Supporters of Texas Congressman Ron Paul struck back with a fury this weekend, seizing control of the Maine Republican State Convention and easily securing the majority of the state's 24 national delegates to the GOP national convention. Maine Republicans supporting Mitt Romney have been on the defensive ever since Paul's supporters accused them of rigging a February straw poll in which a number of ballots went uncounted. Now Paul's supporters say their candidate has earned the right to address the GOP National Convention.

Maine Republicans backing Ron Paul have learned a lot since March when their candidate's second-place finish to Mitt Romney was decided by three points in a straw poll that they say was manipulated by the Maine Republican party's inner circle.

Since then, Maine's Ron Paul supporters have learned a thing or two about how to run a convention. And this weekend, they ran Maine's Republican establishment right out of Augusta Civic Center.

"Most of us, if you ask us any questions about Roberts Rules of Order, we know it, rules of the convention, we know it, how to get delegates, we know it -- the archaic rules of the Republican party, we know them," said Matt MacDonald, a Ron Paul supporter from Belfast.

MacDonald and other Maine delegates who are behind the Texas congressman moved fast and overwhelmed the party's establishment core. First, the Ron Paul supporters were able to narrowly elect one of their own members as convention chair. Brent Tweed defeated party establishment candidate Charles Cragin and then went on to craft the remainder of the convention in a way that only emphasized the presidential component of the convention.

U.S. Senate candidates to replace retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe were told there would be no time for them to address the convention. The party's state House and Senate candidates were also left out of the event. MacDonald and other Ron Paul supporters were focused on delivering the delegates their candidate needs to claim his share of the spotlight at the GOP National Convention in Tampa this August.

"Now Ron Paul will have the ability to speak, so he'll have a platform and people like me, if we have supporters if I go to Tampa, I can now make motions," MacDonald said. "I can now raise my hand and question the chairman, vote on the agenda, things like that -- that's why Maine today is really, really important."

Although Paul's supporters spanned the demographic spectrum, young Republicans are particularly drawn to him. Ashley Ryan is in her 20s and drove up to the convention from South Portland. She defeated long-time GOP activist Jan Staples to win the Republican National Committee woman post.

She said Ron Paul supporters at the convention continued to cope with shennanigans that were cooked up by someone at the event. "In the beginning, it looked like a lot of unfair tactics were going to be had," she said. "There was a fake slate put out. I don't know who the person who put the fake slate out was affiliated with, but they pretended to be affiliated with the Ron Paul campaign--they tried to blindside us on numerous occasions."

"Having been a national delegate, having been on the rules committee of the Republican National Committee, having been the sargent at arms at the 1988 Republican National Convention, having been the presiding officer at about six state Republican conventions, this is absolutely bizarre," said Charles Cragin.

Cragin was still smarting Sunday from the defeat he had suffered the day before. That's when Ron Paul supporter Brent Tweed snatched the chance to become chair of the convention--a post that gives the officer a lot of flexibility in determining how things will run.

Cragin says he was also the victim of some shennanigans at the convention, and he says there were enough rules violations racked up that it's almost a sure thing that the Ron Paul delegates will not be seated when they arrive in Tampa.

"I'm confident that there will be a challenge at the Credentials Committee at the Republican National Convention, which meets the week before the actual convention takes place, to sort these things out, but we have allegations--and I'm sure there's allegations on both sides--of voter fraud," Cragin said. "I know in my own election, I lost by four votes, but in one county, for example, there were five more votes cast than there were delegates," Cragin said.

Paul picked up a total of 21 of the 24 delegate spots from Maine to the GOP National Convention in Tampa, Fla.