampa. New Mexico will be represented by only 20 delegates, so this is a significant haul.

Meanwhile, the Mitt Romney campaign continues to fight Ron Paul supporters at every level. It is like the Russo-German front in World War Two. Take no prisoners. Break bones if you have to. In Nevada, having been duly outvoted, his campaign is now rumored to be supporting a bogus, pro Romney appointed slate. It is as if they are afraid of losing the nomination.

The fact is that we can’t stop them from winning the nomination but they can’t stop us from fielding delegates either. So why the fuss? We will be there. We will be a presence. If they leave it alone, there will be hundreds of us, maybe a thousand. And the GOP will have what they need, youth, Hispanics, Independents, the very voters that represent the best chance of a general election win, not to mention the future. If they keep fighting us they will diminish the numbers but we will still be there. So why fight?

The Romney campaign’s paranoia over Ron Paul supporters sometimes reaches comical proportions. In one state they asked questions to eliminate potential Ron Paul supporters filing as delegates. Youth, of course, are suspect, so your age alone can get you eliminated. And Hispanics, who vote in huge numbers for Ron Paul, are sometimes targets. In New Mexico the Romney people struck from the list a Hispanic couple who actually, ironically, supported their man. Longtime Republican activists, they were reportedly dropped for having Latino sounding names.

Join the discussion Wednesday night, 9PM est, 6pm pst.

Bill Kristol says Romney and GOP don’t need Ron Paul supporters.