Ron Paul’s nomination run ends with six-hour bang

For some diehard supporters Republican Representative Ron Paul is the best president the US will never have. So, they figured, they can hit back by voting for no one else. Paul staged a shadow convention in Tampa, Florida, on Sunday, eve of the Isaac-stalked convention starting Monday-Tuesday, cheered on by thousands of supporters for six hours. A supporter wore a T-shirt that said: “My President is Paul.” Paul is certainly not getting the party’s nomination. That’s booked for Mitt Romney. But he is not walking away without a shootout. He has refused to endorse Romney yet — saying he doesn’t agree with a lot of his policies — despite being accused of working with him during the primaries.

Technically, Paul is the only rival Romney has in the race for the party’s nomination. All others such as Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Rick dropped out. But this looked like the last presidential election rally for Ron Paul. Though a Republican, Paul’s small-government libertarianism, anti-war, isolationist foreign policy agenda sets him apart from others in the party, earning him a loyal band of followers. “The solution is to get the government out of our lives and off our backs and out of our wallets,” he said during an hour-long speech at his shadow convention.