Paul versus Romney

From Conrad Wilson:

ST. CLOUD - After nearly two full days at the state GOP convention, a Republican Party leader directly took on the divide between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney supporters.

Republican National Committeeman Jeff Johnson said everyone's avoided the "big old elephant in the room."

"There is a tension. It's a real tension. It's not perceived," he said. "It's what you're all talking about, it's what we're all taking about."

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But Johnson said the party's been there before.

"We always have disagreements about what we should be focusing on or which candidates we should be supporting or maybe even some serious disagreements about the substance of actual issues," Johnson said.

To the Ron Paul supporters in the room, the "ones who are here because of Ron Paul," Johnson said, stay involved in the party.

"Don't disappear. Don't let someone else do the work. Don't lose interest."

Johnson told the "Ron Paul haters" at the convention to "get over it," he said. "If we don't grow, we die as a party ... We need to can Barack Obama and we need to file Amy Klobuchar. And we need to do it together."

Johnson will run unopposed later today to hold onto his party position.