The point of this, as Paul himself has said and Benton repeatedly emphasized, is not to disrupt the convention in any way. "Rolling into the convention with a strong delegation, having hundreds of supporters there, sends a very strong message," Benton said. "We're here, our supporters are here, we're positive and respectful -- we're emphasizing decorum and we're going to do everything in our power to work with our supporters to make sure that decorum and respect are the name of the game. But we're going to respectfully show that our supporters are here, and we're the wave of the future."

On a practical level, Paul hopes to get some of his ideas incorporated in the official Republican Party platform. Specifically, he wants the party to embrace transparency and accountability for the Federal Reserve; monetary policy reform; prohibitions on indefinite detention; and "Internet freedom," i.e., the opposite of "net neutrality." Paul also hopes to have an influence on the party's rules in order to "prevent the establishment from locking the party down," Benton said.

Paul's people are in regular contact with Romney's people about achieving these goals in a peaceful manner. But why should Romney, who controls the convention as the presumptive nominee, grant Paul any of these concessions?

Paul is not, it turns out, offering anything in return. He's not offering his endorsement; he's not offering to encourage his followers to support Romney. "I would never say never, but I do not believe that is likely," Benton said when asked on the call if Paul would endorse Romney. (Nor is Paul threatening to endorse the Libertarian Party nominee, Gary Johnson: "There's no chance of that.")

As for whether Paul's supporters would get behind Romney, Benton said: "I think that is still up for grabs. I think that a lot of that is going to be determined by what plays out in the next several months up through Tampa. I think that, in a lot of ways, the ball is in the court of the Republican Party and in the court of Mitt Romney."

He added: "We're bringing forward an attitude of respect. We're also bringing forward specific things we believe in. Our people want to be respected in return. If our ideas are taken seriously and our people are treated with respect, the Republican Party has a chance to pick up a substantial number of their votes. On the flip side, if they treated the way they were in 2008, a lot of people are going to stay home and sit on their hands."

Thus far, Romney's campaign has done a much better job of keeping Paul in the tent than John McCain did four years ago, when Paul staged a counter-convention to the RNC's in the Twin Cities and endorsed a third-party candidate, the Constitution Party's Chuck Baldwin. There is a friendly relationship between Romney and Paul personally, as well as their campaign staffs -- Benton, in a follow-up interview, told me he talks regularly with Romney's campaign manager, Matt Rhoades -- and this has meant a lot to Paul, who views the official party apparatus with deep suspicion.