ARLINGTON, Va. — College students are known for rebellion. But at the 56th biennial convention of the College Republican National Committee, which ended Sunday, future GOP leaders showed no inclination to question the party's recipe for success.
Decked out in their best outfits and sporting red, white and blue stickers reading "I'm NRA for Tom DeLay," the 600 delegates cheered party bigwigs and chose a new chairman in the organization's most intense leadership race in 30 years.
In an election shaken by accusations of vote-rigging and disenfranchisement, Paul Gourley of the University of South Dakota defeated Michael Davidson of UC Berkeley by six votes.
Davidson's supporters said some of their delegates were disenfranchised by backers of Gourley, who as the organization's treasurer has been under fire for what critics call deceptive fundraising practices by the committee during the 2004 political campaign.
