Ron Paul's Republican presidential campaign is downplaying its efforts in Florida, where it only sent a little bit of mail to early voters and won't advertise much, or at all, on TV (a must to win in large-state Florida's early Jan. 31 primary).

But his relatively small coterie of Florida supporters are amped. They've packed straw polls to secure wins for Paul. They say they have 15,000 in-state activists. And they're making some push for the Hispanic vote, which is a tall order considering the vagaries of Florida politics.

The primary is closed other parties. Only Republicans can vote. And the vast number of Florida Hispanic Republicans appear to be Cubans, who favor a hardline on Cuba. Paul is considering "the weakest" candidate on Cuba by Capitol Hill Cubans, an influential exile blog.