The Republican state convention is history, but the chaos that ensued as Ron Paul supporters took control over the event is far from over. U.S. Senate candidates are still seething after they were informed there would be no time for their planned presentations before 3,000 delegates. At a time when Maine Republicans hold majorities in the state Legislature and the governor's office, some political observers say the state GOP's inner circle may be incapable of reassuming control over their party.

For weeks, the six Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and their scores of supporters had prepared for the GOP state convention. It was their big event, a chance to sway some of the most influential Republicans in the state with a 20-minute presentation.

But then, the Ron Paul supporters who were running the convention cut that down to 10 minutes. Then somebody said it would be three minutes. Then it wasn't happening at all.

"I was really looking forward to talking to a big group of Republicans from the four corners of the state who had gathered here to do important work," said Maine Attorney General Bill Schneider. "This is the most unusual convention that I've ever been to."

Schneider was banking on an appearance before the delegates to make his pitch to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe. But there just wasn't time. The Ron Paul supporters overwhelmed the GOP establishment that was backing the party's presumed presidential nominee, Mitt Romney. Paul's supporters were still smarting from what they believed was the manipulation of a February straw poll that gave Romney a three-point win over Paul.

After the Paul supporters won the vote for convention secretary and chair, many in the Romney crowd began to filibuster, calling for private meetings and requesting points of order on how the proceedings should unfold. The Paul supporters said those delays set the convention schedule back so far, that they became determined to concentrate only on the election of their delegates to the GOP national convention in Tampa.

When the convention ended at around 8 p.m., Paul had locked up 21 of Maine's 24 delegates. Debra Plowman, assistant Senate majority leader and a candidate for the U.S. Senate, took her presentation outside the convention floor, like some of her opponents, and gave her speech to whomever would listen. Said she hoped Paul's people thought their delegates were worth it.

"The purpose of this convention is no longer about the candidates for the Maine Legislature, for the 1st and 2nd Districts or the Senate. This is all about a candidacy for president in Tampa," Plowman said. "For people who had planned these weekends off, people that have put together these programs to actually showcase in front of 3,000 people who seemed willing to be part of the process, we're all frustrated."

But Ron Paul volunteers, such as Alfonso Sira of Massachusetts, says Maine GOP leaders are just beginning to get a taste of the new Libertarian-fashioned form of Republicanism. He says the party's young Paul supporters are here to claim their place at the Republican table.

"I believe it's going to have a huge lasting impact, and I think it's very important that it does because the country is going in what most of us believe is the wrong direction," Sira said.

"We're tired of being told we need to have a moderate candidate," said Ashley Ryan. Ryan is still in her 20s, but the South Portland Republican is the party's new Maine National Committeewoman. She says she and other Paul supporters are not going to go along with a candidate they can't believe in just for the sake of party unity.

"We're sick of voting party before principle," she said. "We need to vote principle, because our principles is what makes our party great. Instead of voting for the candidate we think will win, we're voting for the candidate whose principles we believe in, because we know that he is the most electable nationwide."

While the Republican establishment may have lost control of their convention, many are skeptical over the ability of the Ron Paul crowd to sustain their momentum. Still for the moment, University of Maine Political Science Professor Mark Brewer says that with Sen. Snowe stepping down and party leaders like GOP Chair Charlie Webster unable to ensure control at the convention, the state's Republican inner circle definitely has heard a shot across the bow.

"This old guard establishment of the Republican Party has been woken up, pretty clearly and pretty significantly," Brewer says. "I mean, if the tea party movement didn't do that to them in 2010, the Paul people did that over the weekend."

The Paul supporters in Maine are gearing up for the GOP national convention and are pressing Republican leadership to allow their candidate to address the delegates.