By Kaylee Porter, 6-21-08

	Ron Paul speaking at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula. Photo by Brandon Gonski

Enthusiastic Ron Paul supporters waited through a $45 a plate dinner, multiple GOP speakers and an auction conducted by former Sen. Conrad Burns to hear their candidate speak Friday night at the 2008 State Convention Banquet.

They say it was worth it.

“He was fantastic,” said Elena Gagliano, a retired Philipsburg Mont. resident. “He believes in freedom and I’m sick and tired of infringement on my life.”

Paul, a tenacious, long-shot former Republican presidential candidate who has found considerable support in Montana with his message of small government and constitutionalism, received a warm welcome from the large crowd at the Hilton Garden Inn in Missoula. Montana GOP chairman Erik Iverson said nearly 470 people were in attendance—a record for the summer convention.

“I tell a lot of folks that I like speaking outside Washington because I hear less applause in Washington when I give a speech there,” Paul said in his opening remarks. “We have a lot of friends here in Montana.”

Despite Paul’s loss in the Montana primary, he does retain strong support in the state. He took second to Mitt Romney in Montana’s Republican caucus in February and in the primary he won some Montana counties, including Missoula and Flathead.

But the results of the delegate vote that came in shortly after the banquet ended were all in favor of McCain.

Though Montana GOP delegates generally all go to one candidate, some Paul supporters were surprised McCain claimed all 22.

“Every single one of the delegates? Really?” Shawn Bailey, 32, said with surprise. “It reflects the tendency to vote along party lines. Everybody thought that was the safe way to vote so enough people voted that way.”

“That’s horrible,” Newman Ryan, 20, said after a few speechless moments of head shaking. “I think it reflects that the American people don’t understand what’s going on with America. I also think it’s because the media has been pushing McCain from the start.”

Ryan, from Plains Mont., had hoped that a portion of the delegate would go to Paul.

“It would be awesome of Ron Paul won some of the delegates,” Ryan said. “He’s a better candidate for the younger generation because he wants to help get us out of the system we are in, like social security. I mean, none of us really have that to look forward to. And he understands how the Federal Reserve is corrupt and we need to get rid of it because there is so much debt that us young people are going to suffer for a long, long time.”

Although there are few ideological ties, many have compared Paul to Barack Obama because of his appeal to young voters like Ryan. These young supporters are similar in their newness to the political process and their passion.

Paul spoke directly to this group during his speech saying, “The young people who have joined our campaign are rallying to the cry of self-reliance and getting out of the control of government and getting their independence back.” The comment was met with cheers and a standing ovation.

Other people at the banquet, however, were skeptical of Paul’s electability.

“I don’t necessarily agree with McCain 100 percent, but the important thing to me was electability. When I was taking a look at putting a Republican in the white house I thought he stood the best chance,” said McCain supporter Ron Devlin.

Other McCain supporters at the banquet did not view Paul as a candidate.

“The choice is between Obama and McCain,” Col. Sam A. Roberts, an alternate delegate, said. “Ron Paul is not a candidate.”

But Paul supporters are unlikely to give up easily. Of Friday’s loss in the delegate vote, Bailey said, “it shows the Liberty Caucus has a little more ground to build. But our power’s growing. We aren’t going anywhere.”