Paul Mum on Romney As He Seeks to Rally Troops

Vanquished GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul still refuses to endorse the man who defeated him, Mitt Romney.

At a six-hour rally among his supporters Sunday in Tampa, the Texas congressman didn’t even mention Romney’s name. Instead, Paul offered a 77-minute speech focusing on what he saw as a successful presidential campaign and on his libertarian ideals, Politico reports.

Paul voiced ideas that have drawn opposition from many of his fellow Republicans, including elimination of the Federal Reserve, ending the war on drugs, and defending WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Paul was upset that Romney’s camp was able to deny him control of five state delegations, which he would need to be formally nominated at the convention. “They’ve learned how to bend rules, break rules and now they want to rewrite the rules,” Paul said. “They’ve overstepped the bounds.”

Still, Republicans can’t afford to leave him and his supporters outside the party for long, Paul said. “We’ll get in the tent, believe me, because we will become the tent eventually. It seems to me that they would be begging and pleading for us to come into the party.”

Paul’s acolytes appreciated being in his presence. “I can watch videos online, but I wanted to get the feeling of all these like-minded people in the same room,” construction worker Derek Daigle, who drove from Raleigh, N.C., told Politico. “It’s almost like going to a rock concert. You want to see that person who has written that music. You want to feel it.”