Ron Paul's aura leaves GOP, Romney in tricky spot

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Mitt Romney loyalists, seeking a show of strength and solidarity at next week’s GOP convention, struggled Friday to placate restless Ron Paul supporters while also weakening the powers of such insurgent candidates in future Republican primaries.

Pre-convention haggling annoyed devoted backers of Paul, the 77-year-old Texas congressman who was among Romney’s primary challengers. One Republican National Convention panel voted to replace 10 delegates from Maine who are supportive of Paul, deciding that they came to Tampa through a flawed state selection process. A second pro-Romney committee moved to adopt a rule narrowing the routes for delegates to national conventions in 2016 and beyond.