Other candidates still draw GOP votes

WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- While Arizona Sen. John McCain has been the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for weeks, other candidates are still drawing votes in late primaries.

Libertarian Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee got more than a quarter of the votes in Pennsylvania, politico.com reported. This week, other candidates drew 23 percent in Indiana and 26 percent in North Carolina, the latter total including votes cast for "no preference."

Paul's supporters are still campaigning. He attracted thousands of enthusiastic supporters who created a buzz online and in fundraising, although he got few votes in Republican primaries.

"This is about continuing the message and having a voice of freedom, constitutionalism, and peace inside the Republican Party," Ken Lindell, a former state representative in Maine, told the Boston Globe. "The goal at the national convention is to get a speaking slot for Dr. Paul to deliver that message."

Most political analysts do not think the primary votes are a sign that McCain is in trouble in his own party. They point to a recent poll indicating that 80 percent of Republicans would vote for him against either Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., or Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.