The Silver State is Ron Paul country now

SPARKS — After the Nevada Republican Party convention in Sparks wrapped up this weekend, one frustrated member of the GOP establishment compared supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul to the proverbial car-chasing dog.

What happens when the dog finally catches the car, he asked?

Answer: The dog kicks out the driver, most of the passengers and plants himself firmly behind the wheel, tires screeching as the vehicle takes a hard right.

"We’re clearly driving the car here in Nevada," said Carl Bunce, leader of Paul’s contingent in Nevada. And he’s not exaggerating: Paul supporters captured 22 of 25 open delegate seats and replaced two members of the Republican National Committee, including former Gov. Robert List, a prodigious fundraiser and longtime Republican elder statesman.

It’s the latter victory that Bunce is most excited about. He says that win, along with similar elections in other states, will allow fans of what he calls the "liberty agenda" to have a much greater influence on the Republican Party nationally.

That includes policy, party platform, choosing a chairman and the type of candidates the party endorses.

"Our message will definitely be part of the discussion. That’s very exciting to me," Bunce said.

Whether this is a good or bad thing for the Republican Party, you’ve got to give Paul forces their due: They learned the rules and used them to their advantage. They fended off a legal threat from the Republican National Committee on the eve of the convention. And they even survived a frat-boy level attempt at fraud, stopping an effort to circulate a fake (but authentic-looking) slate of delegates allegedly passed out on the convention floor by Romney supporters.

But what happens now? Bunce says Paul respects the rules of the GOP, and that delegates will go to the Tampa convention with a promise to cast 20 votes for Romney and eight for Paul on the first ballot, in accordance with the candidates’ respective performances in the Feb. 4 caucus.

But he also says that things could change; there’s a move afoot to release delegates from being "bound" to any candidate, which if successful might free Paul-minded delegates to cast votes for him instead of Romney.

That’s got to have the Romney people worried, nationally and locally. (A call to Romney’s point woman in Nevada was not returned Monday.)

Some members of the GOP look at Saturday’s coup as a disaster for the party. Big donors will never give to a Paul-dominated organization, which will interfere with party-driven, get-out-the-vote campaigns in November, they say. And they worry candidates will ignore the state party in favor of running their own organizations.

"I don’t care, first of all," Bunce said of the fundraising. He said Paul is more than capable of raising money, and that Paul backers who withhold their money now will start giving when they see the party running like-minded candidates.

And while Bunce says he can work with people such as U.S. Sen. Dean Heller and Rep. Joe Heck for now, expect primary challenges from candidates whose philosophy hews closer to Ron Paul’s in the future.

"This is a long-term mission we’re on," Bunce says. "We don’t want to burn this car out."

For the establishment, it’s the worst-case scenario. They believe Paul, if he ever got the nomination, would lose to President Barack Obama by one of the largest margins ever. For them, the transition that took place on Saturday wasn’t a peaceful change of drivers on a long road trip; it was a carjacking.

But like it or not, the Paul people are in the driver’s seat now, and the rest of the Nevada GOP is just along for the ride.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and author of the blog SlashPolitics.com. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at (702) 387-5276 or ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.