Convention update 6 p.m.

The lights are on and almost everyone has left. The convention is over.

It’s been a busy – but productive -- two days for the Republican Party.

In these two days, Republicans from across the state elected delegates to the state convention, elected state committee members, debated their platform and heard from all the major candidates. They also heard from Mitt Romney and Cal Thomas.

John McCain got 17 delegates – 5 from district caucuses and 12 at-large, and Ron Paul got one delegate from the First Congressional District.

Given the time constraints in the schedule faced, it’s incredible that the event adjourned on time, said Julie O’Brien, executive director of the Maine Republican Party.

The biggest problems were in the schedule. Yesterday, nominations for national committeeman and national committeewoman ran over, pushing back the platform discussions to today and cutting speeches from congressional candidates short.

Candidates were allowed to make up this time in district caucuses today. Delegates worked through lunch to take up the party’s platform, rejecting nearly all of 25 amendments.

After an engaging speech by Fox News Contributor Cal Thomas, the delegate nomination process passed smoothly. About 30 people ran for both national delegate and alternate, whom were introduced quickly, and then it took about an hour to count each set of candidates.

O’Brien said with 2,500 delegates representing more than one candidate it was necessary to make sure the proceedings were fair and accurate.

After the Nevada convention was shut down, some worried what impact the Ron Paul supporters would have on the convention. Security was even stepped up after threatening tones. With the exception of two incidents where people were forcibly removed, both McCain and Paul supporters were civil.

The people removed said they were Ron Paul supporters – but the Paul organizers said they had nothing to do with the Paul delegation.

“For some reason people (getting in trouble) always want to say that they’re with us,” said Ken Lindell, who coordinated the Paul delegation