drummergirl
Member
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2012
- Messages
- 676
This is why it's not over until the fat lady sings...
To get the nomination on the first round of balloting in Tampa, a candidate needs the support of at least 5 state delegations and a total of 1144 votes. We've all heard that now about a thousand times.
Most people walk around under the impression that however the vote turns out in their state primary, those votes are magically transformed into bound delegates at the national convention. That is not how it works. It's actually a pretty cool system with it's roots in the way the founding fathers wrote our constitution.
It's all about the DELEGATES. They are not robots; they are people.
Republican Party Rule 15 deals with their selection and binding. Here's the first part:
Which is to say, the state republican parties choose their delegates and bind them according to that state's party rules and laws.
Each state updates their party rules at their STATE CONVENTION. This means that regardless of what the voters said in the primary, the state convention can do pretty much whatever they want as long as they have the votes and organization to get it done. The caveat being that the state convention has to follow the existing rules for modifying the rules (in some cases a 2/3 vote required).
And of course, delegates to the state conventions, along with various party positions like state committee members, county chairs, etc. are determined at district or county conventions (depending on state).
So... Ron Paul delegates selected at precinct conventions/caucuses leads to Ron Paul delegates at district conventions, which leads to Ron Paul delegates at state conventions, which leads to Ron Paul delegates in Tampa.
The strategy relies on the fact that Ron Paul supporters are hard core and willing to do anything the law allows to get our guy elected. In contrast, Romney supporters are just flipping the lever for him because they feel disenfranchised with no other choice. Try to get a dozen Romney supporters to show up at a meeting. Even with free food, half of them will stay home to watch sitcoms on TV.
So stay the course!
To get the nomination on the first round of balloting in Tampa, a candidate needs the support of at least 5 state delegations and a total of 1144 votes. We've all heard that now about a thousand times.
Most people walk around under the impression that however the vote turns out in their state primary, those votes are magically transformed into bound delegates at the national convention. That is not how it works. It's actually a pretty cool system with it's roots in the way the founding fathers wrote our constitution.
It's all about the DELEGATES. They are not robots; they are people.
Republican Party Rule 15 deals with their selection and binding. Here's the first part:
Which is to say, the state republican parties choose their delegates and bind them according to that state's party rules and laws.
Each state updates their party rules at their STATE CONVENTION. This means that regardless of what the voters said in the primary, the state convention can do pretty much whatever they want as long as they have the votes and organization to get it done. The caveat being that the state convention has to follow the existing rules for modifying the rules (in some cases a 2/3 vote required).
And of course, delegates to the state conventions, along with various party positions like state committee members, county chairs, etc. are determined at district or county conventions (depending on state).
So... Ron Paul delegates selected at precinct conventions/caucuses leads to Ron Paul delegates at district conventions, which leads to Ron Paul delegates at state conventions, which leads to Ron Paul delegates in Tampa.
The strategy relies on the fact that Ron Paul supporters are hard core and willing to do anything the law allows to get our guy elected. In contrast, Romney supporters are just flipping the lever for him because they feel disenfranchised with no other choice. Try to get a dozen Romney supporters to show up at a meeting. Even with free food, half of them will stay home to watch sitcoms on TV.
So stay the course!
- 
