TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Boos filled the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Florida when it was announced alternate delegates from Maine would be seated instead of delegates who back Ron Paul.
Mike Duncan of the Republican National Convention's Credentialing Committee announced that Maine would seat an alternate delegation.
Catcalls and applause erupted when Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus announced "In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it and the motion is agreed to."
Paul supporters who remain part of the Maine delegation after the Republican National Committee appointed a new slate of delegates appealed to have the original delegation chosen at the state party's spring convention seated.
Twitter messages posted on C-SPAN indicated Paul supporters' displeasure with the situation as well, with some threatening to stay home on Election Day.
More shouting overwhelmed Aoraida Fonallendas of Puerto Rico, co-chairwoman of the Permanent Organization Committee, as she tried to present the recommendation that House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio be the permanent convention chairman.
As the shouts grew louder, Priebus admonished the delegates to "please give her respect" as Fonallendas tried to give her report.
Thunderous shouts of "aye" and "nay" filled the hall when Rule Committee Co-chairman John Sununu urged adoption of new rules concerning how delegates and alternates are selected and allocated.
The changes would bind convention delegates to vote for the candidate who won their state's presidential preference poll and would expand the RNC's power to make changes to the party rules between conventions.
A pan shot of the crowd showed several delegates with clothespins on their noses.
With less volatile fanfare, the delegates adopted the party's platform, introduced by Resolutions Committee Co-chairman Bob McDonnell, governor of Virginia.
The platform is an "indictment of [Obama's] failed politics of debt, job loss and government overreach," he said.
It also is a blueprint for rebuilding the American dream and provides a "sea of change" in the way government works, McDonnell said.
"This blueprint lays out bold agenda for government reform," he said. "States are going to take center stage in long-overdue renewal of our society."
The platform affirm union between a man and a woman as a "traditional marriage," "the sanctity of human rights" and Second Amendment rights.
McDonnell invited voters to read the platform as they "consider what kind of country we want to be."
