TAMPA — For Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and much of the news media, the presidential nomination process is wrapped up.

The much-televised reality show and political horse race has crowned former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as the party’s “presumptive nominee,” amounting to a “complete merger wherein the RNC (which) is putting all of its resources and energy behind Mitt Romney to be the next president of the United States,” the RNC chairman said in late April.

This omits the preferences of the 15 states yet to cast a single vote, as well as party rules that officially bar the committee from endorsing one candidate while another remains in the race.

But for the passionate supporters of Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, the fight to be represented at the GOP National convention here has just begun — much to the chagrin of the entrenched Republican establishment.