Showdown at the Nevada G-O-TEA Corral

Yesterday, we caught wind of the drama bound to shake up this weekend's Nevada GOP Convention. This morning, it looked like the Ron Paul Fan Club was still planning to flout RNC directives and take over Nevada's Republican National Convention delegation. And now, Mitt Romney's Nevada operation is trying last minute negotiations to avoid a huge embarrassment tomorrow.

Here's what this showdown comes down to.

[Ron Paul's Nevada campaign Chairman Carl] Bunce countered that rules adopted by the state party last fall and forwarded to the RNC say that delegates are elected at the state convention, but the allotment of delegates to particular candidates happens afterward.

"If Romney's the guy, what are they worried about?" he said. "It's obvious to those of us in the Ron Paul campaign ... Romney did not have the delegates or the force to get his delegates to the national convention."

Paul supporters have been taking control of local and state Republican parties across the nation, a move designed to influence platforms and allow them to vote for Paul should the national convention proceed to an unlikely second round of balloting.

Bunce predicted the 50 percent to 60 percent of state convention attendees will be Paul backers.

"It's going to be a Ron Paul rally, that's what it's going to be," he said, adding, "It will be a lawyer fest, probably."

The Texas congressman is scheduled to speak at the convention.

Even though Ron Paul came in third at the February caucus, his campaign has marched on... And taken over the Clark County GOP, and may now be poised to take over the Nevada GOP and cause serious trouble for national Republicans this summer.

Of course, Ron Paul supporters argue that there's absolutely nothing wrong with their plan to hijack their way to Tampa. They now claim that because America has supposedly "never been a democracy" and the GOP nomination process was never supposed to be "small d democratic", they represent "true republican values".

Yet oddly enough, the Ron Paul Fan Club was singing to a different tune back in February, when they were tossing around allegations of disenfranchisement. And of course, conservative Blogger Orrin Johnson seemed to enjoy throwing that back at them this week.

All in all, we've seen a strange turn of events at the Nevada GOP. In February, Ron Paul supporters were crying foul after being turned away from caucuses and lost in the disorganized shuffle. But now that they may yet amass the most Nevada national delegates headed to Tampa this August, the Republican establishment is freaking out... And the state's top Republican politicians, from Brian Sandoval to Joe Heck, are keeping as far away from the convention as possible. I wonder why...