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LAS VEGAS - With little time to spare, the Nevada Republican Party has named its delegation to this week's national convention, resolving an embarrassing dispute with supporters of former presidential candidate Ron Paul in a state John McCain is struggling to win.
The delegation announced Saturday - just two days before the start of the convention to nominate McCain in St. Paul, Minn. - represented a compromise between state party leaders and Paul backers who challenged the legitimacy of the delegate-selection process.
The compromise list included at least four Paul supporters and nearly mirrored one recommended by a Republican National Committee panel asked to settle the dispute. The RNC Committee on Contests made the recommendation Wednesday in a report that slammed the Nevada GOP for appointing, rather than electing, its 34 delegates and 31 alternates.
The committee wrote it was "deeply troubled by the ineptness of the state party" and "rejects any process to select delegates and alternate delegates that restricts party grass-roots activists from participating in that process, as appears to be the case here."
A party spokesman did not return a call seeking comment on the ruling.
The compromise means the Nevada delegation in St. Paul will include Chris Dyer, a Paul supporter and failed candidate for Congress who has railed against his party and mocked Nevada GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden in a parody folk song posted on YouTube.
Dyer will join Lowden, Nevada Sen. John Ensign, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury and other top GOP officeholders and activists at the convention.
"The intention of the Nevada Republican Party has always been to be represented and seated at the Republican National Convention so that our delegates could participate in the nominating process of our next president," Lowden said in a statement Saturday.
Nevada's delegation dispute began when Paul supporters were poised to win delegates at a state party convention in Reno in April. The party abruptly shut down the convention and later attempts to reconvene failed because it could not get enough Republicans to attend.
Meanwhile, the Paul supporters held a rogue convention in June and named their own delegation.
The RNC committee ruled that the June convention was unauthorized. "Only a state party has the authority to convene a state convention," the committee wrote.
Wayne Terhune, a leading Paul supporter, called the decision "tyranny." He said he plans to attend an alternative convention held by Paul's "Campaign for Liberty."
The delegation announced Saturday - just two days before the start of the convention to nominate McCain in St. Paul, Minn. - represented a compromise between state party leaders and Paul backers who challenged the legitimacy of the delegate-selection process.
The compromise list included at least four Paul supporters and nearly mirrored one recommended by a Republican National Committee panel asked to settle the dispute. The RNC Committee on Contests made the recommendation Wednesday in a report that slammed the Nevada GOP for appointing, rather than electing, its 34 delegates and 31 alternates.
The committee wrote it was "deeply troubled by the ineptness of the state party" and "rejects any process to select delegates and alternate delegates that restricts party grass-roots activists from participating in that process, as appears to be the case here."
A party spokesman did not return a call seeking comment on the ruling.
The compromise means the Nevada delegation in St. Paul will include Chris Dyer, a Paul supporter and failed candidate for Congress who has railed against his party and mocked Nevada GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden in a parody folk song posted on YouTube.
Dyer will join Lowden, Nevada Sen. John Ensign, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury and other top GOP officeholders and activists at the convention.
"The intention of the Nevada Republican Party has always been to be represented and seated at the Republican National Convention so that our delegates could participate in the nominating process of our next president," Lowden said in a statement Saturday.
Nevada's delegation dispute began when Paul supporters were poised to win delegates at a state party convention in Reno in April. The party abruptly shut down the convention and later attempts to reconvene failed because it could not get enough Republicans to attend.
Meanwhile, the Paul supporters held a rogue convention in June and named their own delegation.
The RNC committee ruled that the June convention was unauthorized. "Only a state party has the authority to convene a state convention," the committee wrote.
Wayne Terhune, a leading Paul supporter, called the decision "tyranny." He said he plans to attend an alternative convention held by Paul's "Campaign for Liberty."
