DENVER • GOP bosses told Saturday’s Denver gathering of state Republican Assembly delegates that they’ve got two options in 2012 — unite or fail.The theme was aimed at the defiant Tea Party and liberty movement delegates, many of whom are openly disgusted with more mainstream candidates, arguably enough to sink the party by staying home on Election Day.Many in that faction say they are fed up with the mainstream, and got involved because they despise candidates like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee.“We’re all in the trenches together,” state party Chairman Ryan Call told 3,800 delegates convened at the University of Denver’s Magness Arena. “Will you set aside the old biases and labels?”“I sure hope so,” answered Colorado Springs delegate Drida Kenline. “But I think that’s pretty unlikely.”Nearly every high-ranking Republican who spoke made the same plea as Call. The drumbeat was pointed at devotees to Romney’s rival Ron Paul, who showed they aren’t quitters.When a surrogate for Paul marched onto the assembly stage to speak, dozens, if not hundreds, of Paul supporters began chanting, “President Paul! President Paul!” Even after 3 p.m., when most of the delegates had shuffled out of the auditorium, there were still occasional outbursts of “President Paul!” chants.No other candidate elicited that kind of fervor on Saturday.Kenline said the libertarian hero’s delegates are often too stubborn to abandon their principles in favor of a Republican victory.That’s true of Sarah and Chris Bacavis, a pair of passionate Paul supporters from El Paso County. When asked whether they would support any other candidate for the Republican nomination, their response was immediate, and loud.“Hell no,” they said.“I’d just pass,” said Sarah. “It would be the lesser of two evils, between Obama and either Romney or Gingrich. Only Ron Paul is going to change anything.”

The assembly picked a dozen delegates to the Republican national convention and chose Matt Arnold over Brian Davidson for top line on the primary ballot in the race for the GOP candidate for at-large University of Colorado Regent.

But the hot topic was the GOP presidential primary, which Romney has all but sewn up.The Bacavises said they believe Paul can still win, and pointed to the dozens of sign-waving slogan-chanting Paul-supporting candidates for the national assembly. Paul’s something of a sleeper candidate, they said, and said he has more delegates than the higher-ups in the party realize.Backers say Romney, though, is the Republican who can appeal to moderates and all-important independent voters who will hold sway in November. If, or when, he gets the nomination, the Republicans who realize what’s important will pull together, said Monument delegate Jill Henningsen.“The mature Republican voters, I think, will unify behind Romney,” said Henningsen.Many at the gathering said that it doesn’t matter whether mainstream Republicans and Tea Partiers love any particular GOP candidate. They’ve all got President Barack Obama driving them to the polls.“When you’ve got someone as polarizing as Obama, a lot of people are going to come together,” said David Rolens, of Colorado Springs. “Just the prospect of a second term for Obama is enough to get a lot of people to turn out.”

Photo by John Schroyer / The Gazette