Ron Paul "easily" has taken over enough state delegations to nominate himself says expert
With Newt Gingrich finally out of the race, there’s only one other candidate standing between Mitt Romney and the official nomination. And while Ron Paul doesn’t have a chance to stop Romney, he seems poised to make some trouble for him in at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.
Across the country, fired-up Paul supporters are crashing the delegate-nominating process long after the rest of the party has moved onto the general election. Exploiting a byzantine nominating process that often flies under the radar, supporters are working the system to gain delegate majorities in states Paul lost in the primaries or caucuses (he hasn’t won a single contest outright).
In Louisiana, Paul delegates dominated the state’s caucuses on Saturday — though Paul took just 6 percent of the primary vote there in March — and are on track to repeat their performance in the state convention on June 2. From there, they could control the delegation, or at least have a plurality of its members.
The results were hardly a surprise to those who were paying attention: Paul activists actively prepared for the takeover.
“They’ve invested heavily here and had volunteers and staff members working and preparing [for the caucus],” Jason Doré, executive director of the Louisiana GOP, told TPM. “None of the other campaigns had anything near that kind of time and resources invested in the caucuses. I don’t know that you could really call it much of an upset from that standpoint.”
If Paul can secure a plurality of delegates in just five states, they can try to nominate him from the convention floor in accordance with the convention rules — potentially providing an embarrassing distraction just at the moment the party is supposed to unify on the public stage. According to Josh Putnam, a professor of political science at Davidson College and expert on delegate procedures, Paul’s supporters should “easily” reach that threshold with likely pluralities in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Colorado and Iowa, in addition to Louisiana. And that could just be the tip of the iceberg.
“Broadly speaking, I don’t think anyone has a firm handle on how deep this goes,” Putnam told TPM. “This is a headache for Romney and they’ll have to deal with it at some point.”
The Minnesota convention hasn’t been held yet, but local reports indicate that Paul backers are poised to “dominate” there as well. A spokesperson for the Minnesota Republican Party declined to comment.
In Massachusetts, Paul supporters scored the majority of Romney’s delegates at the state convention this weekend. Although they’re bound by state rules to vote for Romney, their presence could still influence the convention.
In Colorado, supporters got a healthy number of delegates and are expected to control the overall delegation after joining with a large number of uncommitted Santorum delegates at the state convention in April. And in Iowa, Paul supporters secured a pro-Paul state chair and likely control of the state committee that will choose its delegates for the convention.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...trouble-for-gop-convention.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
Saw this story on reddit. Go upvote if you can.
With Newt Gingrich finally out of the race, there’s only one other candidate standing between Mitt Romney and the official nomination. And while Ron Paul doesn’t have a chance to stop Romney, he seems poised to make some trouble for him in at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.
Across the country, fired-up Paul supporters are crashing the delegate-nominating process long after the rest of the party has moved onto the general election. Exploiting a byzantine nominating process that often flies under the radar, supporters are working the system to gain delegate majorities in states Paul lost in the primaries or caucuses (he hasn’t won a single contest outright).
In Louisiana, Paul delegates dominated the state’s caucuses on Saturday — though Paul took just 6 percent of the primary vote there in March — and are on track to repeat their performance in the state convention on June 2. From there, they could control the delegation, or at least have a plurality of its members.
The results were hardly a surprise to those who were paying attention: Paul activists actively prepared for the takeover.
“They’ve invested heavily here and had volunteers and staff members working and preparing [for the caucus],” Jason Doré, executive director of the Louisiana GOP, told TPM. “None of the other campaigns had anything near that kind of time and resources invested in the caucuses. I don’t know that you could really call it much of an upset from that standpoint.”
If Paul can secure a plurality of delegates in just five states, they can try to nominate him from the convention floor in accordance with the convention rules — potentially providing an embarrassing distraction just at the moment the party is supposed to unify on the public stage. According to Josh Putnam, a professor of political science at Davidson College and expert on delegate procedures, Paul’s supporters should “easily” reach that threshold with likely pluralities in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Colorado and Iowa, in addition to Louisiana. And that could just be the tip of the iceberg.
“Broadly speaking, I don’t think anyone has a firm handle on how deep this goes,” Putnam told TPM. “This is a headache for Romney and they’ll have to deal with it at some point.”
The Minnesota convention hasn’t been held yet, but local reports indicate that Paul backers are poised to “dominate” there as well. A spokesperson for the Minnesota Republican Party declined to comment.
In Massachusetts, Paul supporters scored the majority of Romney’s delegates at the state convention this weekend. Although they’re bound by state rules to vote for Romney, their presence could still influence the convention.
In Colorado, supporters got a healthy number of delegates and are expected to control the overall delegation after joining with a large number of uncommitted Santorum delegates at the state convention in April. And in Iowa, Paul supporters secured a pro-Paul state chair and likely control of the state committee that will choose its delegates for the convention.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...trouble-for-gop-convention.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
Saw this story on reddit. Go upvote if you can.
