How do I set up mame to use a mouse based spinner as a dial or paddle?  Is it possible.  I understand that paddles and dials are pot based, but I thought this was something people regularly did for games like Warlords.
For mame, usually "dial" type input == spinner, and "paddle" type == POT limited turn.  So for inputs that mixed the two, such as RoadBlasters' limited turn dial & Warloads unlimited turn POTs, mame has to pick one type even if it's not totally correct.
I have these settings in my ini file:
paddle_device mouse
dial_device mouse
That's how it should be done.  It's better than the older -mouse option that is usually suggested.
Make sure the correct mouse is mapped to the dial or paddle type; start game, tab, inputs, select dial or paddle, enter, turn spinner.  (Details at 
MameFAQ or 
easyemu)
Also, sometimes a joystick will mess up a mouse's input if mapped to the same input.  Either unplug your joysticks, disable them in mame, or do the above suggestion.