Eighteen-year-old Evan Kenney of Massachusetts got a great start in politics earlier this year when he ran for a spot as an alternate Republican delegate to the GOP presidential convention. He was elected to the spot, beating out the former GOP nominee for governor in the state, Charlie Baker, in a huge upset.
But because Kenney had proclaimed support for candidate Ron Paul in the past, the state GOP tried to force him to sign an affidavit pledging his loyalty to Mitt Romney. Kenney said that he had no problem supporting Romney, since the state's Republican voters chose him as their candidate, but he balked at signing the pledge as written. In response, the Massachusetts Republican Party effectively denied Kenney a spot as an alternate delegate, along with fifteen other Ron Paul delegates and alternates, several of whom had also beaten prominent Romney-backing GOP bigwigs.
On The Rachel Maddow Show Monday, Kenney slammed the state party for effectively undermining its own democratic process to deny him a delegate spot. "These are only a few corrupt power brokers who want to keep the power to themselves," said Kenney to Maddow. "The real Republican Party is us."
"You are having to fight tooth and nail to be recognized by main-line Republicans in terms of what you just said," Maddow replied. "But they ought to be happy to have you."