Walkouts. Gavel-banging. Delegates wearing lobster pins on their noses.

Now that’s the kind of stuff that used to make presidential nominating conventions interesting.

But only a handful of reporters and political junkies got to experience a bit of the old convention magic when Ron Paul supporters got the spotlight Tuesday afternoon at the Republican National Convention.

Maine’s delegation had spent the previous week fighting establishment Republicans over their right to be seated at the convention and cast symbolic votes for their libertarian hero.

Tuesday, the Mainers, along with Paul supporters from several other states, raised a ruckus when they were steamrolled by the convention chair during several voice votes.

The shouting reached a crescendo when half the Maine delegation walked out.

Shouts of “point of order!” and “seat them now!” and “we’ve been robbed!” rocked the hall, all to no avail. The convention simply moved on to other business.

The Paul supporters are accustomed to spreading chaos. That’s exactly what they brought to the Maine Republican Party convention in May.

They flooded the meeting, seized control of the proceedings and elected a slate of libertarian-leaning delegates. This despite the fact Romney had been declared the winner of the party’s caucus votes earlier in the year.

Paul lost in Maine and he lost in every state he entered. He won about 10 percent of the popular vote, way behind second-place finisher Rick Santorum who won 11 states and 20 percent of the vote.

What Ron Paul’s supporters lack in public support they seem to think they can make up for in determination and parliamentary maneuvering.

But the establishment Republican Party and the Romney campaign, the folks running the national convention, were having none of it Tuesday.

They had endured an overly long and bitter primary campaign against a host of contenders and Mitt Romney emerged the clear-cut winner.

They didn’t come to Tampa to have their carefully scripted stage show marred by a bunch of insurgents spoiling for a food fight.

The Mainers made their point. Which was what? We made it to Tampa?

OK, point made, but we hope they are realistic enough to know most of them never would have reached Tampa if Maine had a true presidential primary election like other states.

They owe their TV moment to a quirk, to a caucus-and-convention system that is subject to easy takeover by a small but determined group with marginal public support.

The Maine Legislature may do something about that in 2013.

After the Republican caucus debacle last spring, Senate President Kevin Raye submitted LD 1882, An Act to Establish a Presidential Primary in the State. The bill was ultimately sent to the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee to hold a study meeting. The first of what may be two meetings will be next Wednesday.

Raye said it didn’t make sense to nominate candidates for lesser offices in Maine while relying on the flawed caucus system to select a candidate for the highest office in the land.

He’s right; it makes no sense.

Six states conduct their presidential primaries in June and Maine should consider joining them to avoid the cost of a special election.

Twice this year the state’s Republican organization showed itself incapable of running an orderly selection process, botching both the caucus and convention process.

That’s evidence enough that Maine needs a direct presidential primary.

rrhoades@sunjournal.com

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.