On Saturday, Rep. Ron Paul came within one vote of beating former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll in New Orleans. Regardless of his strong straw-poll showings, Paul is still a long shot for actually winning his party’s nomination, said Michael Hagen, a political science professor at Temple. But his performance should not be ignored. “At the very least, this shows Mr. Paul has a campaign organization that has an appeal and can deliver votes,” Hagen said. “There is afoot a lot of enthusiasm out there. It will be interesting to see which Republican candidate capitalizes on that.