TAMPA, Fla. — Part of Maine’s delegation walked out of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday in a boycott over a decision to strip away half of Ron Paul’s delegates.

Supporters of the Texas congressman, some wearing clothespins on their noses, tried one last time to appeal from the convention floor before walking out. Despite their absence, 10 Paul delegates were included in Maine’s roll call vote, with 14 for Romney and 10 for Paul, said Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster.

Mark Willis, a Paul supporter from Dennysville, said it was a “travesty” that the Maine vote didn’t include all 20 delegates elected at the state convention.

Webster said that both the state party and Paul supporters made mistakes at the convention in May in Augusta. But Webster said Paul supporters were unwilling to compromise either with the state party or with the national party.

“At some point your candidate loses and you have to accept the other guy, or sit it out,” Webster said.

Willis said there was no need to compromise, or to sit it out.

“We were duly elected at the Maine convention,” he said. “We played by the same rules and we had the numbers and we won. We never gave in, never wavered, never compromised.”

Before the roll call vote, Paul showed up on the convention floor, signing autographs and posing for photos.

As he left the arena, he declined to say if he felt his delegates were being treated unfairly. “I’ll let you know when it’s over,” he said.

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