Mike Huckabee To Ron Paul Supporters: You Lost, Move On

Former Arkansas Governor and one-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has a message for the disenfranchised supporters of Representative Ron Paul who feel their voice has been shutout of the party.

“I don’t think (Ron Paul supporters) have been disrespected,” Huckabee told reporters Monday at the convention center near the Tampa Bay Times Forum. “Elections are about—you get numbers. I lost four years ago, and I didn’t feel disrespected as much as I felt defeated. You have to accept that the voters make a choice and the voters made a choice.”

Huckabee’s comments were reported by Yahoo News as well as Bayou Buzz.

Doug Wead, a campaign adviser for Ron Paul, took a different view when addressing thousands of Paul supporters at campaign rally on Sunday.

“We know that some of you were shut out, locked out, lied to,” Wead told Paul’s delegates at the rally.

Paul supporters believe that they were strong-armed by presumptive nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign into limiting the libertarian-leaning Paul’s delegates at the convention.

Paul, who is currently serving his 12th and final term in the House of Representatives, has been party to a long-standing feud of sorts with Mike Huckabee since both men ran for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2008. As Yahoo reports, Huckabee has called Paul’s supporters fanatical believers and has said they don’t represent the mainstream.

Paul has a strong grassroots base but has been unable to win much support in the Republican establishment. Paul amassed 178 delegates this year in what was likely his final run for the presidency. Paul will be 80 in 2016.