KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Just a few miles away from the Missouri Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Days event in Kansas City, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul received the endorsement of state Rep. Paul Curtman.

Curtman, R-St. Louis, made the endorsement at a rally at Kansas City’s Union Station.

Curtman, a Tea Party conservative with a rising profile in the House, said he backs Paul for his support for limited government.

“Political office is reserved as a position of service, not a position of status,” Curtman said in a statement. “Blind loyalty to political figures has done nothing but expand the size of government, and it creates budget deficits that will take generations to pay off.”

In his first trip to Missouri during this year’s presidential campaign, Paul pulled a large crowd at Union Station. He is expected to be back before Missouri’s Republican caucuses on March 17.

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, who won Missouri’s non-binding primary earlier this month, is expected to be in Missouri on March 10.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is also expected to be in Missouri for multiple events after Super Tuesday. Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Romney supporter visiting Missouri Saturday for Lincoln Days, said “of course” he thinks Romney can be successful in the caucuses.

“That’s why we’re involved,” McDonnell said in an interview. “He not only can do well in caucuses, but he can do well anywhere in the country.”