While  hopes of crowning Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul the Republican  presidential nominee are now dashed, it is not stopping Paul's  supporters, the Liberty Movement, from trying to transform the GOP from  within and at times it seems as a hostile take-over.

Paulites  have been working the system and taking control of state party  committees in state after state. The Liberty Movement has also amassed a  slate of delegates to the Republican National Convention in Tampa,  Florida for the last week of August. It is there that Paulites hope to  reshape and reform the party's platform to be more in line with the  policies preached by Paul.

Paul  backers have been taking over state Republican conventions in places  like Nevada and Maine and plan to do the same in Iowa on Saturday in  their effort to carry his banner to the national convention in Tampa,  Fla.

"We want to send Ron Paul-inspired folks to that convention  to show we're not going away," says Iowa Republican David Fischer, a top  Paul backer in the state.

Supporters say they hope to promote  Paul's conservative principles that have sparked a loyal following of  young voters and tea party activists by flooding ballots for the  convention and urging changes to the party platform.

Since Paul's  unsuccessful 2008 candidacy for the GOP nomination, his top organizers  have set about working within the party's structure to gain influence,  all with the hope of bending it toward principles he espouses: smaller  government, sound monetary policy and a limited international military  presence.

Paul stopped campaigning last month after netting only  137 of the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. His son,  Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a national tea party figure, has endorsed Romney.

Paul's  impossible odds didn't discourage activists from seizing 32 of the 40  national delegates last month at Minnesota's GOP convention.

In  Maine, 21-year-old Ron Paul supporter Ashley Ryan was elected the  state's new Republican national committeewoman, a testament to what  supporters see as new blood the Paul campaign has attracted to the GOP.

That's  in addition to seizing top roles in state party organizations, in  states such as Iowa, and inspiring statehouse candidates around the  country. For instance, A.J. Spiker, who ran Paul's campaign for Iowa's  leadoff nominating caucuses, was elected state GOP chairman in February.

Louisiana  GOP officials and Paul supporters tangled during a raucous June 2  convention that devolved into two separate conventions and separate  delegate slates. Two Paul backers were arrested after they refused to  leave.

And Paul's idled candidacy isn't expected to dampen the  hunt for as many of the 25 delegate slots on the ballot at Saturday's  Iowa GOP convention in Des Moines.

"It's never been about a man.  It's about liberty, and turning the tide," said Marianne Stebbins,  Paul's Minnesota state director. She was elected a national delegate on  May 18.

http://startribune.com/politics/159287525.html

From the Cornfield, while Dr. Paul's time may be gone, expect to see a Paul as a major player in the GOP for some time to come.