Louisiana Republican Party Fight

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The divvying up of the state Republican Party's delegates to the national convention has melted down into a dispute between party leaders lining up behind presumed nominee Mitt Romney and supporters of libertarian Ron Paul.

If the two sides can't work out their differences, national party officials might be called on to decide which delegates from Louisiana can go to Florida in August.

A Republican meeting in Shreveport over the weekend led to dueling conventions, delegates carted out by the police and Paul supporters describing injuries from the melee.

Similar arguments have broken out in other states.

Louisiana's GOP leaders chose delegates to the Republican National Convention, but so did Paul supporters. The Paul faction claims Louisiana Republican Party Chairman Roger Villere violated party rules governing the selection of delegates.